"Remember" [Brad Burrill]

"Remember" [Brad Burrill]

First line of lyrics: Remember me when I am gone away

Burrill, Brad; music (American, born 1970)

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

2005 [copyright]

genre: choral music|song

chorus: women’s SSAA chorus

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: four flats

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Remember"

Composition history: "I wrote Remember because I was moved by the potent sentiment of Christina Rossetti’s text. It portrayed a relationship ending prematurely, presumably from an impending death. Though the speaker was resigned to their fate, there was also a hopeful sense of wanting to reassure their partner that it would be okay for them to move on. That’s fertile ground for musical expression, so I constructed the song by spinning these twin messages—despair versus hopefulness—throughout the piece.
INTRO:
Remember me, when I am gone away
I began the song with an unaccompanied round, intended as a quasi-echo, and calling to mind a static, quiet, dreamlike state. Then the texture coalesces into expanding homophony, like an image coming into focus, before proceeding into a complete statement of the first quatrain of the poem.
FIRST QUATRAIN:
Remember me, when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Here I paired a descending Soprano 1 melody with an ascending Soprano 2 melody on the words “Remember me,” representing the twin themes of despair and hopefulness, respectively. Initially, the hopefulness shines through more, as the sopranos soar over bright, happy harmonies on “when I am gone away,” before gently descending again. Next we arrive at the phrase “gone far away into the silent land.” This was actually the first musical idea that came to me when I imagined how to set this poem. Here I used long, slow whole notes on a single pitch in the Alto 1 part to give a sense of time stopping, or death. The other 3 vocal parts respond to this with faltering restatements of grief, before arriving with a mysterious dissonance on the word land, signifying that things are not fully resolved, literally. The minor tonality and escalating dynamics of the next phrases continue the emotional narrative, progressing from melancholy sadness to utter despair.
SECOND QUATRAIN
Remember me, when no more day by day
You tell me of [the] future that you plann’d:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Upon the restatement of the words “Remember me” in the next phrase, composure is regained. This leads to a gentler, less frantic plea, followed by another illustration of the speaker’s unavoidable fate, on “it will be late to counsel then or pray.” Here, the piano part is reminiscent of the death knell of a tolling bell, and the relentlessness of time marching on. Simultaneously, the vocal parts are descending gracefully before quietly resolving to a major chord, signifying the acceptance of impending death.
CLOSING SESTET
Yet if you should forget me for awhile,
And afterward remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had.
Better by far you should forget and smile,
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Here the mood brightens. To illustrate this, I established a steady forward rhythmic momentum in the piano and voice parts, intended to represent the speaker providing a path for the grieving partner to follow, toward hopefulness. After one statement, I modulate up, further emphasizing this hopeful outlook. Then the drama, volume and intensity increase, building focus just before the impactful final phrase, “Better by far you should forget and smile, than that you should remember and be sad.” Those final lines gave me pause. It could be read as tinged with bitterness or sarcasm, but I chose to set it sincerely. The voices are quite low in their range, and quiet, representing the finality of death. The entire conflict of despair versus hope finally resolves on the word “sad,” twisting stark, dissonant harmonies into a quiet, major resolution. Hopefulness has won out over despair. I ended the song by paraphrasing the final two lines into the parting instruction: “Remember and smile,” to reinforce that interpretation/conclusion. Those words are layered in the voice parts at different speeds, and the harmonies alternate between major and minor chords. This recalls both the dualistic nature of the piece, and the quasi-echo of the introduction. But this time the echoes slowly recede toward a final, quiet, resolution" (Burrill).

Performance history: Performed by Cantala Choir for concert entitled "Loss, Reflection, and Hope (Reflections on 9/11) – 10/15/11" (Cantala Repertoire).

Recordings: "Remember." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Cantala Choir (Lawrence University), Phillip Swan, choir director.

Format 1: musical score

8 pages

Format 2: sound recording

running time 4 minutes and 21 seconds

Other data reference(s): Burrill, Brad. "Re: "Christina Rossetti in Music" inquiry." Received by Mary Arseneau. 21 Oct. 2020.

Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa

musical score: Brad Burrill

sound recording: "Remember." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by Cantala Choir (Lawrence University), Phillip Swan, choir director.

Record: CRM-remember-burrill

File(s): CRM-remember-burrill.pdf

"©2005 Brad Burrill, All Rights Reserved" This score is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Brad Burrill.

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.