Settings of four poems by Rumi, for a cappella chorus
Four Rumi Songs was written for Frederick Jodry and the Brown University Chorus, and was first performed in May of 2006. Previously I had set five works by the Sufi poet Mualana Jalal Al-din Rumi (1207-1273) for soprano and piano, and had been profoundly moved by his beautiful imagery, the unique play between the cosmic and material, his subtle insight into the global mystery.
I wrote Four Rumi Songs as a recent transplant to Manhattan after several years working carpentry in rural Maine, and I think the work reflects the abundant optimism (and perhaps a degree of naivety as well) I felt at the time. The words of Rumi speak through time and space to something deep and universal, and overflow with a music of their own. In working on these pieces, I viewed my job largely as tapping into that inherent musical quality that I sensed in studying the texts. It was inspiring to experience how natural the compositional process can be.
Many thanks to Coleman Barks for the kind permission to work with his excellent translations.
-NJS
Texts:
1. The Freshness
When it's cold and raining,
you are more beautiful.
And the snow brings me
even closer to your lips.
The inner secret, that which was never born,
you are that freshness, and I am with you now.
I can't explain the goings,
or the comings. You enter suddenly,
and I am nowhere again.
Inside the majesty.
2. The Way of Love Is Not...
The way of love is not
a subtle argument.
The door there
is devastation.
Birds make great sky-circles
of their freedom.
How do they learn it?
They fall, and falling,
they're given wings.
3. Flutes For Dancing
It's lucky to hear the flutes for dancing
coming down the road. The ground is glowing.
The table set in the yard.
We will drink all this wine tonight
because it's Spring. It is.
It's a growing sea. We're clouds
over the sea,
or flecks of matter
in the ocean when the ocean seems lit from within.
I know I'm drunk when I start this ocean talk.
Would you like to see the moon split
in two with one throw?
4. Water From Your Spring
What was in that candle's light
that opened and consumed me so quickly?
Come back, my friend! The form of our love
is not a created form.
Nothing can help me but that beauty.
There was a dawn I remember
when my soul heard something
from your soul. I drank water
from your spring and felt
the current take me.
Translations : © Coleman Barks / Maypop Books. All rights reserved, used by permission.