Services of Snow

1. There is another sky
2. Denial
3. Bind me
4. I cannot

High or low voice and piano

Services of Snow is a song cycle which uses four poems by the American poet Emily Dickinson as its departure point. The first text floats quietly over a dreamy accompaniment which alternates between major and minor until the singer eventually spills out into her upper range at the mention of a “brighter garden.” In “Denial,” the music is jittery and lurching as the poetry talks about a human being's will as a “numb significance.” The third movement lays Dickinson's text over a piano ostinato reminiscent of a Ben Folds song and here she is pissed off and defiant; an embattled martyr striking out at the thing which holds her back. After all this consternation comes the eponymous final movement. The text is delicate and the music responds by providing a gentle cloud of harmony for it to glide over like water slowly sliding over ice.

Services of Snow was commissioned by (and is dedicated to) soprano Jessica Hardy.

The Text

By Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1. There is another sky
There is another sky,
Ever serene and fair,
And there is another sunshine,
Though it be darkness there;
Never mind faded forests, Austin,
Never mind silent fields -
Here is a little forest,
Whose leaf is ever green;
Here is a brighter garden,
Where not a frost has been;
In its unfading flowers
I hear the bright bee hum:
Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden come!

2. Denial
Denial — is the only fact
Perceived by the Denied —
Whose Will — a numb significance —
The Day the Heaven died —
And all the Earth strove common round —
Without Delight, or Beam —
What Comfort was it Wisdom — was —
The spoiler of Our Home?

3. Bind me
Bind me — I still can sing —
Banish — my mandolin
Strikes true within —

Slay — and my Soul shall rise
Chanting to Paradise —
Still thine.

4. I cannot
I cannot be ashamed
Because I cannot see
The love you offer —
Magnitude
Reverses Modesty

And I cannot be proud
Because a Height so high
Involves Alpine
Requirements
And Services of Snow.

Performed by Laura Mercado-Wright (mezzo-soprano) and Charlie Magnone (piano).