Christopher Lee Fraley

composer, publisher, choral tenor

Christopher Lee Fraley
Christopher Lee Fraley

Christopher Lee Fraley

composer, publisher, choral tenor

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India's Love Lyrics

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Wistful Wind

Choral / F. 152 / SATB (a cappella) / 3'00" / 2008 / PDF file / MP3 fileMP3 file
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Wistful Wind has been accepted into PROJECT : ENCORE, a curated collection of choral music!

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  • Wistful Wind (from Stories CD by Byrd Ensemble)

Fraley-WistfulWind-Perusal

Overview

Wistful Wind’s quick, rhythmic pattering of a cappella voices paints the scene for the listener: a chilly errant breeze in the hush before dawn. (Perhaps after the meterless, suspended sound-world of Golden Stars’ night?)

Just like the poet uses language to evoke imagery, the composer can use rhythm, melody, and harmony to support specific aspects of the text. In this case, quick, repeating rhythms and melodic phrases reinforce the character of this breeze: wistful, chilly, errant, contrasting with the more sustained tones of the “first carol of the lark”.

Wistful Wind is a continuation of a cycle of choral pieces based on Adela Florence Nicolson’s poetry that includes Golden Stars (F. 150), Wistful Wind (F. 152), The Plains (F. 154), Lost Delight (F. 157), Famine Song (F. 164), and Reminiscence (F. 166).

The Poem

  • Lyric
  • Original Poem

Wistful Wind

Just in the hush before dawn
A little wistful wind is born.
A little chilly errant breeze
Thrills the grasses, stirs the trees
As it wanders on its way.
While yet the night is cool and dark,
The first carol of the lark—
Its plaintive murmurs seem to say:
“I await the sorrows of the day.”

—Adela Florence Nicolson (1865-1904) published in India’s Love Lyrics (1902), edited by Christopher Lee Fraley

Verses: Faiz Ulla

Just in the hush before dawn
A little wistful wind is born.
A little chilly errant breeze,
That thrills the grasses, stirs the trees.
And, as it wanders on its way,
While yet the night is cool and dark,
The first carol of the lark,—
Its plaintive murmurs seem to say
“I wait the sorrows of the day.”

—Adela Florence Nicolson (1865-1904) published in India’s Love Lyrics (1902)

Video Score

Watch a video score of Wistful Wind, listening to a recording of the premiere on June 2, 2012 by the Cascadian Chorale.


a cappella, Adela Florence Nicolson, English, India's Love Lyrics, PROJECT:ENCORE, SATB

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