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The Artist's Voice
This statement by Yaddo composer Daniel Brewbaker is the first in a new series of short reports from Yaddo's guest artists that will appear from time to time on our web site and in our printed publications. We are hopeful that "The Artist's Voice" will better acquaint the public with the artists who spend time at Yaddo and the work they do by allowing them to describe new and upcoming projects in their own words. "With a Little Help From My Friends"The confluence of a deep love of poetry with the exigencies of commissions recently led to my composing twenty-six choral/vocal movements during a residency at Yaddo. This caused me to reflect upon the dance of serendipity and necessity in the selection of poetry that a composer chooses to set to music. That process has taken myriad forms over the years during various Yaddo residencies; overhearing Helen Vendler discussing a poem of Seamus Heaney, which became the centerpiece of a cantata; speaking with Jane Hirshfield about her anthology "Women in Praise of the Sacred," a dozen poems of which completed that same cantata; a conversation with Sally, our breakfast server, about the song of a purple finch, which found its way to the end of a setting of e.e. cummings's "o, purple finch"; a conversation with Cathy, in the office, led to an Irish Cantata; an old LP in West House of e. e. cummings reading his own poetry led to settings of "who were so dark of heart" and "i, thank You, God"; just as the retrieval of a birthday message from the pay phone in West House inspired a song cycle on poems of Mary Oliver. A recitation of Yeats by Galway Kinnell led to settings of "The Song Wandering Aengus," among other poems; the suggestion of a Russian language coach led to my setting of "The Demon" by Alexander Pushkin, in Russian; and one of the many poems I have received in e-mails from Yaddo librarian Susan Brynteson became the narrative of a Piano Concerto. The reading and setting to music of poetry is a solitary endeavor. And yet, nowhere else have I found such deeply resonant knowledge of, and reverence for poetry, as at Yaddo. I am grateful for the joy, insights and verses that each of these poetical (and poetic) personal encounters at Yaddo has brought to my life and work. Daniel Brewbaker – March, 2009
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