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Home , Frederica von Stade, Isabel Bayrakdarian, Jake Heggie, Paul Groves (tenor), Salzburg Festival, Santa Fe Opera

PASSING BY Songs by Joyce DiDonato Keith Phares

Dawn Harms, violin CarlaMaria Rodrigues, viola Emil Miland, cello Jake Heggie, piano

|1| PASSING BY Songs by Jake Heggie poetry and texts by Charlene Baldridge, Raymond Carver, Jake Heggie, A.E. Housman, Here and Gone 19:19 Vachel Lindsay, , Terrence McNally, Edna St. Vincent Millay, songs and duets for tenor, baritone and piano quartet , Eugenia Zukerman 9. The Farms of Home (Housman) 4:32 10. In Praise of Songs That Die (Lindsay) 2:59 1. A Lucky Child, from At the Statue of Venus (McNally) 5:44 11. Stars (Housman) 1:53 Susan Graham 12. The Factory Window Song (Lindsay) 2:32 13. In the Morning (Housman) 1:00 Some Times of Day (Carver) 11:00 14. Because I Liked You Better (Housman) 3:06 three songs for mezzo-soprano and piano trio 15. The Half-Moon Westers Low (Housman) 3:26 2. The Minuet 3:04 Paul Groves and Keith Phares 3. Simple 3:53 4. The Best Time of the Day 4:10 16. To Say Before Going to Sleep (Rilke, trans. by A.E. Flemming) 2:48 Zheng Cao Joyce DiDonato

Facing Forward/Looking Back 16:14 Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia 11:32 duets for two women and piano 17. Ophelia’s Song (Heggie) 2:39 5. Motherwit (Baldridge)* 4:27 18. Women Have Loved Before (Millay) 3:20 6 Grounded (Zukerman)** 4:09 19. Not in a Silver Casket (Millay) 2:17 7. Mother in the Mirror (Maupin)* 3:18 20. Spring (Millay) 3:23 8. Facing Forward (Heggie)** 4:29 Isabel Bayrakdarian Frederica von Stade with Susan Graham* and Joyce DiDonato** 21. Final Monologue from Master Class (McNally) 6:28 Joyce DiDonato

|2| |3| Recorded June 21-24, 2007, and January 12-13, 2008 at Skywalker Sound, This recording was made possible by and to my work; to the writers whose ex- Nicasio, California, USA generous support from the Ann & traordinary work inspires the music, and Gordon Getty Foundation, David Stein, to their estates and publishers; to Steve, Producer and Digital Editor: Steve Barnett Richard & Lucille Janssen, Franci Crane, Preston, Dann and Mark for their skills, (Barnett Music Productions, Minneapolis, MN) William & Cerina Criss, Betty Freeman, ears and hearts; to Leslie Ann Jones, Recording Engineer: Preston Smith (Perfect Record, St. Paul, MN) Frank Jernigan and Andrew Faulk, Susan Glenn Kiser and the generous people at Assistant Engineer: Dan Thompson and Jeremy Shamos, Thomas Terry, Skywalker Sound; to Janice Mayer, Char- Piano Technician: Mark Schecter Peggy & Reid Dennis, John & Bernice lie Hamlen and Classical Action; to Welz Lindstrom, Jack & Morleen “Moe” Kaufman and The Steans Institute at Translations Rouse, Stephen McClellan & Elizabeth the ; to Bill Holab, Don German – Elke Hockings Barlow, Robert & Susan Hasl. Franzen and Jennifer Hughes; to the French – Marie-Stella Pâris memories and legacies of Johana Harris, Special thanks to all of the performers James Low and James Schwabacher; to Design and Art Direction: Alan Trugman who managed to find time to record in my wonderful family, and the remarkable Cover Photo: Jay Elliott www.jayelliottphoto.com the midst of ridiculously busy schedules family of friends and artists who stand Back Photo and Session Photos: Janna Waldinger: and whose work on this CD represents a by me always; and especially to Grayson Back inlay and inlay Photo: Alan Trugman true labor of love; to all of the funders Sorci and Curt Branom, super heroes. for their commitment to this project Joyce DiDonato appears by kind permission of Virgin Classics

All texts used by permission of the authors or their estates and publishers To Say Before Going to Sleep is published by Associated Music Publishers, Inc. All other songs published by Bent Pen Music, Inc. (BMI) For information, visit www.billholabmusic.com.

|4| |5| PASSING BY Notes Songs by Jake Heggie “A Lucky Child” is the aria from At The me permission to set these poems, which Statue of Venus (2005), a musical scene I imagine as the journey through a day: Introduction for soprano and piano with an original a metaphor for life’s journey. “The libretto by Terrence McNally. Composed Minuet” is morning, when we wake to Here are songs that tell stories about , taught me when I was 17 for the opening of Denver’s Ellie see an idealized version of ourselves now and then. Reflections of family, years old to finish everything, and never Caulkins House, the complete young, dancing, magical. “Simple” is friends and lovers passing by. A missed throw anything away. Wise advice, for as I work tells the story of a single woman noon, the middle of life when, even or mistaken connection, a moment when get older, I find my younger self teaches waiting for a blind date in a museum surrounded by beauty, a question of everything might have been different. me more and more about what it is to at the statue of Venus. She is a nervous ending it all suddenly enters. To live or People who entered our lives and would stay hopeful, adventurous and true. jumble as she waits and hopes to meet die - is it that simple? “The Best Time be there forever, then suddenly were not “Mr. Right,” for he is surely out there. As of the Day” is evening, the last part of there at all. This recording is dedicated to the time passes, she moves from hopeful to life, with a reflective appreciation for mentors and teachers in our lives; the angry, thinking perhaps he’s already been love, peace, beauty and bounty. The Though much of my life the past 12 ones who recognize something more there, seen her and left without a word. songs were commissioned for mezzo- years has been devoted to composing than we know or see ourselves. You know Just as she’s about to storm out, she soprano Zheng Cao and the Harmida opera (, Moby-Dick, Three who you are. stops herself and sings this aria. Soprano Piano Trio (violinist Dawn Harms, Decembers, The End of the Affair), my heart and Kristin Clayton gave the premiere of cellist Emil Miland, pianist Laura Dahl) musical soul lie in storytelling through Jake Heggie the scene, which is dedicated to Karen through Stanford University. The first song. In between major projects, I Kriendler Nelson. performance was at ’s always allow several months to return to Temple Emanu-El. songwriting. Many of the recent songs on Some Times of Day (2004) is a set of this recording come from those periods, three short songs based on poetry by the Facing Forward/Looking Back (2007) though some have origins dating back to late American poet Raymond Carver. His was composed on a commission from the 1980s. My first composition teacher, widow, the poet Tess Gallagher, granted Welz Kaufman and the Ravinia Festival

|6| |7| for the Steans Institute, with Margo never really knew him, and this was my childhood friend, only to discover his new works on his well-known series. Garrett as its godmother. The set way of trying to stay connected and work friend is dead, the town has changed, I had long ago composed “Ophelia’s explores the fraught and ever-shifting things through. The premiere took place and he is now a stranger. Three of the Song” when one gorgeous spring day in mother/daughter relationship through in July 2007 at Ravinia with soprano songs (“The Farms of Home”, “In the 1983, Johana Harris said to me: “The five duets for two women (four are Michele Bogadanowicz , mezzo Tamara Morning”, and “The Half-Moon Westers hills are green, my dear one.” The lyrics recorded here). For this project, I Mumford and pianist Vlad Iftinca. Low”) are reworkings of songs I wrote and tune came to me immediately, and went to three of my writer friends and back in 1987 at UCLA. Much of the cycle I just needed the right place to put the asked for texts on this theme. Charlene Here and Gone (2005) was also was composed in Madison, WI, while I song. 16 years later, I found it in this Baldridge gave me two poems about a composed for the Steans Institute. My was in residence at Edenfred. The first cycle inspired by Shakespeare’s Ophelia. daughter wishing she could bring her great friend, mentor and teacher, the performance was given in July 2005 And who is Ophelia but an extraordinary mother back now that she’s grown, sure late Johana Harris, introduced me to by tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone young woman - pushed, pulled and used they would have a better understanding. the poetry of A.E. Housman and Vachel Andrew Garland. in a world dominated by men – seeking Eugenia Zukerman wrote a new poem Lindsay in my student days at UCLA. I connection and agonizing over love. based on a personal experience with her returned to those poets and devised a “To Say Before Going to Sleep” was In the early 20th century, such a young aging mother, where the roles shift and story based on their work for this set: composed in 1987 at UCLA and is a woman might have turned to poetry by the daughter becomes the parent figure one that holds resonance in both their response to the longing and fragility Edna St. Vincent Millay. So I did just for her own mother. Armistead Maupin lives, I believe, and certainly in my own. expressed in one stanza from Rilke’s that, and these three Millay poems, wrote a new text about the harrowing The baritone, a wanderer, returns to beloved poem. though not related in her collected experience of looking in the mirror and the town of his youth, now grown and poetry, seemed to work well for the seeing your mother looking back, even ready to make things right with his friend Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia (1999) journey of this cycle. long after she’s gone. The final duet is (the tenor). Long ago, the tenor had was composed for soprano Peggy based on a poem and melody I wrote in declared that he was in love with him, Kriha-Dye for her recital on the James The CD ends as it began, with a text by 1980 when I lived in Paris. I was 19, and but the baritone didn’t know what to do Schwabacher Series at San Francisco’s Terrence McNally, this time from his to get me through tough times I would with that kind of affection and rejected Old First Church. Jimmy was one of the Tony Award–winning play, Master Class. create conversations with my father. He him utterly. Now the baritone hopes most ardent champions of song I have This is the final monologue, spoken by committed suicide when I was 10 and I to reconnect and begin again with his ever met, and he strove always to include the character of . In this

|8| |9| moment she is alone onstage, having The Singers been berated by an enraged student who has accused her of being selfish, hard Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian burst Penelope and Idamante, she has also hearted and reckless. She ponders the onto the international opera scene after created leading roles in the world moment – what it means to sing and to winning first prize in Placido Domingo’s premieres of The Bonesetter’s Daughter at be a singer – what really matters. Final 2000 Operalia competition. Since then, and Salsipuedes Monologue from Master Class (2007) she has performed in concert and opera at . A favorite was composed for Joyce DiDonato in at the world’s major houses, admired as of conductor , she has memory of our mutual friend, James much for her stunning stage presence performed with him at the Saito Schwabacher. It was commissioned by as for her exceptional musicality. For Kinen Festival, the Boston Symphony Rusty Rolland for the Merola Opera her many recordings, she has received , and at the 1998 Winter Program’s 50th anniversary gala concert four Canadian Juno awards (Canada’s Olympic Games in Japan. Ms. Cao holds in honor of Jimmy. highest prize) and two Grammy award degrees from the Conservatory nominations; she also sings on the and the Curtis Institute. Grammy award-winning soundtrack of the film, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. “Incomparable…Dazzling…Divine” Born in Lebanon of proud Armenian effuse the critics in describing Joyce heritage, she is now a citizen of Canada. DiDonato’s ascent to the top of www.bayrakdarian.com the opera world where she enjoys an enthusiastic international following. Mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao performs Notable performances with the regularly with great opera companies , Opéra National and throughout the United de Paris, Royal Covent States, Europe and Asia. Noted for her Garden, and , have earned interpretations of classic roles such as critical acclamation, as has her growing Cherubino, Niklaus, Suzuki, Rosina, discography as an EMI/Virgin Classics

|10| |11| recording artist. Born in Kansas, the Metropolitan Opera National Council also widely noted for his commitment to Previn, , Patrick singer trained with the young artist Auditions, the Schwabacher Award from bringing the works of living composers Summers and . programs of San Francisco, Houston, San Francisco Opera, and a Career Grant to the stage. Most recently, he created Her more than 70 recordings have and companies. from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. the role of Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three garnered numerous international DiDonato’s honors include the Winner of the 1995 Richard Tucker Decembers opposite Frederica von Stade as awards. In addition to honorary Met’s Beverly Sills Award, the Royal Foundation Award, American tenor well as the title role in Robert Aldridge’s doctorates from Yale, , Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Elmer Gantry. Career highlights include Mannes School, and the San Francisco Year, citations from Operalia, and the Paul Groves has established himself as a appearances with the Metropolitan Conservatory, she was awarded France’s Richard Tucker, George London, and leading lyric tenor with the world’s most Opera, San Francisco Opera, Houston highest honor in the arts as an officer of Sullivan Foundations. prominent opera houses and symphony Grand Opera, Washington National L’ordre des arts et des lettres. orchestras including the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Glimmerglass The Grammy Award-winning mezzo- Opera, Opéra de Paris, Royal Opera Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, The Instrumentalists soprano Susan Graham is one of the Covent Garden, Festival, New New York Philharmonic, San Francisco world’s foremost stars of opera and York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Symphony, Saint Louis Symphony and recital. An expert in French music, she Orchestra, and . the . Violinist Dawn Harms’ diverse career holds the French government’s highest His repertoire encompasses a broad has included performing a Haiti honorary title “Chevalier de la Légion range of roles from bel canto to lyric and Mezzo-soprano Frederica von relief benefit with Frederica von Stade d’honneur.” Graham is also beloved for heroic roles. A favorite artist of the great Stade is one of the music world’s most and Take Me Out to the Ballgame at a San her portrayals of Handel, Mozart and conductors, he has recorded for all the beloved figures. For four decades, her Francisco Giants game, to chamber Strauss trouser roles, and has starred major labels. He also extends his artistry extraordinary career has taken her to music with violinist Nadja Salerno- in three world premiere – Jake to recitals with recent performances in the stages of the world’s great concert Sonnenberg, and playing on her cousin Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, ’s New York, Milan and Amsterdam. halls and opera houses where she has Tom Waits’ recordings Alice and Blood An American Tragedy, and ’s collaborated with the finest conductors, Money. A member of the San Francisco Great Gatsby. Her extensive discography A critically acclaimed interpreter of the including , Charles Opera Orchestra and the New Century includes recitals, complete operas, and operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Mozart Dutoit, , Kurt Masur, Chamber Orchestra, Dawn is also concert performances. She has won the and Britten, baritone Keith Phares is , Seiji Ozawa, André co-concertmaster with the Oakland

|12| |13| North America, Australia, Europe and East Bay Symphony. She was recently Cellist Emil Miland performs to Israel in performances a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival’s international acclaim, and has frequently with artists such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, American Academy of Conducting and collaborated with great singers like and Rudolf Serkin. she is co-founder and music director of Zheng Cao, Joyce Castle, Susan Graham, She has also participated at numerous the Music at Kirkwood chamber music , the late Lorraine international festivals including festival. Dawn is a member of Stanford Hunt-Lieberson, and Frederica von Marlboro, Savannah and Prussia Cove. University’s music faculty. Stade at . Composers who Her professional appointments have have created works especially for him included Assistant Principal Viola of the Pianist Jake Heggie is the composer include Ernst Bacon, David Carlson, , Principal Viola of of the acclaimed operas Moby-Dick, Dead Shinji Eshiima, Lou Harrison, Richard the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Man Walking, , To Hell and Hervig, Jake Heggie, Andrew Imbrie, currently, Principal Viola of the Back, For a Look or a Touch, The End of the Affair, James Meredith and Dwight Okamura. San Francisco Opera. more than 200 art songs, orchestral The SF Classical Voice described Miland as and chamber music. His works are “a unique phenomenon. There is just heard internationally and his operas something about the way he connects the are among the most produced of any by qualities of style, grace, virtuosity, and an American composer. The recipient real soul that remind one of no other of a Guggenheim Fellowship and other cellist.” honors, he is also an accomplished pianist who collaborates with many of CarlaMaria Rodrigues, a native the world’s great singers in recital and of London, studied at The Yehudi on recordings. Heggie makes his home Menuhin School.She appeared regularly in San Francisco with his husband, the as soloist and chamber musician in actor Curt Branom. London’s major concert halls and was www.jakeheggie.com heard on the BBC Radio and Television network. She has performed throughout

|14| |15| Frederica von Stade

Recording PASSING BY

|16| |17| Dawn Harms, Emil Miland CarlaMaria Rodrigues, Jake Heggie

Zheng Cao

|18| |19| Paul Groves, Jake Heggie, Keith Phares

Frederica von Stade, Joyce DiDonato, Jake Heggie

|20| |21| Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham

Isabel Bayrakdarian, Jake Heggie

|22| |23| Jake Heggie

Preston Smith, Susan Graham, Jake Heggie, Frederica von Stade, Steve Barnett

|24| |25| The Song Texts [3] Simple These summer nights. A break in the clouds. The blue Even more, I think, [1] A Lucky Child That love is what I’m seeking, to feel again I outline of the mountains. than those other times. Dark yellow of the fields. The work finished for the day. text by Terrence McNally am safe and protected, to wake each morning Black river. What am I doing here, And no one who can reach us now. (from the scene At the Statue of Venus) filled with hope, and to know I am loved. Oh lonely and filled with remorse? Or ever. God, I was a lucky, lucky child. At night we dream of love, of loving and being I go on casually eating from the bowl “The Minuet”, “Simple”, and “The Best Time of the loved like when we were children; if we were Some Times of the Day of raspberries. If I were dead, Day” published in ULTRA-MARINE (Vintage Books) lucky, as I was. I knew my parents loved me poetry by Raymond Carver I remind myself, I wouldn’t and in ALL OF US, Complete Poems of Raymond Carver and I loved them. I felt safe and protected. I be eating them. It’s not so simple. (Knopf & Vintage Books). Copyright Raymond knew that morning would always come. And I [2] The Minuet It is that simple. Carver 1986, 1988; 1989 to the present copyright by knew I was loved. Oh God, I was a lucky, lucky Bright mornings. Tess Gallagher. Used by permission. child. Days when I want so much I want nothing. [4] The Best Time of the Day Cool summer nights. Facing Forward/Looking Back Just this life, and no more. Still, Windows open. [5] Motherwit Sunday night dinners over at Grandma’s, we’d I hope no one comes along. Lamps burning. by Charlene Baldridge all be together; playing piano, singing along, But if someone does, I hope it’s her. Fruit in the bowl. not in tune or too much in measure. Wres- The one with the little diamond stars And your head on my shoulder. If I could bring her back, tling with cousins, the stories we’d share, the at the toes of her shoes. These the happiest moments of the day. Now that I’ve matured; night Randall kissed me. Then, pretending The girl I saw dance the minuet. If we could really talk to sleep in the car riding home with my father That antique dance. Next to the early morning hours, Perhaps I’d be reassured and mother; wanting to hear the secrets they’d The minuet. She danced that of course. And the time her disapproval was imagined; share. But mostly, just wanting to be carried the way it should be danced. just before lunch. the pattern she had in mind upstairs in my father’s arms, then he’d kiss And the way she wanted. And the afternoon, and was not perfection. early evening hours. me and say: “Good night, my little pumpkin. But I do love I do not discard Sleep soundly, my little love. Angel from Nor do I hate heaven. Star from above.” And I’d sleep.

|26| |27| The what-I’ve-beens. The final trip I seem to be late for? “If you’d given me grandchildren like I asked, I might not Here and Gone They are part of me. have moved into you.” poetry by A.E. Housman and Vachel Lindsay We’ve just had lunch and she calls to say I “Lovely,” I said. “That’s just lovely.” Instead I begin never see you and “Nevertheless, it’s true. A mother has to live somewhere. So [9] The Farms of Home (Housman) Reassembling Why did you steal my car? we’ll both just have to make do.” The farms of home lie lost in even, Fragments I found She claims a man named Arthur has moved “Piss off,” I said. “I don’t want you here. I I see far off the steeple stand; After I forgave. into her closet. have other plans for this face.” West and away from here to heaven The tales she’s invented! I fear she’s de- “That’s no way to talk to yourself, dear. Now why don’t Still is the land. [6] Grounded mented. you clean up this place?” by Eugenia Zukerman There if I go no girl will greet me, They say the nightingale in captivity cannot [8] Facing Forward No comrade hollo from the hill, Like a bird that flies into the picture window survive. And neither will I. by Jake Heggie No dog run down the yard to meet me: of time Life was once fine feathers and so much The land is still. I’m stunned and none too thrilled to be wait- delight. Let it go. Let it out of your heart. ing for a bus. Now there’s blood on my wings, no hope for Set it free. Let it be a part set apart The land is still by farm and steeple, Why did they take my Honda away without my flight. and maybe then you will see And still for me the land may stay: accord? maybe then it will be There I was friends with perished people, [7] Mother in the Mirror a little easier to let go and be free. And there lie they. She’s got double vision and drives with one by Armistead Maupin And you want to be free, don’t you? eye shut. Which way are you looking? Playing bumpercars on the interstate, she’s a I saw my mother in the mirror last night – as What are you looking for? [10] In Praise of Songs that Die (Lindsay) terror behind the wheel. plain as the nose on my face. She’d been Go on. Be strong. There’s so much to be Ah, they are passing, passing by, I thought she understood. It’s all for her own lurking inside me all along, smirking at my living for Wonderful songs, but born to die! good. disgrace: and so many other people to give to. Cries from the infinite human seas, “I’m not one to say ‘I told you so’…“ Let it go. Let it out of your heart. Waves thrice-winged with harmonies. Blood on my wings. My heart pounds at the “The hell you’re not,” I replied. “And I really Set it free. Here I stand on a pier in the foam cage of my ribs. don’t need to hear this fifteen years after you And maybe then, baby, you’ll see Seeing the songs to the beach go home, When will it come, the ride I wait for, died.” yourself. Dying in sand while the tide flows back,

|28| |29| As it flowed of old in its fated track. Factory windows are always broken. The dead man’s knoll, you pass, I would like to be the only person Oh, hurrying tide that will not hear Something or other is going wrong. And no tall flower to meet you in the house who knew: the night outside was Your own foam-children dying near: Something is rotten – I think, Starts in the trefoiled grass, cold. Is there no refuge-house of song, in Denmark. And would like to listen here to you No home, no haven where songs belong? End of the factory-window song. Halt by the headstone naming and outside to the world and to the woods. Oh, precious hymns that come and go! The heart no longer stirred. You perish, and I love you so! [13] In the Morning (Housman) And say the lad that loved you The text of To Say Before Going to Sleep is from In the morning, in the morning, Was one that kept his word. Rainer Maria Rilke: Selected Poems, trans- [11] Stars (Housman) In the happy field of hay, lated by Albert Ernest Flemming. Copyright © Stars, I have seen them fall, Oh they looked at one another [15] The Half-Moon Westers Low 1990. Used by permission of Routledge, Inc. But when they drop and die By the light of day. (Housman) No star is lost at all In the blue and silver morning Songs and Sonnets to Ophelia From all the star-sown sky. On the haycock as they lay, The half-moon westers low, my love, poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Jake The toil of all that be Oh they looked at one another And the wind brings up the rain; Heggie Helps not the primal fault; And they looked away. And wide apart lie we, my love, It rains into the sea, And seas between the twain. [17] Ophelia’s Song (Heggie) And still the sea is salt. [14] Because I Liked You Better (Housman) I know not if it rains, my love, The hills are green, my dear one, Because I liked you better In the land where you do lie; and blossoms are filling the air. [12] The Factory Window Song (Lindsay) Than suits a man to say, And oh, so sound you sleep, my love, The spring is arisen and I am a prisoner Factory windows are always broken. It irked you, and I promised You know no more than I. there. Somebody’s always throwing bricks, To throw the thought away. Somebody’s always heaving cinders, [16] To Say Before Going to Sleep In this flowery field I’ll lay me Playing ugly Yahoo tricks. To put the world between us poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated by and dream of the open air. We parted, stiff and dry; Albert Ernest Flemming) The spring is arisen and I am a prisoner there. Factory windows are always broken. ‘Good-bye’, said you, ‘forget me.’ I would like to sing someone to sleep, Taste of the honey. Sip of the wine. Other windows are let alone. ‘I will, no fear’, said I. have someone to sit by and be with. Pine for a chalice of gold. No one throws through the chapel-window I would like to cradle you and softly sing, I have a dear one and he is mine. The bitter, snarling, derisive stone. If here, where clover whitens be your companion while you sleep or wak. Thicker than water. Water so cold.

|30| |31| In this flowery field I’ll lay me Not in a lovers’- knot, not in a ring It is not enough that yearly, down this hill, You must know what you want to do in life, and dream of the open air. Worked in such fashion, and the legend plain – April you must decide, for we cannot do everything. The spring is arisen and I am a prisoner Semper fidelis, where a secret spring Comes like an idiot, babbling and strewing Do not think singing is an easy career. It is a there. Kennels a drop of mischief for the brain: flowers. lifetime’s work; it does not stop here. Whether Love in the open hand, no thing but that, I continue singing or not doesn’t matter. [18] Women Have Loved Before (Millay) Ungemmed, unhidden, wishing not to hurt, Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay. All rights reserved. Besides, it’s all there in the recordings. What Women have loved before as I love now; As one should bring you cowslips in a hat Copyright 1921, 1931, 1948, 1958 by Edna St. matters is that you use whatever you have At least, in lively chronicles of the past - Swung from the hand, or apples in her skirt, Vincent Millay and Millay Ellis. Reprinted by learned wisely. Think of the expression of the Of Irish waters by a Cornish prow I bring you, calling out as children do: permission of Elizabeth Barnett, Literary Executor, words, of good diction, and of your own deep Or Trojan waters by a Spartan mast “Look what I have! – And these are all for The Millay Society. feelings. The only thanks I ask is that you sing Much to their cost invaded – here and there, you.” properly and honestly. If you do this, I will Hunting the amorous line, skimming the rest, [21] Final Monologue from Master Class feel repaid. I find some woman bearing as I bear [20] Spring (Millay) by Terrence McNally (from the play Master Class) Love like a burning city in the breast. To what purpose, April, do you return again? Well, that’s that. I think however that of all alive Beauty is not enough. If I have seemed harsh, it is because I have I only in such utter, ancient way You can no longer quiet me with the redness been harsh with myself. I’m not good with © 1995 by Terrence McNally. Used by kind Do suffer love; in me alone survive Of little leaves opening stickily. words, but I have tried to reach you. To com- permission of the author. The unregenerate passions of a day I know what I know. municate something of what I feel about what When treacherous queens, with death upon The sun is hot on my neck as I observe we do as artists, as musicians and as human the tread, The spikes of the crocus. beings. The sun will not fall down from the Heedless and willful, took their knights to The smell of the earth is good. sky if there are no more Traviatas. The world bed. It is apparent that there is no death. can and will go on without us but I have to But what does that signify? think that we have made the world a better [19] Not In A Silver Casket (Millay) Not only under ground are the brains of men place. That we have left it richer, wiser than Not in a silver casket cool with pearls Eaten by maggots. had we not chosen the way of art. The older I Or rich with red corundum or with blue, Life in itself get, the less I know, but I am certain that what Locked, and the key withheld, as other girls Is nothing, we do matters. If I didn’t believe that. Have given their loves, I give my love to you; An empty cup, a flight of uncarpeted stairs.

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