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Songs of Joy and Refuge | STACY GARROP

STACY GARROP

a composer with a story to tell

a composer with a story to tell

Songs of Joy and Refuge


I. Joy
II. Refuge

AUDIO
Clerestory and the Young Women's Chorus of San Francisco

DURATION
4’

INSTRUMENTATION
SATB (div.) young adult or adult choir a cappella

POET
Sara Teasdale

YEAR COMPOSED
2012

COMMISSIONER
Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir

ORDERING SCORES
This work is published as a digital score with a performance license. The pricing is based on the number of singers in a choir:
  • $50: up to 20 singers
  • $100: 21-50 singers
  • $150: 51-79 singers
  • $200: 80+ singers
To order:
  • Click on the link to email Inkjar Publishing Company
  • Specify the number of singers and the name of your choir.
  • An invoice will be sent to you via PayPal.
  • Once payment is received, you will be emailed the licensed PDF within three business days (excluding weekends and holidays).


PERUSAL SCORE
Click here

TEXTS
I. Joy
I am wild, I will sing to the trees,
I will sing to the stars in the sky,
I love, I am loved, he is mine,
Now at last I can die!
 
I am sandaled with wind and with flame,
I have heart-fire and singing to give,
I can tread on the grass or the stars,
Now at last I can live!

II. Refuge
From my spirit's gray defeat, 
From my pulse's flagging beat, 
From my hopes that turned to sand 
Sifting through my close-clenched hand, 
From my own fault's slavery, 
If I can sing, I still am free. 

For with my singing I can make 
A refuge for my spirit's sake, 
A house of shining words, to be 
My fragile immortality. 

PROGRAM NOTES
Songs of Joy and Refuge was commissioned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir (Robert Geary, Artistic Director). When Bob approached me with this project, I immediately thought of the exhilaration of singing and sought to find texts that captured this feeling. In my search, I found two lovely poems by the 20th Century American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933), each of which illustrates a different aspect of singing. In Joy, Teasdale expresses happiness through the action of singing, whereas in Refuge, Teasdale relies on singing to lift her spirits. Together, these two poems perfectly express to me why we sing.
-S.G.
  • HELIOS • 4’30” • 2 tpts/flugelhorns, hn, tbn, tba


    PROGRAM NOTES
    In Greek mythology, Helios was the god of the sun. His head wreathed in light, he daily drove a chariot drawn by four horses (in some tales, the horses are winged; in others, they are made of fire) across the sky. At the end of each day’s journey, he slept in a golden boat that carried him on the Okeanos River (a fresh water stream that encircled the flat earth) back to his rising place. The cyclic journey of Helios is depicted in this short work for brass quintet. The first half is fast-paced and very energetic, while the second half is slow and serene, representing day and night.
    -S.G.