Only until this cigarette is ended
AUDIO
Performed by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
DURATION
3’50”
YEAR COMPOSED
2009
POET
Edna St. Vincent Millay
COMMISSIONER
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble
INSTRUMENTATION
Voice with piano
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$10 PDF
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TEXT
Only until this cigarette is ended,
A little moment at the end of all,
While on the floor the quiet ashes fall,
And in the firelight to a lance extended,
Bizarrely with the jazzing music blended,
The broken shadow dances on the wall,
I will permit my memory to recall
The vision of you, by all my dreams attended.
And then adieu,—farewell!—the dream is done.
Yours is a face of which I can forget
The color and the features, every one,
The words not ever, and the smiles not yet;
But in your day this moment is the sun
Upon a hill, after the sun has set.
-
HELIOS • 4’30” • 2 tpts/flugelhorns, hn, tbn, tba
AUDIO
Gaudete Brass Quintet
YEAR COMPOSED
2011
COMMISSIONER
Gaudete Brass Quintet
ORDERING SCORES
Theodore Presser Company
https://www.presser.com/114-41587-helios.html
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.