Sleep Song - cover - high voice · Poet, pianist and composer Ann Silsbee was the first woman to receive her doctoral degree in music composition from Cornell University. Her output

Elizabeth Alexander

Seafarer Press

SEA-061-02 $5.00

Sleep SongAnn Silsbee

high voice and piano

Sleep Song

What I love is to slip late at night

into David’s room gaze secretly

down at the soft mask of sleep twitching

with no flush of rage no pout no glee

just the passing in and out of breath

delicately stirring his body

into a hint of motion by which

I know David is living within

safe to love with my whole watching self

Ann Silsbee

© 2002 by Ann L. Silsbee From Naming the Disappeared, published by Vista Periodista, Ithaca, NY

Reprinted by permission of Robert Silsbee

Poet, pianist and composer Ann Silsbee was the first woman to receive her doctoral degree in music

composition from Cornell University. Her output included over fifty works for solo, chamber,

orchestral and operatic forces.

Silsbee devoted her later creative years to poetry, publishing in many publications, including the

Seneca Review, Atlanta Review and Spoon River Poetry Review, as well as in the chapbook, Naming

The Disappeared. Her first book-length poetry collection, Orioling, received the Benjamin Saltman

Poetry Award. The book was published by Red Hen Press in August 2003, shortly before a

recurrence of cancer brought upon her death. Later that year, Ann’s second book, The Book of Ga,

was published by CustomWords.

Elizabeth Alexander’s passion for language and music is reflected in her catalogue of over 100

songs and choral works, which have received nearly twenty national and international awards and

been performed by over 2000 choirs. Reviewers have mentioned to “the close personal resonance

between the composer and the words,” as well as her music’s “delicacy and sincerity,” “elegance,”

"subtle, unexpected harmonic turns," and “freshness within a well-known language.” She has

received numerous state, national and international awards, including a 2011 McKnight Foundation

Composer Fellowship.

Ann and Elizabeth shared many wonderful lunches, walks and conversations during the decade they

both lived in Ithaca, NY.

For more information about Elizabeth’s music, visit www.elizabethalexander.com

Cover image: “Sweet Sleep,” by Janet Lavida. A self-taught artist and

native of Chicago, Lavida writes: “I try my best to capture the essence of

the individual and place it upon my canvas.” She lives Harper Woods,

Michigan, where she works in oil painting and pencil drawing.

More of Lavida’s art may be viewed at www.art-exchange.com and

www.fineartamerica.com

( q = 96) Gently rocking

Elizabeth Alexander

In memory of Ann: Poet, composer, mother and friend

copyright 2004 by Elizabeth Alexander

Ann Silsbeefor high voice and piano

Sleep Song

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p

What

p

I

love,

What I love,

Seafarer PressSEA-061-02

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senza misura

What I

love is to slip late at night

mp

in to-

Da vid’s- room,

playfully

mp

What

p warmly, sung all to yourself

I love

3

a tempo32

36

39

43

47

is to

p

gaze se cret- ly- down, se cret- ly,- se

pp

cret- ly-

down,

pp murmuring

down

p

at the

soft mask of sleep

gentle marcato

4

51

55

59

63

67

twitch ing- with no flush of

rage,

mf

twitch ing- with

mf espress.

no pout, no

glee,

f (but with lightness)

f

just

mp

the

mp

5

71

75

79

83

pass ing- in and

out of breath, just the

pass inging- in and

mf

out of breath,

6

87

91

95

99 rallentando

de

p

li- cate- ly- stir ring,-

p

stir ring,-

stir ring- his bod y-

(poco crescendo)

in -

to

mp

a hint of mo tion,- - - - - -

7

Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret & George Alexander, parents B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous

web designer B Scott Bates, poet B Abbie Betinis, composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael

deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray Bradbury, writer B Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey,

poet B Emily Dickinson, poet B Evelyn Dudley, poet B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer

B Richard M. Fewkes, writer B Pesha Gertler, poet B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher,

composer/teacher B Paul Gerike, proofreader B Steve Harper, technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web

designer B Edie Hill, composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa,

composer/teacher B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet

B Jonathan Machen, artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J. David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf

Prefontaine, poet B Gerald Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King Sigismund III, religious reformer B Steven

Stucky, composer/teacher B Rabindranath Tagore, poet B Howard Thurman, civil rights leader/writer B John

Greenleaf Whittier, poet B Theodore Chickering Williams, poet B Daniel Winter, pianist/teacher B Nancy Wood,

poet B Yehudi Wyner, composer/teacher B Paul Adams, technical advisor B Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret &

George Alexander, parents B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous web designer B Scott Bates, poet B

Abbie Betinis, composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray

Bradbury, writer B Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey, poet B Emily Dickinson, poet

B Evelyn Dudley, poet B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer B Richard M. Fewkes, writer

B Pesha Gertler, poet B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher, composer/teacher B Paul Gerike,

proofreader B Steve Harper, technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web designer B Edie Hill,

composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa, composer/teacher

B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet B Jonathan Machen,

artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J. David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf Prefontaine, poet B Gerald

Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King Sigismund III, religious reformer B Steven Stucky, composer/teacher B

Rabindranath Tagore, poet B Howard Thurman, civil rights leader/writer B John Greenleaf Whittier, poet B

Theodore Chickering Williams, poet B Daniel Winter, pianist/teacher B Nancy Wood, poet B Yehudi Wyner,

composer/teacher B Paul Adams, technical advisor B Opal Palmer Adisa, poet B Margaret & George Alexander, parents

B Yehuda Amichai, poet B Bjorn Arneson, generous web designer B Scott Bates, poet B Abbie Betinis,

composer/colleague B Dennis Blubaugh, music dealer B Michael deVernon Boblett, poet B Ray Bradbury, writer B

Norbert Capek, visionary B e. e. cummings, poet B Philip Dacey, poet B Emily Dickinson, poet B Evelyn Dudley, poet

B Rob Eller-Isaacs, minister/writer B Sophia Lyon Fahs, writer B Richard M. Fewkes, writer B Pesha Gertler, poet

B Richard S. Gilbert, minister/writer B Jack Gallagher, composer/teacher B Paul Gerike, proofreader B Steve Harper,

technical advisor B Steve Hawkins, generous web designer B Edie Hill, composer/colleague B Langston Hughes, poet

B Mark Humphrey, piano technician B Karel Husa, composer/teacher B Kalidasa, poet B Garrison Keillor, storyteller

B Denise Levertov, poet B George Ella Lyon, poet B Jonathan Machen, artist B Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet B J.

David Moore, composer/colleague B Joan Wolf Prefontaine, poet B Gerald Rich, poet B Carl Sandburg, poet B King

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FROM ELIZABETH ALEXANDER AT

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A LOT OF HARD WORK &CREATIVITY

WENT INTO BRINGING

THIS MUSIC TO YOU...

...AND SOME OF IT

WAS EVEN MINE.

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Safe to love with my

whole watch ing- self

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Songs of Elizabeth Alexander

* The Eternal One (Ralph Waldo Emerson, adapted) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-093-00

Die Gedanken Sind Frei (16th c. German protest song, arr.) [duet] alto, baritone, piano . . . . SEA-087-01

A Garret of Old Playthings (Carl Sandburg) soprano and piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-028-00

I Write This Poem Out of Darkness (George Ella Lyon) SSA trio, flute, violin, piano . . . . . SEA-024-01

* A Love Like That (Hafiz, translated/adapted by Daniel Ladinsky) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-094-00

* I’ll Tell You a Story, then... (Nancy White) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-069-00

Jó! (The Edict of Torda) SSA trio or ensemble . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-092-00

My Aunt Gives Me a Clarinet Lesson (Gregory Djanikian)

soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-053-00

No One Gets a Program (Riff on a Dutch proverb) [duet] low voice, medium voice, piano . SEA-095-07

* Oath Taking (Opal Palmer Adisa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-073-00

On the Edge of the Water (E. Alexander) low voice, piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-083-00

So Many Corners (Rose Ausländer) soprano, piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-040-00

So Many Corners (Rose Ausländer) soprano, chamber orchestra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-040-01

* Sleep Song (Ann Silsbee) soprano, piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-061-00

* The Gospel Isn’t Written In the Bible Alone (E. Alexander) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-082-00

Three Rose Auslander Songs (R. Ausländer) soprano, strings, percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-040-05

Trouble in a Minnesota Town (Neal Bowers) baritone, piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SEA-047-00

* Titles without specific voice type exist in multiple voicings (low, medium and high).

For a complete catalog of vocal, choral, piano, chamber and orchestral music,

including recordings and score excerpts, visit:

Seafarer PressSeafarer PressSeafarer PressSeafarer Presswww.seafarerpress.com