When Carrie Kirby and I were in our early discussions of repertoire for our concert, I immediately asked her to look at my setting of Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways of looking at a Blackbird. I wrote the music almost 10 years ago, but I've never been able to convince anyone that it was worthy of performance. In fact, several people suggested exactly otherwise. I remained convinced of the music. To my great delight, several people came up to me after the concert to tell me that it was their favorite piece of the evening. That's a great lesson for a composer. Given the limitations of my technical ability, it became necessary for me to split this into 13 parts. It was performed as one piece.
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird
Wallace Stevens
I Among twenty snowy mountains, The only moving thing Was the eye of the blackbird.
II I was of three minds, Like a tree In which there are three blackbirds.
III The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds. It was a small part of the pantomime.
IV A man and a woman Are one. A man and a woman and a blackbird Are one.
V I do not know which to prefer, The beauty of inflections Or the beauty of innuendoes, The blackbird whistling Or just after.
VI Icicles filled the long window With barbaric glass. The shadow of the blackbird Crossed it, to and fro. The mood Traced in the shadow An indecipherable cause.
VII O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women about you?
VIII I know noble accents And lucid, inescapable rhythms; But I know, too, That the blackbird is involved In what I know.
IX When the blackbird flew out of sight, It marked the edge Of one of many circles.
X At the sight of blackbirds Flying in a green light, Even the bawds of euphony Would cry out sharply.
XI He rode over Connecticut In a glass coach. Once, a fear pierced him, In that he mistook The shadow of his equipage For blackbirds.
XII The river is moving. The blackbird must be flying.
XIII It was evening all afternoon. It was snowing And it was going to snow. The blackbird sat In the cedar-limbs.