Who

"Who" is the first song of William Bolcom's song cycle Briefly It Enters, which sets nine poems of Jane Kenyon.

The audio recordings from Briefly It Enters are made possible through a collaboration between the Hampsong Foundation and SongFest. The performers are the 2012 SongFest Sorel Fellow Rachel Schutz, soprano, and Tomasz Lis, piano, and the performance took place at SongFest 2012 at The Colburn School.

Date: 1996Composer: William BolcomText: Jane KenyonSong Collection: Briefly It Enters

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Text

Who
by Jane Kenyon

Briefly It Enters

These lines are written
by an animal, an angel,
a stranger sitting in my chair;
by someone who already knows
how to live without trouble
among books, and pots and pans…

Who is it who asks me to find
language for the sound
a sheep’s hoof makes when it strikes
a stone? And who speaks
the words which are my food?

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    Sheet Music

    Briefly It Enters

    Composer(s): William Bolcom

    Song(s): 1. Who
    2. The Clearing
    3. Otherwise
    4. February: Thinking of Flowers
    5. Twilight: After Haying Text: Jane Kenyon6. Man Eating
    7. The Sick Wife
    8. Peonies at Dusk
    9. Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks

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