"My Heart is like a Singing Bird" [Sarah Rimkus]

"My Heart is like a Singing Bird" [Sarah Rimkus]

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

Rimkus, Sarah; music (American, born 1990)

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

2016 [composition]

genre: song|choral music

sextet: two altos, two tenors, one baritone, and one bass

instrumentation: a cappella

initial sharps/flats: three sharps

initial time signature: 4/4

origin: United States

female composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "A Birthday"

Composition history: "I wrote the piece for The Gesualdo Six's first composition competition in 2016. You had to write a new piece for the competition, and that poem was one of the text options they gave. I didn't win, but they enjoyed the piece a lot and have performed it many times since then. | Composition-wise, the subject matter and all of the metaphors in the poem combined with the vocal consort ensemble of six individual singers suggested a madrigal to me, so I wanted to write an English madrigal in a modern way. I used the lilting melody you hear at the beginning of the piece to recall older English madrigals, but in a floating, untethered kind of a way. The poem itself was very over-the-top in the kinds of language and metaphors it uses, but at the same time she doesn't actually give any detail about this "love" that she is so thrilled about. To me, this gives it a touch of uncertainty, like she's not so sure about this love – maybe a bit of a "who are you trying to convince?" I alternated between triplet and dotted eighth note rhythms to show this uncertainty. That distinction is extremely difficult for singers to perform, which means it is more likely to sound a bit unsure of itself than actually sound like two distinct different rhythms. The accompanimental voices during each verse fan out in patterns that look like hearts on the page – another homage to the text painting techniques of madrigals" (Rimkus). There is a Programme Note in the score that discusses similar ideas.

Tempo markings: "Delicately"; quarter note = 60

Recordings: "Sarah Rimkus - 'My heart is like a singing bird' (2016)." Lyrics by Christina Rossetti, performance by The Gesualdo Six and Owain Park, conductor. YouTube, uploaded 5 August 2017, https://youtu.be/16t4C9UYoEM.

Dedication: "for Owain Park and The Gesualdo Six"

Format 1: musical score

14 pages; performance time 5 minutes and 45 seconds

Other data reference(s): "Bushes and Briars." Positive Note, https://www.positivenote.co.uk/events/bushes-and-briars. Accessed 2 November 2020.
Rimkus, Sarah. "Re: "Christina Rossetti in Music" inquiry." Received by Mary Arseneau. 8 Nov. 2020.

Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa

musical score: Sarah Rimkus

Record: CRM-birthday-rimkus

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

"© Sarah Rimkus, 2016." This score is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Sarah Rimkus.

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.