I Could Not Let You Go

I love WOCO. There is a consensus between the 80 of us that we are the greatest cult around. By that, I sincerely mean that I love my women's choir (WOCO for short...) and having so many sisters is really, really great. Did I mention that of all the people (particularly of all the music people) I've met on campus, the girls from WOCO are the ones that legitimately remember my name and care about what I have to say? It's nice. Nothing could replace Cantabile or Madison Youth Choir in my heart, but having WOCO is the closest I can get.

We're singing really great literature. In particular, we are singing two pieces by James Quitman Mulholland (who is coming to work with us and record us for his cd later this fall) that pull me. Mulholland has always pulled me. "If Music Be the Food of Love" and "Heart We Will Forget Him!" especially. He is especially good at translating emotions into music- so much that one can feel the pull of their heartstrings in the dissonance between the 2nd Sopranos and Altos. Know what I mean? Great stuff.

The piece I feel most connected to of the two (the one that isn't in a frustrating time signature of 7/8) is called "I Could Not Let You Go". Both the pieces have text from poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay. "I Could Not Let You Go" is from a set of sonnets. I thought I would share the text- it is so beautiful, and when Mulholland works his magic and sets it to music...oh. So, so wonderful.


"Strange thing that I, by nature nothing prone
To fret the summer blossom on its stem,
Who know the hidden nest, but leave alone
The magic eggs, the bird that cuddles them,
Should have no place till your bewildered heart
Hung fluttering at the window of my breast,
Till I had ravished to my bitter smart
Your kiss from the stern moment, could not rest.
"Swift wing, sweet blossom, live again in air!
Depart, poor flower; poor feather you are free!"
Thus do I cry, being teased by shame and care
That beauty should be brought to terms by me;
Yet shamed the more that in my heart I know,
Cry as I may, I could not let you go."

Best Wishes,

- Lauren