"A Birthday" [Joel Weiss]

"A Birthday" [Joel Weiss]

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

Weiss, Joel; music (American, born 1970)

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

2010 [composition]

genre: art song (lied)|song

solo: tenor

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: one sharp

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Composition history: "'A Birthday' was written for a tenor in Louisiana [. . .] The music almost takes a back-seat to the text. I'd like the text to be easily understood by the audience/listener without the singer having to work too hard. I choose poetry that has a rhythm naturally contained in them, and setting these poems to music that only helps the poetry. Rossetti is lyrical, poignant, not a lot of fat in her poetry, expressive and almost begs to be sung - she's perfect for setting to music." (Weiss)

Tempo markings: No tempo

Performance history: "'A Birthday' was sung at the Ashlawn Highland Festival in Virginia, Staatstheater Kassel (Germany), recitals in Minnesota, Texas, Toronto, Montreal, Moscow, to name a few. This is probably my most popular song" (Weiss).

Recordings: "A Birthday." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Nicholas Laroche, baritone, and
Aaron Franklin, piano, 2012. https://soundcloud.com/aafranklin/a-birthday. Accessed 4 Mar. 2019.

Format 1: musical score

3 pages

Reference: Ezust, Emily. The LiederNet Archive. http://www.lieder.net/lieder/index.html

Other data reference(s): Weiss, Joel. Personal interview. 22 Jan. 2017.

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score: score provided compliments of the composer

Record: CRM-birthday-weiss

File(s): CRM-birthday-weiss.pdf

This score is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Joel Weiss.

The Christina Rossetti in Music project website is hosted in Canada at the University of Ottawa Library, and we aim to comply with Canadian copyright laws. If you believe we have violated Canadian copyright law, please contact us at christinarossettimusic@uottawa.ca. The Christina Rossetti in Music project is strictly not for profit and intended for research and educational purposes only.