TWO SONGS

Composed: 1990 (Temporarily withdrawn for revisions)
Premiere:  Christine Schadeberg, soprano; Sonoklect Ensemble, Lexington, VA, May 18, 1990
Duration: 9 minutes
Instrumentation:  Soprano, flute, violin, cello, tuba or trombone, percussion, piano

PROGRAM NOTES

I.  Ma Mata
II.  I Sang

After participating recently in a class on mythology I was inspired to study further the goddess of the period 2500-700 B.C. Anthropological studies suggest that in this time the prominent deity was a goddess who was called by various names in different parts of the world, Ma Mata, Demeter, Egg of Heaven, Queen of the Bright Night, etc. The goddess was worshipped by non-aggressive cultures who were agrarian, intuitive, and in touch with the earth and natural forces. The text for MA MATA is a result of this study. Some of the terminology in this text is an amalgamation of language gleaned from various books on the subject, while the rest is my own. I Sang is a setting of a short poem by Carl Sandburg.