be for me the rain
(deprecatus sum: a prayer of supplication from The Book of Prayers)
be for me an autumn rain
made to remember try to forget
summer's ephemeral light
be for me the rain
be for me the taste of rain
lips kiss your face
an immutable sea
be for me the rain
be for me a sacred rain
a ravaged forest of cedar flesh
burnt, charred and steaming
be for me the rain
be for me the company of rain
alliance of slugs & mushrooms
all tiny things of the earthly kingdom
be for me the rain
be for me like the morning rain
bow toward a rising sun
forgiving & uncomfortable
be for me the rain
be for me the rain
be for me the rain
be for me the rain
Composed by Carolyn Quick, Text by JCCortens
Premiered on June 30th, 2024 during the 4th annual Let it Be New concert series in conjunction with Cincinnati Song Initiative and the 2023-2024 National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) composer mentorship program.
Composer's Notes:
be for me the rain sets a newly composed text by poet JCCortens. This work is the second addition to a longstanding collaboration, The Book of Prayers: a seven part song cycle exploring humility, spirituality, meditation, and healing through nature and reflection. be for me the rain represents Deprecatus Sum: A prayer of supplication, presenting a humble petition for aid, reflecting on grief, destruction, renewal, and the search for a way forward.
This piece was commissioned by the National Association of Teachers of Singing and Cincinnati Art Song Initiative for their 2024 “Let it Be New” concert as a part of the 2023-2024 NATS Mentoring Program for Composers. During the program, I received the mentorship of composer and pianist Niloufar Nourbakhsh who inspired me to find new ways to approach to color, form, and textural writing.
Baritone - Randell McGeePiano Sasha Rasmussen
be for me the rain performance
* * *
A Walk in the Woods at Night
i
I try to love this world from a house by the sea
I beg the night for words to tell an old story
Search for a pile of stones to mark the way home
This crystal night ocean is no help for the lost
I beg the night for words to tell an old story
My love swept out to sea leaves nothing to wonder
This crystal night ocean is no help for the lost
Rain on the roof unkind words of surprize
ii
White noise highway
Please no more talk
Salt Spring Island
Three to Four Times
On the phone
On the phone
These years cost health
Enough, you victim! Enough!
On the bed
In the hospital
Love was there
Love was there
The day I sat on Salt Spring Island
Cross-legged like a monk
& hoped
& hoped
My time away
Holy emptiness
Past fear & pain
I promised not to leave
& I left
iii
My love swept out to sea leaves nothing. I wonder
who made this watery world of blessings for me
Rain on the roof unkind words of surprize
I look now for some other prophet to worship
Who made this watery world of blessings for me?
I try to love this world from a house by the sea
I look now for some other prophet to worship
Search for a pile of stones to mark the way home
Performance Recording 'A Walk in the Woods at Night'
Text: JCCortens Music: Aaron Price
Premiered ArtSongLab June 2024
Mel Braun, Baritone
Laura Loewen, piano
Composer's Notes:
A Walk in the Woods at Night (2024) is a setting of texts by JCCortens written based on our conversations and collaborative journaling process for (Art)SongLab 2024. This collection has three movements (not individually titled).
* * *
Pantoum for a Dying Dog
I walk above water through a drowning forest to remember my old dog
who forgave me long ago for wishing he were young again.
To cradle his dying head against my chest was the least I could possibly do.
As I waited for a vision of tree limbs and moon shadows
he forgave me for wishing he were young. Again,
a search for home pulls him without kindness or apology
through a vision of tree limbs. Moon shadows
tangle the path into the middle of the day.
A search for home pulls him without kindness or apology.
Forgiveness, reflecting bright blue as my mother’s eyes,
tangles along this path into the middle of this day.
I awaken the wind and rain as slowly as my ancestors
reflecting forgiveness bright blue as my mother’s eyes.
I walk above water through a drowning forest to remember my old dog,
awakened by wind and rain. Slowly, my ancestors
cradle his dying head against my chest. The very least they could possibly do.
Text: JCCortens Music: Nathan Wright Bueno de Mesquita
Lynne McMurtry, Contralto
Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa, Piano
Premiered ArtSongLab June 2024
Performance Recording ArtSongLab 2024
Composer's Notes:
Pantoum for a Dying Dog is a setting of a text of the same name by JCCortens. The pantoum is a poetic form in which the second line of each stanza is reused as the first line of the next stanza. Each of the unique lines is repeated once throughout the poem. In this setting, each unique line has been assigned a melody, and when that line returns so does its melody. When the lines return however, they are often varied in some way, as is the melodic material. The poem seems to depict the narrator wandering while thinking back on memories of his dog who has died. The song seeks to capture the somber and wandering atmosphere of the poem.
* * *
From The Book of Prayers Donum Aquae: Gift of Water
Dawn breaks to release
dreams rising like dark sky birds
Cathedral forest
incantations and carols
call me to go to the sea
Down on bended knee
beside my kindred ocean
Morning rain arrives
Willow bends to touch the earth
Black crow calls my name out loud
Please come dark angel
with shoulders to lift me up
Pull this thread of doubt
Shore give way to salty tears
Faith untie my knot of fear
The blessings of rain
release me now to rise up
Heart rings hope anew
Emerging from dark into dawn to
once more live within my joy
As presented at ArtSongLab June 2018
Carolyn A. Quick Composer,
Lynne Mcmurtry, contralto
Alison d’Amato, pianist
Performance Recording
World Premiere Performance
June 29, 2018
Pyatt Hall, Vancouver, BC
Poet & educator 