Christina Rossetti In Music

Christina Rossetti in Music Project

"A birthday" [Michael Valenti]

Title

"A birthday" [Michael Valenti]
First line of lyrics: My heart is like a singing bird
Part of: "Lovesong: a musical entertainment"

Creator

Valenti, Michael; music (American, born 1942)
Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894)
Comor, Henry; adapted text

Date

1976, 1979 [publication] [copyright]

Publisher

New York: Belwin Mills Publishing Corp.

Subject

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

Language

English

Description

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

Format 1: musical score
5 pages (pp. 14-18)

Source

Cataloguer: Sarah Pennington, University of Ottawa
musical score for piano and voice: University of North Carolina School of the Arts, North Carolina

Identifier

Record: CRM-birthday-valenti

Rights

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

Files

CRM-no-score-available-copyright-protected.jpg

Collection

Citation

Valenti, Michael; music (American, born 1942), Rossetti, Christina Georgina; text (English, 1830-1894), and Comor, Henry; adapted text, “"A birthday" [Michael Valenti],” Christina Rossetti In Music, accessed November 13, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/christinarossettiinmusic/items/show/2325.