The wind has abated
Program Notes
Premiere: Crepusculum Choir. Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA)
Additional Performances: Cambridge Community Chorus, Winter Concert. Kresge Auditorium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Live Audio Recording: Conductor: Pamela Mindell; Ensemble: Cambridge Community Chorus.
What sparks hope and goodness in the child’s world of darkness? It is the mother who vows to protect her child; it is the child who dreams of a happier tomorrow; it is their love for their family that gives them the strength to keep fighting and surviving.
The challenges children and families face today may be different, yet my goal of my composition is to both acknowledge the darkness, and to remind contemporary listeners that in times of darkness, there can also be light.
The wind has abated is my original setting of the Yiddish folk song/lullaby, “S'hot dos vintl.” In Nazi Germany, this lullaby was sung by mothers to their sleepy children in the Nazi-occupied ghettos. It is a moving example of light borne out of oppression and hostility. The daily challenges and pain these families experienced are washed away, if only for a short time, by the tender, gentle text and melody. I can imagine the warmth of a mother’s hands, stroking a child’s forehead as she sang.
The wind has abated
Premiere: Crepusculum Choir. Berklee College of Music (Boston, MA)
Additional Performances: Cambridge Community Chorus, Winter Concert. Kresge Auditorium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Program Notes
The wind has abated is my original setting of the Yiddish folk song/lullaby, “S'hot dos vintl.” In Nazi Germany, this lullaby was sung by mothers to their sleepy children in the Nazi-occupied ghettos. It is a moving example of light borne out of oppression and hostility. The daily challenges and pain these families experienced are washed away, if only for a short time, by the tender, gentle text and melody. I can imagine the warmth of a mother’s hands, stroking a child’s forehead as she sang.
What sparks hope and goodness in the child’s world of darkness? It is the mother who vows to protect her child; it is the child who dreams of a happier tomorrow; it is their love for their family that gives them the strength to keep fighting and surviving.
The challenges children and families face today may be different, yet my goal of my composition is to both acknowledge the darkness, and to remind contemporary listeners that in times of darkness, there can also be light.