These Strangers

Song Collection

A cycle of four songs for soprano & piano on texts by Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Martin Niemöller (a German theologian and Lutheran pastor) and Walt Whitman.

Date: 2018Composer: Jake HeggieText: Emily Dickinson, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman

Print vitals & song text

About

Duration approx. 10 minutes. Commissioned by the Music Academy of the West with the generous support of Dody and Eric Small. Composed for soprano Hannah Kidwell and pianist Christina Giuca, winners of the 2017 Marilyn Horne Song Competition at the Music Academy of the West. First performance: March 22, 2018 at St Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston TX.

1. These Strangers, in a foreign World (Dickinson)
2. In the Midst of Thousands (Douglass)
3. I did not speak out (Niemöller–a German writer, so this text is not included on Song of America)
4. To a Stranger, #52 from Leaves of Grass (Whitman)

Songs

Recordings

An American Song Album

(Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Jake Heggie)

2019

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