I Will Breathe a Mountain

Song Collection

I Will Breath a Mountain: A Song Cycle from American Women Poets was commissioned for mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.

The audio recordings from I Will Breathe a Mountain are made possible through a collaboration between the Hampsong Foundation and SongFest. The performers in "How to Swing Those Obbligatos Around" are the Marc and Eva Stern SongFest 2012 Fellow, Kate Tombaugh, mezzo-soprano, and Bobby Pace, piano. The performers in "The Bustle in a House" are the SongFest 2012 Marc and Eva Stern Fellows Laura Choi Stuart, soprano and Javier Arrebola, piano, and the performances took place at SongFest 2012 at The Colburn School.

Date: 1991Composer: William BolcomText: Elizabeth Bishop, Louise Bogan, Gwendolyn Brooks, Edna St. Vincent Millay, H. D., Emily Dickinson, Alice Fulton, Denise Levertov, Marianne Moore, Anne Sexton, May Swenson

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I Will Breathe a Mountain

William Bolcom writes the following note at the beginning of the score:

Marilyn Horne requested a cycle made up of poems by American women. I felt that, although I could have put together an anthology myself, the cycle would have a very strong profile if the selections were made with the aid of an American woman poet, and I accordingly asked my friend Alice Fulton for help; she then gave me a list of around 30 poems. Marilyn Horne then told me which of those she liked, I added those I liked, and that is how the selection was made.

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Sheet Music

I Will Breathe a Mountain

Composer(s): William Bolcom

Song(s): 1. Pity Me Not Because the Light of Day
2. How To Swing Those Obbligatos Around
3. The Crazy Woman
4. Just Once Text: Anne Sexton
5. Never More Will The Wind
6. The Sage Text: Denise Levertov
7. O To Be a Dragon
8. The Bustle in a House
9. I Saw Eternity
10. Night Practice
11. The Fish

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