About
Written August-September 2025 for the Peabody Institute Vocal Ensembles Special Project, November 2025. A response to Claudio Monteverdi’s madrigal, Darà la Notte il Sol. Text by Sara Teasdale.
Scoring
a cappella SSATB vocal quintet; ~5:00
Listen
Program Note
I chose to compose in response to Monteverdi’s madrigal Darà la Notte il Sol, whose text describes the solitary pain of mourning. The poem, by the Italian bishop Scipione Agnello (1586-1653), appears to draw on Greek mythology, referencing Glaucus, the once-mortal fisherman turned sea god, who weeps an ocean of tears at his lover’s tomb. “The sun will light the earth by night and the moon by day,” Agnello writes, “before Glaucus will cease to kiss, to honor this breast which was the nest of love, now crushed by the weighty tomb.”
For my piece, I chose the poem Dead Love by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933). In contrast to Agnello’s emotive Glaucus, Teasdale’s poem conveys a profound grief and isolation, where the heart grows silent as God gives love—and then takes it away. Her language is direct and unadorned; her tone, quietly accusatory.
My setting unfolds in three sections that mirror Darà la Notte il Sol, following its shifts in texture while expanding and commenting on its musical ideas. Teasdale writes, “I cannot weep, I cannot pray/My heart has very silent grown,” and I sought to reflect this stillness, offering a deliberate contrast to Monteverdi’s outpouring of sorrow. From the outset, I knew how I wanted the piece to end: by subverting the quintessentially Renaissance cadence. I push the soprano line downward, leaving the work unresolved. This unsettled conclusion mirrors the nature of my own questions and doubts about the role of the divine in human suffering.
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Perusal Score
Text
God let me listen to your voice,
And look upon you for a space —
And then he took your voice away,
And dropped a veil before your face.
God let me look within your eyes,
And touch for once your clinging hand,
And then he left me all alone,
And took you to the Silent Land.
I cannot weep, I cannot pray,
My heart has very silent grown,
I only watch how God gives love,
And then leaves lovers all alone.
- Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Performances
11/1/25, Grace & St. Peter’s Church, Baltimore, MD. Members of the Peabody NEXT Ensemble, dir. Dr. Beth Willer. For more info about the premiere, visit: https://peabody.jhu.edu/career-services/student-alumni-stories/creative-wire/three-composers-and-the-madrigal/#read
