Remembrance

Program Notes by E.A. Alexander

Art songs appeal to me because they are like mini musicals and, as a singer-songwriter and musical theater composer, I am first and foremost a storyteller at heart. In a way, the creation of this song cycle is a story of triumph over adversity.

The conductor, Davey Hiester, came to me for piano lessons when he was 8 years old. We have known each other a long time. When Davey took a year off from college because of COVID, I hired him to work with me and together we found a sketch for an art song I wrote, Remembrance, that was missing for many years. I had been hearing excerpts of it in my head and been wanting to revisit it, but could not find the sketch and it was driving me crazy. I was so excited that I ran to the piano and began playing it at which point Davey asked me if he could orchestrate it.

Davey founded the Center City Chamber Orchestra in Philadelphia when he was in high school. After completing the orchestration for the song Remembrance, he scheduled it to be performed at a concert in December 2021 but that performance was cancelled because of a COVID surge. Because we had more time, Davey suggested we turn it into a four-song cycle. From my existing art songs we created this four song cycle about the journey from grief and loss to acceptance.

Remembrance and Interlude, the first two songs in the cycle, are a hybrid of singer songwriter and art song. In an art song, I like to show off a classically trained voice and a classically trained pianist and I look for poems by professional poets who inspire me musically to augment their already excellent work. When I am writing as a singer songwriter, I generally write both lyrics and music at the same time.

The words for Remembrance and Interlude came out of me along with the music, but unlike my singer-songwriter work, I wanted them to be performed by a classically trained singer and pianist. Remembrance and Interlude are about my own personal loss.

The Architect and Last Night, the last two songs in the cycle, are poems by Philadelphia poets I admire. These are traditional art songs. The Architect is about the loss of youth and love and reviewing our choices in life. Last Night is a memorial for the poet’s husband.

I never imagined that these pieces, written at various times and reworked in various ways, would be performed by an orchestra, let alone orchestrated and conducted by a former piano student. Putting them together feels very much like solving a puzzle; having music orchestrated is a rewarding experience for a theater composer. COVID has taught us so much about grief, loss, and acceptance; I hope it brings you something like the meaning and enjoyment it has brought me.

The score, both the orchestral score and a piano vocal score, are available by contacting E.A. Alexander.