離思
for solo tenor and piano
ca. 4’00”
《 離思》(2024) is a response to Franz Schubert's song cycle Die schöne Müllerin. I was struck and moved by the universality of unrequited love and strove to find a poem from my culture that encapsulates the same feelings. This amazing poem by Yuan Zhen not only has the same emotional charge, but also shares a lot of the same imagery as the Schubert. This poem, imagined in this piece as the words of the rejector, reverberates in the head of the tenor, the rejected, as he tries to come to terms with his failed confession of love.
《 離思》was written for Hongrui Ren and Nachuan Tao as part of the Curtis Institute of Music Opera Department Schubert Project.
Text
離思五首· 其四 元稹
曾經滄海難為水， 除卻巫山不是雲。
取次花叢懶回顧， 半緣修道半緣君。
Translation
After experiencing the roaring ocean I scoff at other bodies of water,
after admiring the mighty fog on Wu Mountain I dismiss the plainness of clouds.
Even if I'm strolling through ten thousand flowers I won't be bothered to look back at you; perhaps it's because I'm cultivated, or perhaps you're just not worthy.
Performances:
08 APR 2024 (world premiere)
Curtis Institute of Music: Voice x Composition Departments Schubert Project
Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, PA, USA
Hongrui Ren, tenor; Nachuan Tao, piano