SATB, a cappella

Color Madrigals was originally conceived because of a commission during my 10-year residency with The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists. Artistic Director Matthew Culloton had asked for something short on the theme of love and, having found something by English poet, John Keats, I felt that the work was a bit shorter than we had envisioned. That original text mentioned a color, so I thought I might write something else using a Keats text that mentioned a color and thus was born the first “volume” of my so-called color madrigals; the green and red movements. This was followed pretty immediately by a commission from the Summer Singers (Vicki Peters, conductor) for the purple and yellow movements and, later that year, Matt asked to finish out the set with the blue and orange madrigals.

Program note: Of all the Color Madrigals, this text is the only one written about the actual color it takes its title from.  Keats captures blue in all its forms by bringing the poem from the heavens to the ocean and finally back to the earth.  Because of this, the poetry becomes more and more intimate as it progresses.  I chose to write a gradually expanding hymn to create a sense of reverence for my own favorite color.

Note: Blue! ‘Tis the Life of Heaven is the second movement of the Color Madrigals. It can be purchased and performed separately.

 The Text

By John Keats (England, 1795-1821)
Adapted by the composer

Blue! ‘Tis the life of heaven
Blue!  ‘Tis the life of heaven, the domain
   Of Cynthia, the wide palace of the sun,
The tent of Hesperus, and all his train,
   The bosomer of clouds, gold, grey and dun,
Blue!  ‘Tis the life of waters—Ocean
   And all its vassal streams, pools numberless,
May rage, and foam, and fret, but never can
   Subside, if not to dark blue nativeness.
Blue!  Gentle cousin to the forest-green,
   Married to green in all the sweetest flowers—
Forget-me-not, the blue-bell, and, that queen
   Of secrecy, the violet.  What strange powers
Hast thou, as a mere shadow!  But how great,
When in an eye thou art, alive with fate!