Melissa Dunphy

Commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and first performed by the BBC Singers, conducted by Grace Rossiter.

Propelled forward by repeated motives on the text I Shall Arise, this exciting concert work sets a poem from Dora Sigerson Shorter. Affirming and brimming with confidence, it builds to a thrilling ending. The premiere performance at Temple Church, London, marked International Women’s Day with a live broadcast of music by leading women composers of the 21st Century. Published by Edition Peters.


I am the World
By Dora Sigerson Shorter

I am the song, that rests upon the cloud;
I am the sun:
I am the dawn, the day, the hiding shroud,
When dusk is done.

I am the changing colours of the tree;
The flower uncurled:
I am the melancholy of the sea;
I am the world.

The other souls that, passing in their place,
Each in their groove;
Out-stretching hands that chain me and embrace,
Speak and reprove.

"O atom of that law, by which the earth
Is poised and whirled;
Behold! you hurrying with the crowd assert
You are the world."

Am I not one with all the things that be
Warm in the sun?
All that my ears can hear, or eyes can see,
Till all be done.

Of song and shine, of changing leaf apart,
Of bud uncurled:
With all the senses pulsing at my heart,
I am the world.

One day the song that drifts upon the wind,
I shall not hear;
Nor shall the rosy shoots to eyes grown blind
Again appear.

Deaf, in the dark, I shall arise and throw
From off my soul,
The withered world with all its joy and woe,
That was my goal.

I shall arise, and like a shooting star
Slip from my place;
So lingering see the old world from afar
Revolve in space.

And know more things than all the wise may know
Till all be done;
Till One shall come who, breathing on the stars,
Blows out the sun.

Artwork by William Blake (adapted by Matt Dunphy).

Performances

• 13 Apr, 2024: Coro Vocati at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, Atlanta, GA
• 09 Apr, 2024: Voices of Ascension at Roulette Intermedium, Brooklyn, NY
• 04 Jun, 2023: Harmonium Chamber Singers at United Methodist Church, Morristown, NJ
• 03 Jun, 2023: Harmonium Chamber Singers at United Methodist Church, Morristown, NJ
• 15 May, 2023: University of Chicago University Chorus at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
• 13 May, 2023: Ensemble Companio at Good Shepherd-Faith Presbyterian Church - NYC, New York, NY
• 07 May, 2023: Harmonium Chamber Singers at Morrow Methodist Church, Maplewood, NJ
• 07 May, 2023: South Metro Chorale at Community of the Cross Lutheran Church, Bloomington, MN
• 06 May, 2023: Harmonium Chamber Singers at Grace Episcopal Church, Madison, NJ
• 06 May, 2023: South Metro Chorale at Community of the Cross Lutheran Church, Bloomington, MN
• 29 Apr, 2023: College Choir & Chorale at Kendall Main Stage Theater, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ
• 15 Apr, 2023: Ensemble Companio at First Parish in Brookline, Brookline, MA 
• 25 Mar, 2023: Ensemble Companio at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Albany, NY
• 11 Mar, 2023: San Gabriel Valley Choral Company at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Monrovia, CA
• 19 Feb, 2023: The Piedmont Singers of Central VA at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Midlothian, VA
• 18 Feb, 2023: The Piedmont Singers of Central VA at St. Benedict Catholic Church, Richmond, VA
• 12 Nov, 2022: Seattle Pro Musica at Seattle First Baptist Church, Seattle, WA
• 05 Nov, 2022: University of Minnesota University Singers at Ted Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
• 01 Nov, 2022: Winthrop University Choir at McBryde Hall, Winthrop University, Rock Hill, SC
• 23 Oct, 2022: The Piedmont Singers of Central VA at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, Midlothian, VA
• 16 Oct, 2022: The Piedmont Singers of Central VA at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Lynchburg, VA
• 08 Mar, 2022: BBC Singers at Temple Church, London, United Kingdom

Awards

• Music Publishers Association of the United States - Paul Revere Award (Choral Music Note-setting) 2023