"A birthday" [Michael Valenti]

"A birthday" [Michael Valenti]

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

Part of: "Lovesong: a musical entertainment"

Valenti, Michael; music (American, born 1942)

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

Comor, Henry; adapted text

1976, 1979 [publication] [copyright]

New York: Belwin Mills Publishing Corp.

genre: musical theatre

solo: voice

instrumentation: piano|flute|oboe|guitar|bass|organ (electric)|timpani|drum set|chimes|vibraphone|bells

initial sharps/flats: three flats

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Place in the larger work: The complete musical score includes 27 songs but in the version consulted, only 13 were included. This version of "Lovesong" includes 1. "What Is Love?" (Sir Walter Raleigh); 2. "Sophia" (Edwin Dulchin); 3. "A Birthday" (Christina Rossetti); 4. "I Remember" (Thomas Hood); 5. "If Ever Two Were One (To My Dear and Loving Husband)" (Anne Bradstreet); 6. "Song" (Thomas Lodge); 7. "April Child" (Kenneth Pressman); 8. "What Is A Woman Like?" (Anonymous); 9. "Echo" (Anonymous); 10. "A Rondelay" (Peter Anthony Motteaux); 11. "Jenny Kiss'd Me" (Leigh Hunt); 12. "So, We'll Go No More A-Roving" (George Gordon, Lord Byron); 13. "An Epitaph" (Richard Crashaw).

Notes about the text: Valenti substitutes "thickest fruit" for "thickset fruit," "a bed of silk and down" for "a dais of silk and down" and "leaves of silver fleur-de-lys" for "leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys."

Composition history: A note above the score reads that the lyrics are "adapted by Henry Comor from a poem by Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)."

Tempo markings: "Andante sostenuto"

Performance instructions: All the percussion instruments (timpani, drum set, chimes, bells, and vibraphone) are to be played by one person.

Performance history: After a smaller run in Toronto, "Lovesong opened Off Broadway at the Top of the Village Gate in New York City on October 7, 1976."

Format 1: musical score

5 pages (pp. 14-18)

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa

musical score for piano and voice: University of North Carolina School of the Arts, North Carolina

Record: CRM-birthday-valenti

"© 1976, 1979 by Multimood Music, Inc., A Division of Belwin-Mills Publishing Corp. | International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved."

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