About My
American Art Songs,
Including Selected Songs
from the
Grammy-Nominated Album,
RISING
"Best Classical Solo Vocal Album"
66th Annual Grammy Awards
To explore and better appreciate the American experience, I have been compiling song settings that feature the poetry of classic American poets. With our country seeming more divided than ever along cultural, political, and racial lines, these songs have recently gained a deeper meaning. The songs focus on timeless, conventional themes from our collective past and explore the work of historically significant American poets. While these songs offer audiences only a brief distraction from societal friction, the songs will, hopefully, present a well-informed expression of patriotism during these troubled times.
The chronology of poets included in this project which consits of 60 art songs and vocal chamber music settings, represents 225 years of lived American history (Colonial America through the 20th century, 1748-1973). The songs explore the intimate expressions, diverse experiences, and characteristic observances of bygone American poets whose lives and work add context to our cultural journey. Additionally, my goal was to anthologize poetic Americana in a way that presents some of the nation's best spirit and character.
Spirituality has been deeply embedded in the American experience since its beginning. Accordingly, included are settings of Two Psalms for unaccompanied voice. Within the historical context of this collection, the inclusion of the Psalms was intended as a thinly veiled reference to the first printing of a published book in Colonial America (the Puritan's The Bay Psalm Book, Cambridge, MA, 1640). Here, I have opted for the more popular King James Version of this pairing's text. Also, included are settings of Phillis Wheatley's reverent and devout An Hymn to the Evening and Ralph Waldo Emerson's Hindu-inspired Brahma.
Furthermore, while this collection features poetry by beloved American poets such as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Emily Dickinson, also featured is well-known and less-familiar poetry by African American, Latino American, Native American, Jewish American, Asian American, and Arab American poets. Also, included is poetry by those who represent diverse sexual orientations. Every effort has been made to reflect the richness of our American mosaic.
Visibility, diversity, & inclusion matter!
Jeremiah Evans
About Some of the Poetry Selections
To promote a greater appreciation for our cultural roots and inspire national unity at a time of increasing divisions, I have expressed articulated a sense of American patriotism through its classic poets, poetry, and the art of song. This effort has resulted to the composition of over 50 art songs in addition to vocal chamber works. These songs are available for medium-high and medium-low voices. I would like to share a few brief thoughts about some of the poetry selected for this immersion into poetic-Americana:
A Farm Picture by Walt Whitman
A Farm Picture by Walt Whitman is a short poem describing the scene of a rural farmhouse. After first reading this poem, I immediately envisioned the great expanse of the sweeping American landscape. I also reminisced about the first time I visited a working farm and being amazed at the vastness of the pastures in every direction. The sound of the animals early in the morning also made a memorable impression during that visit. I wanted to capture the essence of this experience with rich, warm, and full chordal constructions on the piano. The voice hovers above these harmonies with a melody that evokes wonder and amazement in response to the scenery described throughout the poem.
Here is a link to learn more
about Walt Whitman:
https://urlday.cc/plgro
Here is a link to the poem,
A Farm-Picture
by Walt Whitman:
https://urlday.cc/emwvb
April Rain Song by Langston Hughes
April Rain Song is a simple poem that expresses one's emotional reaction to rainfall. In this poem, Hughes personifies the singing qualities of raindrops. My reaction to reading this poem aroused a rhapsodic musical response which inspired rich, arpeggiated patterns in the piano accompaniment. The melody is unadorned, sincere, sweet, and honeyed to mimic the lullaby-like qualities Hughes suggests throughout the poem.
Here is a link to learn more
about Langston Hughes:
Langston Hughes - Wikipedia
Here is a link to the poem,
April Rain Song
by Langston Hughes:
Hughes:https://urlday.cc/jv450
Central Park At Dusk
by Sara Teasdale
Central Park At Dusk is a lyrical poem describing the ambiance of New York City's Central Park at sunset. The first thing that attracted me to this poem was the image of a city skyline slowly beginning to illuminate its silhouette with lights as darkness falls. I have always been enamored with cityscapes. As a native of Dallas Texas, which has, arguably, one of the greatest skylines in America (IMO), I can remember driving into the city at night as a kid anticipating the twinkle of lights from the buildings as I got closer and closer. The greatest thing about setting Teasdale to music is that she has already done about half of the work for the composer- There is so much music in every verse.
Here is a link to learn more
about Sara Teasdale:
https://urlday.cc/lhcio
Here is a link to the poem,
Central Park At Dusk
by Sara Teasdale:
https://urlday.cc/pcp53
Two Parables
by Kahlil Gibran
Two Parables includes selections from Gibran's The Madman- a collection of prose-poems or meditations. As an emigrant from Lebanon in the late 19th century, Kahlil Gibran represents a link to early Arab American immigration and is a unique contribution to classic American literature. He is best known for his work The Prophet which suggests ancient philosophy and wisdom that, undoubtedly, followed him from the Middle East. I have selected On the Steps of the Temple and The Fox from The Madman. According to Literature Times, "The Madman examines what occurs once we strip away our masks to face bare before ourselves and God. Gibran describes this state as certainly one of both freedom and vulnerability". Both selections are humorous in character and universally appealing. I have incorporated a harmonic pallet in these songs that can be described as ancient and Middle Eastern in style.
Here is a link to learn more
about Kahlil Gibran:
Kahlil Gibran - Wikipedia
Here is a link to the poem,
The Madman
by Kahlil Gibran:
The Madman by Kahlil Gibran (gutenberg.net.au)
Collected Art Songs
(MEDIUM-HIGH)
for Medium-High voice
& piano
Collected Art Songs
(MEDIUM-LOW)
for Medium-Low voice
& piano
Collected Vocal Chamber Music
(Medium-High & Medium-Low)
for voice & Bb clarinet;
medium-low voice & oboe;
voice, violin, cello & piano;
& voice, Bb clarinet, violin, cello, & piano
To help support my work,
please consider a contribution
to my GoFundMe:
https://tinyurl.com/8mpm5828
If you are a concert presenter, please consider these songs as part of your regular subscription season, workshop/clinic, or summer festival. Please, contact me by email for more information or to receive score samples for your perusal.
If you are a student or private studio instructor planning your next recital, audition or competition, please consider including selected songs as part of your English language set/group. Please, email me for more information and to receive score samples for your perusal.
jeremiah.piano@yahoo.com
Selected songs are also listed in the African Diaspora Music Project which recommends appropriate repertoire for competitors entering the George Shirley African American Art Song and Operatic Aria Competition at the University of Michigan.
Please, visit the Catalog/Purchase tab to see a full listing of my songs and
vocal chamber works (with titles and poets), then click on the Preview Songs tab to hear the matching MIDI file for each song.
From birth to death, the chronology of poets included in this project represent 225 years of lived American history:
Chronology of featured poets:
Henry Livingston Jr.
(1748-1828)
Phillis Wheatley
(c. 1753 –1784)
George Moses Horton
(1798–after 1867)
William Walker Jr.
(1800-1874)
Ralph Waldo Emerson
(1803-1882)
Edgar Allan Poe
(1809 – 1849)
Walt Whitman
(1819 – 1892)
Emily Dickinson
(1830 – 1886)
Emma Lazarus
(1849 – 1887)
Byron R. Newton
(1861 – 1938)
Richard Hovey
(1864 – 1900)
Sadakichi Hartmann
(1867-1944)
James Weldon Johnson
(1871 – 1938)
Paul Laurence Dunbar
(1872 – 1906)
Alexander Posey
(1873-1908)
Amy Lowell
(1874 – 1925)
Robert Frost
(1874 – 1963)
Vachel Lindsay
(1879-1931)
Georgia D. Johnson
(1880 – 1966)
Raymond G. Dandridge
(1882/1883–1930)
Jessie Redmon Fauset
(1882 – 1961)
William Carlos Williams
(1883-1963)
Khalil Gibran
(1883-1931)
Sara Teasdale
(1884 – 1933)
Elinor Wylie
(1885 – 1928)
Edna St. Vincent Millay
(1892 – 1950)
Langston Hughes
(1901– 1967)
Arna Bontemps
(1902 – 1973)
Countee Cullen
(1903 – 1946)
