Event Title
By Some Better Name
Performer / Ensemble
Melody Baggech (Soprano), Rudy Lupinski (Piano)
Date of Publication
3-26-2021
Document Type
Composition
Abstract / Program Notes
This song cycle consists of settings of poems by three poets whose lives span the late 18th through the early 20th century, Though the three poems differ from each other in subject matter, all address timeless aspects of Romantic love. Irish soldier and poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) wrote “Had I a Golden Pound” in 1917, the year he lost his life in World War I. The poem portrays a man of limited economic means (possibly a soldier on the front line) describing the life that he would like to provide his beloved were he to acquire more wealth. Scottish poet James Thompson (1834-1882) wrote “Sunday up the River” in 1865. It is the twelfth verse of a larger work entitled “An Idyll of Cockaigne.” The poet vividly describes a man admiring his love’s beauty as she gazes at her reflection in the water. The final setting “Oh, Call it by Some Better Name” (from whence the title of the cycle was derived) is often recited at weddings. It was written by Irish poet, songwriter, and satirist Thomas Moore (1779-1852), once considered the unofficial poet laureate of Ireland. The poem is a perennial reminder that even love is not always a strong enough word to describe feelings between two people. Although the pitch organization and rhythmic structure of each setting is unique, all three songs have in common ostinato-like accompaniment patterns that increase in melodic activity between verses, changing meters, and a variety of rhythmic subdivisions.
Had I a Golden Pound - Francis Ledwidge
HAD I a golden pound to spend,
My love should mend and sew no more.
And I would buy her a little quern,
Easy to turn on the kitchen floor.
And for her windows curtains white,
With birds in flight and flowers in bloom,
To face with pride the road to town,
And mellow down her sunlit room.
And with the silver change we'd prove
The Truth of Love to life's own end,
With hearts the years could but embolden,
Had I a golden pound to spend.
Oh, Call It By Some Better Name - Thomas Moore
Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:
And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o'er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon--
Then call it none of these.
Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:
And if thy lip,
for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!
Sunday up the River - James Thomson
My love o'er the water bends dreaming;
It glideth and glideth away:
She sees there her own beauty, gleaming
Through shadow and ripple and spray.
O tell her, thou murmuring river,
As past her your light wavelets roll,
How steadfast that image for ever
Shines pure in pure depths of my soul.
Biography
Daniel Adams (b. 1956, Miami, FL) is a Professor of Music at Texas Southern University in Houston where he has also served as Acting Department Chair. Adams holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (1985) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Music from the University of Miami (1981) and a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University (1978). Adams is the composer of numerous published musical compositions and the author of articles and reviews on topics related to Twentieth and Twenty-first Century music.. His book entitled “The Solo Snare Drum” was published in 2000. He is also the author of two entries published in 2009 in the Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History: 1896 to the Present and updated an entry for the Grove Dictionary of American Music. Adams has served as a panelist and lecturer nationally and internationally. He has received commissions from The McCormick Percussion Group, The McCormick Duo, the Robinson High School Percussion Ensemble (Tampa, FL), The Gulf Coast Community Band, The Leechburg (PA) High School Percussion Ensemble, the Louisiana State University Percussion Ensemble, the EOS flute and guitar duo, guitarist Kenneth Kam, VioLet, Lee Hinkle, Richard Nunemaker Studios, Selmer Paris, Buffet Crampon, and D’Addario Woodwinds. Adams’s music has been performed throughout the United States, and in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Costa Rica, Turkey, Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and South Korea. His music is recorded on Capstone Records, Ravello, Navona, Phasma, Ablaze, Potenza, Albany, and Summit Records.
Melody Baggech holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Millikin University, a Master of Music degree from West Texas A&M University and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma. She has been active as a performer in a variety of musical media including opera, oratorio, musical theater, recitals, sacred music, and contemporary music. Melody is active throughout the region and has been featured as a performer at conferences with Texoma Regional NATS and the South Central Chapter of College Music Society. Other performances include guest recitals at West Texas A&M University, Tulsa University and Southeastern Oklahoma State University. In 2001 she joined the faculty at East Central University where she serves as Opera Director and Associate Professor of Voice.
Keywords
Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) - “Had I a Golden Pound”, James Thompson (1834-1882) - “Sunday up the River”, Thomas Moore (1779-1852) - “Oh, Call it by Some Better Name”, Soprano voice, piano
Description
Duration: 8:00. Instrumentation: Soprano Voice and Piano. Date of Composition: 2020.
By Some Better Name
This song cycle consists of settings of poems by three poets whose lives span the late 18th through the early 20th century, Though the three poems differ from each other in subject matter, all address timeless aspects of Romantic love. Irish soldier and poet Francis Ledwidge (1887-1917) wrote “Had I a Golden Pound” in 1917, the year he lost his life in World War I. The poem portrays a man of limited economic means (possibly a soldier on the front line) describing the life that he would like to provide his beloved were he to acquire more wealth. Scottish poet James Thompson (1834-1882) wrote “Sunday up the River” in 1865. It is the twelfth verse of a larger work entitled “An Idyll of Cockaigne.” The poet vividly describes a man admiring his love’s beauty as she gazes at her reflection in the water. The final setting “Oh, Call it by Some Better Name” (from whence the title of the cycle was derived) is often recited at weddings. It was written by Irish poet, songwriter, and satirist Thomas Moore (1779-1852), once considered the unofficial poet laureate of Ireland. The poem is a perennial reminder that even love is not always a strong enough word to describe feelings between two people. Although the pitch organization and rhythmic structure of each setting is unique, all three songs have in common ostinato-like accompaniment patterns that increase in melodic activity between verses, changing meters, and a variety of rhythmic subdivisions.
Had I a Golden Pound - Francis Ledwidge
HAD I a golden pound to spend,
My love should mend and sew no more.
And I would buy her a little quern,
Easy to turn on the kitchen floor.
And for her windows curtains white,
With birds in flight and flowers in bloom,
To face with pride the road to town,
And mellow down her sunlit room.
And with the silver change we'd prove
The Truth of Love to life's own end,
With hearts the years could but embolden,
Had I a golden pound to spend.
Oh, Call It By Some Better Name - Thomas Moore
Oh, call it by some better name,
For Friendship sounds too cold,
While Love is now a worldly flame,
Whose shrine must be of gold:
And Passion, like the sun at noon,
That burns o'er all he sees,
Awhile as warm will set as soon--
Then call it none of these.
Imagine something purer far,
More free from stain of clay
Than Friendship, Love, or Passion are,
Yet human, still as they:
And if thy lip,
for love like this,
No mortal word can frame,
Go, ask of angels what it is,
And call it by that name!
Sunday up the River - James Thomson
My love o'er the water bends dreaming;
It glideth and glideth away:
She sees there her own beauty, gleaming
Through shadow and ripple and spray.
O tell her, thou murmuring river,
As past her your light wavelets roll,
How steadfast that image for ever
Shines pure in pure depths of my soul.