Composer: Laurie Betts HughesDetailsFormat: Mixed Choir - 4 voicesVoicing: SATBAccompaniment: keyboardInstrumentation: pianoNotation: standardPerformance Length: 3:35 Study Scores & Audio FilesStudy Score & Audio Order Printed ScoresPublisher: DandelionMusicPress Texts & TranslationsLanguage(s): EnglishText Source: Emily DickinsonText: We learned the Whole of Love— The Alphabet— the Words— A Chapter— then the mighty Book— Then— Revelation closed— But in Each Other’s eyes An Ignorance beheld— Diviner than the Childhood’s— And each to each, a Child— Attempted to expound What Neither— understood— Alas that Wisdom is so large— And Truth— so manifold! Programming AidsPerformance Difficulty: moderately easySeasonal Usage: SpringValentine’s DayAnniversaryDescriptive Terms: loverelationshipsmarriageanniversarydeathAllow Excerpts: Composition is a single movementComposer’s Notes: Before I discovered composing for choir, I was a fervent songwriter and wrote exclusively for piano and voice. This was my first choral composition, written for chamber performance at Interlochen Arts Camp in the summer of 1994 when I was 17 years old for the "boy back home." In the wisdom or fog of the teen years, I would daydream about what love truly was. As I pined away from summer camp, I imagined that I had found the Real Thing. It is now several decades later, and after a few bumps and bruises trying to figure out just what "true love" actually is, I have discovered that this text is more about the journey of love and not about the destination. This poem, like great art, shifts and changes in meaning as the listener matures and grows in understanding. I imagine that "love" is like "art" in the same way— shifting in meaning over a lifetime of changing, but always bigger and more profound than one's limited experience with it. Additional InformationDate of Completion: July, 1994Date of First Performance: Monday, August 15, 1994Premier Performance Data: Interlochen Arts Camp ad hoc ensemble, () Interlochen Arts Camp, Interlochen, MIAdditional Performances: Spring 2009: University of Washington University Chorale, conducted by Laurie Betts Hughes. Meany Hall, UW Campus, Seattle, WA. .
