"My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird" [Peter Bloesch]

"My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird" [Peter Bloesch]

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

Bloesch, Peter; music (American)

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

2015 pre [composition]

genre: choral music|song

chorus: SATB voices with divisi

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 3/4

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Composition history: On his website, Peter Bloesch writes "this poem by Christina Rossetti expresses her ecstatic feelings of love, and my original music seeks to capture her sense of boundless joy" ("My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird"). He describes his process of composing works based on Rossetti's poetry in a personal email, "as a composer of over 50 choral works, I was very moved by Rossetti's poetry, and found her texts to be enchanting to set to music. Her writing is direct but deceptively subtle and rich, and each reading bears more depths of meaning and inspiration. I tend to be most inspired by poetry that deals with nature and love, and her texts certainly blend these elements often enough" (Personal interview).

Tempo markings: "Brightly and with earnest excitement"; quarter note = ca. 104

Performance history: "'My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird' was premiered on Sept. 5, 2015, with Dr. Timothy Stalter conducting the University Choir here are the University of Iowa" (Personal interview).

Recordings: Bloesch, Peter. "My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird ~ by Peter Bloesch (original composition for chorus & piano)." YouTube, 2 Feb. 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq8aRq6Yn8M. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.

Format 1: musical score

13 pages

Format 2: performance audio

running time 2 minutes and 35 seconds

Other data reference(s): Bloesch, Peter. "My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird." peterbloesch.com, https://peterbloesch.com/music/choral/gen-keyboard/my-heart/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.
Bloesch, Peter. Personal interview. 29 Jan. 2019.

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score: score provided compliments of the composer

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: Bloesch, Peter. "My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird." peterbloesch.com. https://peterbloesch.com/music/choral/gen-keyboard/my-heart/. Accessed 21 Jan. 2019.

Record: CRM-birthday-bloesch

"Copyright owned by Peter Bloesch, with all rights reserved."

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