A Dream Within a Dream

for unaccompanied SSATB choir and semi-chorus
ca. 7’00”

This piece was written out of the pure desire to create something lush and romantic after singing and listening to Ruth by Paul Ayres — an amazing choral piece that sets text about the Biblical figure Ruth from the Book of Ruth, Proverbs, and Psalms. I was absolutely blown away by how emotional the text was and how the traditional harmonic language used by Ayres complimented the sentiment of the words. I knew I needed to write a piece that has a similar character to Ruth, and I ultimately settled on the classic text A Dream Within a Dream by one of the central figures of Romanticism in literature, Edgar Allen Poe.

As I start my journey in adulthood, time has become much more of a conscious concept — I have this constant sinking feeling that everything is slowly slipping away from me, from my friendships made in high school, to seeing my family less and less due to college and work. Yet, it is only through time when we can progress and improve as a human being, and it is only through time when we can truly live life. I hope this piece will serve as a reminder to live in the moment. As time challenges humanity with tragedies and horrors, let them be the reason we know we are in the present. Regardless of whether we are in a dream or not, what makes us special is that we feel.

Text:

A Dream Within a Dream by Edgar Allen Poe

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow —
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?  
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand —
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep — while I weep!
O God! Can I not grasp 
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?