PROGRAM NOTE
Love’s Call (2016) is a setting for voice and piano of an English adaptation of a fragment from the Song of Songs. I extracted it from the libretto by Charles Kondek of my opera Between Two Worlds (The Dybbuk). The subtle adaptation/rearranging by Kondek of this deeply passionate, iconic Old Testament text creates the kind of flow that I found especially evocative, inspiring me to compose this “stand-alone” short composition, in response to the commission by SongFest.
The piano in this work plays a role that goes well beyond that of accompaniment, setting up many of Love’s Call‘s important ideas, of which a two-chord opening progression and the nimble fast-note motion of the center portion of the work are especially prominent. The imagery suggested to me by the text was essential to the generating of the work’s larger architecture, while at the same time inspiring lush harmony and arching melody.
Love’s Call carries the dedication To Avi, the song in my heart.
—Shulamit Ran
English Lyrics by Charles Kondek, Adapted from the Song of Songs
Come away, beloved,
Beautiful one,
Come with me, my promised bride.
Come with me from Lebanon.
Descend from the crest of Amana,
From the top of Senir, from the summit of Hermon,
From the den of lions
And the haunt of leopards.
Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.
Come!
Show your face;
Let me hear your voice.
Come, my promised bride.
Come!
Note: Love’s Call was originally conceived for soprano voice. A transposed version for mezzo-soprano is in preparation.
INFORMATION
Commissioned by SongFest for its 20th Anniversary Season with generous support by the Sorel Organization
Premiere performance:
June 18, 2016
Colburn School, Los Angeles, CA
Alize Rozsnyai, soprano
Dimitri Dover, piano
Duration: c. 7’30
SHEET MUSIC
Available from your favorite sheet music seller, or directly from Theodore Presser.