- Gabriela Lena Frank
Sun Quilt (2016)
- G Schirmer Inc (World)
- SATB a cappella
- 4 min
- Laura Coates Reed
- English
Programme Note
Text:
The Sunset
The sun has such a pretty quilt.
Each night he goes to bed,
it’s made of gold,
with great long stripes of red.
And bordered by the softest tints,
all the shades of gray.
It’s put together by the sky,
and quilted by the day.
— Laura Coates Reed
Composer Note:
Quilts are frequently wordless yet communicate abundantly in tradition and beauty. In Sun Quilt for SATB choir, rising and falling lines of wordless singing/humming is used to convey the mesmerizing pieces of fabric that interweave together in the most skilled quilter’s hands. When words do come into play in this piece, they draw on the poetry of Laura Coates Reed, a 19th century American poetess whose work is featured in historical anthologies of women’s poetry. Sensitive to the issues and artistic expressions of women of the day, her own sweet words equate the artistry of quilting to the artistry of nature.
— Gabriela Lena Frank
The Sunset
The sun has such a pretty quilt.
Each night he goes to bed,
it’s made of gold,
with great long stripes of red.
And bordered by the softest tints,
all the shades of gray.
It’s put together by the sky,
and quilted by the day.
— Laura Coates Reed
Composer Note:
Quilts are frequently wordless yet communicate abundantly in tradition and beauty. In Sun Quilt for SATB choir, rising and falling lines of wordless singing/humming is used to convey the mesmerizing pieces of fabric that interweave together in the most skilled quilter’s hands. When words do come into play in this piece, they draw on the poetry of Laura Coates Reed, a 19th century American poetess whose work is featured in historical anthologies of women’s poetry. Sensitive to the issues and artistic expressions of women of the day, her own sweet words equate the artistry of quilting to the artistry of nature.
— Gabriela Lena Frank