Resounding Verse

Stephen Rodgers
  • 5.0(25개의 평가)
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  • 매월 업데이트

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. 3월 17일

    hyacinth, songs of the minotaur, no. 5: Duncan McFarlane and Cecilia Livingston

    The Minotaur is a half man/half bull from Greek mythology that is often viewed as a monster. Cecilia Livingston and Duncan McFarlane's song cycle hyacinth reimagines the Minotaur as a lonely child, imprisoned because of the way he looks, remembering fragments of a life above ground and, above all, remembering his mother. The episode features a recording of the song by soprano Laura Strickling and pianist Daniel Schlosberg. They will be releasing a professional recording of the cycle this August with the Sono Luminus label. You can find more information about Cecilia Livingston's music via her website.

    35분

  2. 2월 24일

    Das Blatt im Buche (The Leaf in the Book): Anastasius Grün and Pauline Decker

    This episode explores the first song in a cycle I assembled from stand-alone songs by Pauline Decker—using curation as a form of advocacy.  It features a world-premiere recording of the song by tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Jocelyn Freeman. A recording of the entire song cycle, also featuring mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, can be found on my website Art Song Augmented. The score to the cycle is available via ClarNan Editions, a division of Classical Vocal Reprints. For an account of the creation of this cycle, see my essay "Love Letters" from the Women's Song Forum. Das Blatt im Buche Anastasius Grün *Ich seh’ eine alte Dame, Die ein altes Büchlein hat, Es liegt in dem alten Buche Ein altes, dürres Blatt.   So dürr sind wohl auch die Hände, Die’s einst im Lenz ihr gepflückt. Was mag wohl die Alte haben, Sie weint, wenn sie’s erblickt? The Leaf in the Book *I see an old woman Who has a small, old book, In the old book lies An old, dried leaf.   The hands that once picked it for her in springtime Are likely just as dry. Whatever could be amiss with the old woman, She weeps whenever she sees it? (translation by Sharon Krebs) * The original first line of Grün's poem is "Ich hab' eine alte Muhme" (I have an old aunt). I changed it to "Ich seh' eine alte Dame" (I see an old woman).

    30분

  3. 2024. 09. 29.

    Labor Day: Lainie Fefferman and Jascha Narveson

    I head back to university teaching tomorrow—and I know many teachers and students who are already back at it. In honor of this back-to-school season, here's an episode on a wild and wonderful song by New-York-based composers Lainie Fefferman and Jascha Narveson. In addition to composing a wide variety of music as individual artists, they are part of a synth-pop duo called The Beverage Station. The duo will release a full album, including this song, on May 30, 2025, from Gold Bolus Recordings.  Labor Day Lainie Fefferman Brand-new faces Familiar halls Tracking paces Feel it in my throat Bones break Back aches I could punch through walls And then there's you Heart explosions Arms aglow Big emotions Pack up its time to go Hours come Seconds go Cut to my fun walk home Where there is you Familiar faces Brand-new halls Making spaces Sharing all I love Calm comes Back stroke Keeping tallies of smiles and cheers I know I've lost what I'm doing here

    34분

  4. 2024. 09. 25.

    Frosty in Desire: William Shakespeare and Rodrigo Ruiz

    On September 27, 2024, Signum Records will release a recording of Rodrigo Ruiz's cycle of seventeen songs, Venus & Adonis, based on William Shakespeare's poem of the same name. In this episode, I dive into one of my favorite songs from the cycle, where Venus takes Adonis's hand and entreats him to open his heart to her. For more information about Rodrigo Ruiz, you can find him on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkTree. You can also learn more about his songs from this page on my website Art Song Augmented, and from this episode on his setting of a poem by Heinrich Heine. The recording in this episode features soprano Grace Davidson and pianist George Herbert, who also appear on the forthcoming album of the cycle. Frosty in Desire William Shakespeare (adapted by Rodrigo Ruiz) POET With this she seizeth on his sweating palm, and trembling in her passion, calls it balm, Earth’s sovereign salve to do a goddess good. Pure shame and awed resistance made him fret, which bred more beauty in his angry eyes. So fastened in her arms Adonis lies; still is he sullen, still he lours and frets, 'twixt crimson shame and anger ashy pale. Still she entreats, and prettily entreats;      she red as coals of glowing fire,      he frosty in desire. (25, 27–8, 69–70, 68, 75–6, 73, 35–6)

    30분

  5. 2024. 09. 06.

    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 the movement by Gallicantus, under the direction of Gabriel Crouch; an album of the entire Mass was released in 2020 by New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records. If you're interested in learning about another haunting collaboration by Bellows and Snider, check out my podcast episode on "The River," from their song cycle Unremembered. Alleluia Nathaniel Bellows Sea of cradle, foundling, current, cold and quelled as morning. Braid of vapored ashes, shadowed creche, collapsing. Contour, carve, corrode— breathe through camphor, coal, seed each breeze with gold. Poison, parch, pollute— plow the coast, the dune, flow toward constant moon.  Alleluia Hearth of stone, of tar, of lava, shelter shielding mother. Oh, save us mother!    She who is sleeping, Is she who will wake.   Fracture, foist, defoul— shatter cliff and shoal, sand each stone to whole. Harbored, held, unharmed— she’ll wake, rise, rejoin, her daughters and her sons.  Alleluia

    39분

  6. 2023. 09. 01.

    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 in pop songs and art songs and everything in between, I'd urge you check out his book. It's superb, and really accessible to specialists and non-specialists alike. You're the One by Rhiannon Giddens (the song was cowritten with Lalenja Harrington) I knew you were the one  Were my one and only And I knew  That you would always know me  Cause you were the one  Who kept me from feeling  So sad and lonely in my life and I never knew  Life could be so wonderful That there could be someone  Who was so beautiful And I never knew   That I could be so free   To love someone like you and  I wanna love you forever  And I’ll be with you   For worse and for better  And I never thought I’d fall   But you’re the one   I thought my life was drawn   In shades of gray and   That washow  I would live my everyday and   Aimless no direction found My destiny was going through the motions of a life and Then you came along   With your sweet sweet smile and   Then you put your cheek   Right next to mine and   All those shades of gray slowly turned into a   New technicolor world and   I’m gonna love you forever   And I’ll be with you   For worse and for better   And I never thought I’d fall   And I’m gonna love you forever and   I’ll be with you for worse and for better   And I never thought I’d fall   But you’re the one   You’re the one  Your smile contains the sun Rays of glory   You’re the one

    31분

  7. 2023. 08. 01.

    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 about Mel Bonis, go to the Mel Bonis website, maintained by Christine Géliot. You can also learn more about her songs at my website Art Song Augmented. Songe (an excerpt from Vers le pur amour) by Maurice Bouchor Guidé par de beaux yeux candides, Dans ma barque féerique aux reflets d'argent fin, Vers l'amour, je voudrais faire voile sans fin Sur des rêves bleus et splendides, Vers l'amour dont le souffle frais Berce des champs de fleurs dans une île enchantée Et qui, pour apaiser mon âme tourmentée, M'ouvrira de saintes forêts. Et plus tard, quand, loin de la terre, O Viola ! Guérie des brûlantes langueurs, Nous irons caresser les songes de nos coeurs Dans l'île heureuse du mystère. Dans le libre ciel des esprits, Quand nous aurons quitté la nature mortelle, Ne goûterons-nous pas une paix éternelle ? Rêveusement, tu me souris. ——— Guided by beautiful, innocent eyes, In my magic boat with reflections of fine silver, Toward love I would like to sail endlessly On blue and splendid dreams. Toward love, whose fresh breath Cradles fields of flowers in an enchanted island, And which, to appease my tormented soul, Will open holy forests to me.  And later, far from the earth, O Viola, cured of burning languor, We will go to caress the dreams of our hearts On the happy island of mystery. In the free sky of the spirits, When we have left our mortal nature, Will we not taste eternal peace? Dreamily, you smile at me.

    34분

  8. 2023. 07. 01.

    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 illuminating look at Maconchy's life and work, see the final chapter of Anna Beer's book Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music. Also please check out the Maconchy page on my website Art Song Augmented, which includes another recording by Songi and Fletcher, as well as additional resources and access to scores. In Fountain Court by Arthur Symons The fountain murmuring of sleep, A drowsy tune; The flickering green of leaves that keep The light of June; Peace, through a slumbering afternoon, The peace of June. A waiting ghost, in the blue sky, The white curved moon; June, hushed and breathless, waits, and I Wait too, with June; Come, through the lingering afternoon, Soon, love, come soon.

    29분
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5
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25개의 평가

소개

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. 

정보

  • 제작진
    Stephen Rodgers
  • 방송 연도
    2021년 - 2026년
  • 에피소드
    24
  • 등급
    전체 연령 사용가
  • 저작권
    © 2026 Resounding Verse
  • 웹사이트 보기
    Resounding Verse

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