Melissa Dunphy

Other Arrangements

SATB choir, piano

Commissioned by the Master Chorale of Flagstaff, Arizona, in celebration of the world's first International Dark Sky City and its rich history of celestial discovery.

Note from the Composer

It has been a thrill to compose Following a Light for the Master Chorale of Flagstaff in celebration of their city, which I have loved since I first traveled there to visit the Lowell Observatory in 2012. As something of a "space nut," the wonder of astronomy is a theme I have returned to several times as a composer, and I am always over the moon (so to speak) for the opportunity to work with incredible musicians. This project, however, was made even more extraordinary by the discoveries I made during the writing process. Already familiar with the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Amy Lowell, who frequently uses celestial imagery in her work, I was elated to learn that her last name is no coincidence, as her brother, Percival, founded the Lowell Observatory in 1894. While the Lowells' words form the backbone of the texts I chose, I also uncovered an electrifying poem in the preface to Robert Burnham, Jr.'s Celestial Handbook, written while he was an employee of the observatory. His text perfectly expressed what I was trying to convey in language that all but begged to be sung. I dived into research about Burnham's fascinating and ultimately tragic life, and I am honored beyond words that his niece, Donna Courtney, granted me permission to set his poetry in the emotional climax of the music.

Text

FOLLOWING A LIGHT

1. The Lamp of Life
By Amy Lowell

Always we are following a light,
Always the light recedes; with groping hands
We stretch toward this glory, while the lands
We journey through are hidden from our sight
Dim and mysterious, folded deep in night,
We care not, all our utmost need demands
Is but the light, the light! So still it stands
Surely our own if we exert our might.
Fool! Never can you grasp this fleeting gleam,
Its glowing flame would die if it were caught,
Its value is that it always seems
But just a little farther on. Distraught,
But lighted ever onward, we are brought
Upon our way unknowing, in a dream.

2. Divinis mundi revolutionibus
By Copernicus, Percival Lowell, Melissa Dunphy, Carl Sagan, and Robert Burnham, Jr.

Divinis mundi revolutiónibus, cursúque síderum, magnitudínibus, distántiis, ortu et occasu...
Quid áutem caelo púlcrius, nempe quod cóntinet pulcra ómnia?
[The divine revolutions of the world, the course of the stars, sizes, distances, risings and settings?
What indeed is more beautiful than heaven, which contains all beautiful things?]

In the great desert of northern Arizona, the traveler, threading their way across a plain of sage-brush and cacti, suddenly comes upon a petrified forest. Trunks of trees in all stages of fracture strew the ground over a space some miles in extent. Where one fallen giant spans a barren canyon, one almost hears water rushing down the creek. The torrent, uprooting it, left it prone, with limbs outstretched in futile grasp upon the other side. But the land has not been under water here for some millions of years and more.

Light travels through the river of our galaxy
whispering secrets of stars long gone—
the history of the universe splashed across the sky.

[Perhaps] in an earlier epoch, the sky on Mars was blue, the winds were mild, the air was thick, and the gurgle of streams and the mighty roar of cascading rivers could be heard.

Come with me now, Pilgrim of the stars,
For our time is upon us and our eyes
shall see the far country
and the shining cities of Infinity
which the wise knew
in ages past, and shall know again
in ages yet to be.

3. Night Clouds
By Amy Lowell and Robert Burnham, Jr.

The white mares of the moon rush along the sky
Beating their golden hoofs upon the glass Heavens;
The white mares of the moon are all standing on their hind legs
Pawing at the green porcelain doors of the remote Heavens.
Fly, Mares!
Strain your utmost,
Scatter the milky dust of stars,
Or the tiger sun will leap upon you and destroy you
With one lick of his vermilion tongue.

Rise, oh eternal light
Awaken the World
with the sound of glad song!
And now...
The clouds of night are rolled away;
Sing welcome to the Dawn
of the bright new day!

Performances

• 27 Oct, 2024: Master Chorale of Flagstaff at Ardrey Auditorium, Flagstaff, AZ