"A Birthday" [Ned Rorem]

"A Birthday" [Ned Rorem]

First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird

Part of: "Women's Voices"

Rorem, Ned; music (American, born 1923)

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

1976 [composition]; 1979 [publication]

New York: Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.

genre: song|song cycle|art song (lied)

solo: soprano

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: five flats

initial time signature: 7/8

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Place in the larger work: The second song of 11 in the song cycle titled "Women's Voices" which includes 1. “Now let no charitable hope” (Elinor Wylie); 2. “A birthday” (Christina Rossetti); 3. “To my dear and loving husband (Anne Bradstreet); 4. “To the ladies” (Mary Lee, Lady Chudleigh); 5. “If ever hapless woman had a cause” (Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, née Sidney); 6. “We never said farewell” (Mary Coleridge); 7. “The stranger” (Adrienne Rich); 8. “What inn is this” (Emily Dickinson); 9. “Defiled is my name” (Anne Boleyn); 10. “Electrocution” (Lola Ridge); 11. “Smile, Death” (Charlotte Mew)

Composition history: Composed "13-17 Jan. 1976."

Tempo markings: "Allegro grazioso - Brisk"; quarter note = 160

Dedication: "to Joyce Mathis"

Format 1: musical score

3 pages; complete song cycle performance time 22 minutes

Other data reference(s): "Women's Voices." Song of America, https://songofamerica.net/song/womens-voices/. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.
Carman, Judith E. "Women's Voices." Art Song in the United States, 1759-2011: An Annotated Bibliography, fourth edition, Scarecrow Press Inc, 2013, p. 391, no. 2265.

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score: Peter Turkstra Library, Redeemer University College

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "Women's Voices - soprano & piano." Boosey & Hawkes, http://www.boosey.com/shop/prod/Rorem-Ned-Women-s-Voices-soprano-piano/597112. Accessed 11 Feb. 2019.

Record: CRM-birthday-rorem

"© Copyright 1979 by Boosey & Hawkes, Inc. Copyright for all countries. All rights reserved."

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