"May" [Norman Mathews]

"May" [Norman Mathews]

First line of lyrics: I cannot tell you how it was

Part of: "Rossetti Songs"

Mathews, Norman; music (American, born 1942)

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

2008 [composition]; 2009 [copyright] [publication]

Ebury Press

genre: song cycle|song|art song (lied)

solo: medium-high voice

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 3/2

other version 1 - solo: medium-high voice

other version 1 - instrumentation: piano|flute|cello

other version 1 - initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

origin: United States

male composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "May" ("I cannot tell you how it was")

Place in the larger work: The first song of five in the song cycle called "Rossetti Songs," which includes 1. "May"; 2. "A Summer Wish"; 3. "When I Am Dead, My Dearest"; 4. "No, Thank You, John"; 5. "Sleeping At Last."

Composition history: "I was directed toward Christina Rossetti’s poetry by a sometime collaborator: the poet Patty Seyburn, who is a professor at Cal State University at Long Beach. She thought that Rossetti’s lyricism would marry well with my music. I read through her complete works and selected those poems that moved me emotionally and elicited musical ideas. I arranged the five poems so that they presented a variety of moods and organized them so that they would provide a dramatic arc. I was struck by her penchant toward the subject of death and therefore made her final poem the last work in my cycle" (Mathews).

Tempo markings: "Andante"; quarter note = 88

Performance history: "The piano-vocal version was performed at the Source Song Festival in Minneapolis [in 2015]" (Mathews).

Recordings: Mathews, Norman. "May." Rapport. Performance by Melissa Manseau, soprano, Paul Dykstra, piano, Beth Pearson, cello, Jennifer Yeaton-Paris, flute. Navona, 2010.

Notes: Program Notes: "The songs move inexorably toward death, Rossetti’s principal theme throughout her work and for which she implores us to sing no sad songs for her. The cycle also follows a seasonal arc from the height of spring—and even this season left her 'old and cold and grey' — to the final bows of summer, when even the gusty blasts that presage autumn cannot disturb her dreamless sleep. The pieces are written essentially in a tonal idiom, colored with passages of disquieting dissonance. The exception is “No, Thank You, John,” which, except for a waltz-like interlude, is mostly an atonal counterpoint to her comically mordant rejection of a persistent suitor. The final song, 'Sleeping at Last,' which is the last poem she wrote, is melodically and harmonically the most simple and most tonal, in reflection of her final repose."

Format 1: musical score

4 pages (pp. 3-6); performance time 2 minutes and 16 seconds

Other data reference(s): Mathews, Norman. "Rossetti Music." Received by Mary Arseneau. 21 Jan 2021.
"Works." Norman Mathews, https://normanmathews.com/list-of-music-and-theater-works-of-norman-mathews/. Accessed 19 May 2022.

Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa

musical score with piano accompaniment: Norman Mathews

musical score with piano, flute, cello accompaniment: Norman Mathews

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "May" (chamber version). New Music U.S.A., http://library.newmusicusa.org/library/composition.aspx?CompositionID=344067. Accessed 19 May 2022.

Record: CRM-may-mathews

File(s): CRM-may-mathews-piano.pdf

"© Copyright 2009 by Ebury Press. | Copyright for all countries. All rights reserved." The score appears on this website by kind permission of composer Norman Mathews.

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.