Resounding Verse

Stephen Rodgers
  • 5.0 (25)
  • MUSIC COMMENTARY
  • UPDATED MONTHLY
Resounding Verse Podcast

Join music theorist Stephen Rodgers as he explores how composers transform words into songs. Each episode discusses one poem and one musical setting of it. The music is diverse—covering a variety of styles and time periods, and focusing on composers from underrepresented groups—and the tone is accessible and personal. If you love poetry and song, no matter your background and expertise, this show is for you. Episodes are 20-40 minutes long and air every couple of months. 

  1. SEP 6

    Alleluia: Nathaniel Bellows and Sarah Kirkland Snider

    The Mass for the Endangered, by Nathaniel Bellows and Sarah Kirkland Snider, appeals not to God but to nature itself and (in Snider's words) takes the "musical modes of spiritual contemplation" associated with the Latin mass and applies them to "concern for non-human life—animals, plants, and the environment." The third movement of the Mass, "Alleluia," describes the brutal destruction of the natural world yet at the same time offers a promise of renewal.The episode features a recording of th...

    40 min

  2. 09/01/2023

    You're the One: Rhiannon Giddens

    The title track from Rhiannon Giddens's recent album You're the One—which was just released by Nonesuch Records—is a love song, but not one about two adults; it's about a moment Giddens experienced with her newborn son, pressing her cheek against his and realizing that her world would never be the same again.In this episode I reference a book by Matt BaileyShea called Lines and Lyrics: An Introduction to Poetry and Song. If you're interested in learning more about how words and music relate i...

    31 min

  3. 08/01/2023

    Songe (Dream): Maurice Bouchor and Mel Bonis

    Have you ever felt as though a single moment—gazing into someone's eyes, listening to a passage of music, looking at a landscape—transports you to another realm? Maurice Bouchor's poem is about just this kind of experience, an experience that the French composer Mel Bonis transforms into a magical sound world that deftly blends Romanticism and Impressionism.The episode features a recording of the song by Hélène Guilmette and Matin Dubé, from an album called L'Heure Rose. For more information ...

    34 min

  4. 07/01/2023

    In Fountain Court: Arthur Symons and Elizabeth Maconchy

    Arthur Symons's poem captures a lazy June afternoon, with a fountain burbling and the moon hanging in the sky, waiting for the coming of night. Elizabeth Maconchy transforms the poem into a song of mesmerizing stillness and beauty.The episode features a world-premiere recording by soprano Joanna Songi and pianist Matthew Fletcher, based on an unpublished manuscript found in the Maconchy archive at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. You can find a YouTube video of their performance here.For an illum...

    29 min

  5. 02/01/2023

    Resevwa Li (Receive Them): A Haitian Hymn Reimagined by Nathalie Joachim

    The Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim transforms a Haitian hymn, and in so doing creates a multi-layered tapestry of sound that evokes the many voices of Haiti—past, present, and future."Resevwa Li" comes from Joachim's Grammy-nominated 2019 album Fanm d'Ayiti (New Amsterdam Records), featuring the Spektral Quartet.Resevwa LiMen n’ap proche devan ou GranmètAvèk tout ti kado n yo papaLi mèt tout piti kou li ye,Tanpri resevwa liAdye papa soupleKisa pou m ta ba ouOu ki fè tout bagayOu k...

    34 min

  6. 01/01/2023

    One by One: Connie Converse

    Connie Converse was one of the first singer-songwriters, an uncommon talent who predated Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. But she was barely known in her day, and after making a handful of low-fi recordings in the 1950s, she disappeared in 1974. Her songs weren't widely known until some of those low-fi recordings were released on CD in 2009. This episode looks at one of her most affecting songs, which appears on Walking in the Dark, a recent album by soprano Julia Bullock, in an arrangement by Jeremy...

    38 min

  7. 12/14/2022

    Letzter Wunsch (Last Wish): Julius Sturm and Marie von Kehler

    We know very little about the German composer Marie von Kehler (1822–1882), who served as a "lady in waiting" to a princess and seems to have been acquainted with Johannes Brahms. But we do know that she wrote over eighty songs that were published over a decade after her death—none of which had ever been recorded until Stephan Loges and Jocelyn Freeman recorded four of them for my website Art Song Augmented. This episode looks at one of the best Kehler song's, a setting of a poem by Julius St...

    28 min

  8. 11/01/2022

    Firmament: Carolyn Forché and Caroline Shaw

    Carolyn Forché's 46-page poem "On Earth" forms the basis for a song cycle called The Blue Hour, which was composed by five women—Caroline Shaw, Shara Nova, Rachel Grimes, Angelica Negrón, and Sarah Kirkland Snider—and just released on CD this month by Nonesuch and New Amsterdam Records. This episode looks at one of Caroline Shaw's contributions to the cycle, a song that embraces Bach and plainchant and, in just over three minutes, captures the immensity of time and the cosmos. The episode fea...

    36 min
See All (20)

Trailer

5
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

Join music theorist Stephen Rodgers as he explores how composers transform words into songs. Each episode discusses one poem and one musical setting of it. The music is diverse—covering a variety of styles and time periods, and focusing on composers from underrepresented groups—and the tone is accessible and personal. If you love poetry and song, no matter your background and expertise, this show is for you. Episodes are 20-40 minutes long and air every couple of months. 

Information

  • Creator
    Stephen Rodgers
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    20
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 Resounding Verse
  • Show Website
    Resounding Verse

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