"When I Am Dead" [Bear McCreary]

"When I Am Dead" [Bear McCreary]

First line of lyrics: When I am dead, my dearest

McCreary, Bear; music (American, born 1979)

Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)

Trybek, Edward; orchestration; Wilkinson, Henri; orchestration

2015 [video performance]

genre: song

solo: voice

instrumentation: piano|string quartet|viola da gamba

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest")

Composition history: The composer writes: "A few months ago, I stumbled across the works of English poet Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894). I was struck by the eloquent melancholy in her surprisingly contemporary writing, and could practically hear her voice speaking to me as I read. I found a two-stanza poem simply called “Song,” and read the first line: When am I dead, my dearest, sing no sad songs for me. An explosion went off in my brain, and I knew I had to write music for these words" (McCreary).

Performance history: Debut performance of the song on February 24, 2015, features vocalist Melanie Henley Heyn, the Calder Quartet, Malachai Bandy on viola da gamba and the composer on piano.

Format 1: performance video

performance time 6 minutes and 37 seconds

Other data reference(s): McCreary, Bear. "When I Am Dead." 24 Feb. 2015, Bear McCreary, http://www.bearmccreary.com/#blog/blog/concert-music/when-i-am-dead/.
McCreary, Bear. "When I Am Dead." YouTube, 24 Feb 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR2WoEnpri0.

Cataloguer: Van Mantha-Ware, University of Ottawa

Record: CRM-songwheniamdead-mccreary

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