"When I Am Dead" [Georgia Stitt]

"When I Am Dead" [Georgia Stitt]

First line of lyrics: When I am dead, my dearest

Stitt, Georgia; music (American, born 1972)

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

2013 [copyright]

Geocate Music

genre: song|art song (lied)|ballad

solo: soprano

instrumentation: piano

initial sharps/flats: no sharps or flats

initial time signature: 6/8

origin: United States

female composer

English

Rossetti poem(s): "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest")

Composition history: "Two years ago, with Rebecca [Luker]’s voice in my mind, I set two poems (texts by Christina Rossetti and Edna St. Vincent Millay) to music, and I printed them out and gave them to her. Surprise! Yesterday she sang them for me for the first time, and on March 9th she’s giving them their world premiere. Unbelievably to me, Becca came into the first rehearsal with the songs memorized, so the first time I heard them, they were in the voice I had imagined and they were accurate and shapely and full of musical nuance. At one point she said, 'Oh, I’m sorry; I’ll fix that,' and I said, 'Stop talking. My dreams are coming true'" ("SubCulture Debut, Monday, March 9th at 8pm").

Tempo markings: dotted quarter note = 50

Performance instructions: "Gentle Two, Fluid but Steady"

Performance history: Debut performance of the song on March 9, 2015 at SubCulture in New York City, featuring vocalist Rebecca Luker, Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf playing the cello, and the composer on piano ("SubCulture Debut, Monday, March 9th at 8pm").

Dedication: "for Rebecca Luker | dedicated to Avery Funkhouser (3/10/2015)"

Format 1: musical score

5 pages

Other data reference(s): "SubCulture Debut, Monday, March 9th at 8pm." Georgia Stitt, https://georgiastitt.com/subculture-debut-monday-march-9th-at-8pm/. Accessed 24 May 2022.
"When I Am Dead." Georgia Stitt, https://georgiastitt.com/music-library/when-i-am-dead/. Accessed 24 May 2022.
"When I Am Dead." Musicnotes, https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0147854#ProductDetails. Accessed 24 May 2022.

Cataloguer: Emily McConkey, University of Ottawa

This score is copyright protected. A score can be consulted here: "When I Am Dead." Musicnotes, https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0147854#ProductDetails. Accessed 24 May 2022.

Record: CRM-songwheniamdead-stitt

"© 2013 Geocate Music (ASCAP) 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.