Early Snow

Song Collection

Early Snow is a song cycle by Lori Laitman setting three poems of Mary Oliver.

The composer's note and the audio clip of "Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me" are made possible through a collaboration between the Hampsong Foundation and SongFest. In this audio clip, the performers are Anne Jennifer Nash, soprano, and Matthew Brower, piano, and the performance took place at Pepperdine University at SongFest 2010.

Date: 2003Composer: Lori LaitmanText: Mary Oliver

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    Composer's Note

    “I composed Early Snow between November 2002 and March 2003. The cycle was commissioned by Dr. Adelaide Whitaker for soprano Jennifer Check. Its base is the poetry of Pulitzer Prize winner Mary Oliver (1935-), whose three poems are reflections about nature. My goal in all settings is the primacy of the text. This means that meters shift constantly to follow the natural rhythms of the poem, melodies are structured to emphasize the most important words in a phrase, tempos are flexible and harmonies change to color the emotional content. In this way, every word in every poem is bound inextricably to the music.”

    –Lori Laitman

    Songs

    1. Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me
    2. Blue Iris
    3. Early Snow

    Songs

    Related Information

    Sheet Music

    Early Snow

    Composer(s): Lori Laitman

    Song(s): 1. Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me
    2. Blue Iris
    3. Early Snow

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