Absalom

"Absalom" sets a poem of Paul Goodman from his volume The Lordly Hudson, which was published in 1962. Rorem wrote the piano/vocal version of this song in 1946, followed by a voice and orchestra version in 1947.

The story of Absalom, the third son of David, comes from the second book of Samuel in the Bible. Absalom, referred to in the Bible as the most beautiful man alive, was renowned for his extraordinary hair and declared himself king while his father David was already King of Israel. In the Battle of Ephraim Wood, against David's army, Absalom's army is tricked by David's messenger, caught unawares, and Absalom, in his attempt to retreat, is caught and hung by his hair in an oak-tree. Joab, one of David's commanders, runs through Absalom with three spears and kills him. Despite everything, David still grieves for his son.

Date: 1946Composer: Ned RoremText: Paul Goodman

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Text

Absalom
by Paul Goodman

In the roomy oak among the fluttering leaves
and the shadows and the apertures in motion
where the nestling sparrows chirrup in commotion and hop about in fright,
and a voice grieves,
what is this golden moss that interweaves
the branches like an unaccustomed snare
dismaying birds and gleaming brilliantly?
Is it not human hair in the oak-tree?
Absalom hanging tangled by the hair
motionless even to the frightened stare!
Whom Joab like a fowler in the sun looming,
destroyed, spotting the green with blood;
and David, when at last he understood
the rumour, mourned: “O my son Absalom!”
he wept, “O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Sheet Music

50 Collected Songs

Composer(s): Ned Rorem

Song(s): Clouds
Love
Alleluia
The End
Chromatic Fantasy
For Susan
Orchids
Psalm 150
The Nightingale
Absalom
A Birthday
A Child Asleep in Its Own Life
Conversation
A Journey
The Land of Fear
Little Elegy
The Lordly Hudson
Nantucket
O Do Not Love Too Long
On a Little Bird
Poem for F.
The Serpent
Shelley's Vision
The Sick Wife
Spring (Hopkins)
Spring (Koch)
The Waking
What if some little pain...
While Sodom was occupied
A Glimpse
He Thinks Upon His Death
Philomel
Rain in Spring
You, the young Rainbow
Early in the Morning
Are you the new person?
Catullus: on the Burial of His Brother
Ferry me across the water
I strolled across an open field
I will always love you
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
Look down, fair moon
Love in a Life
On a Singing Girl
Sometimes with one I love
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Such beauty as hurts to behold
That shadow, my likeness
To a Young Girl
Visits to St. Elizabeths

Voice Type: High & Medium/Low

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