Product Description
Program note:
Mary Hubbell was a student of mine at Boston College, a graduate of 1997. Mary had an active performing career at BC in theater and in music. After graduation she worked in the administrative offices of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Eventually she decided to take the next step in her singing career: she applied to graduate school. After completing her Masters at University of California at Santa Barbara, she went to Holland to study at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. She did a lot of contemporary music in the Netherlands, including opportunities to work with Louis Andriessen and Steve Reich.
After four years in Europe she came back to the States, returning to her hometown in Charleston, SC. She had an active studio teaching voice and was quite content. I told her she should not get too settled into her comfortable Southern life, that she should move to New York City. She did and is now finishing her DMA in vocal performance at CUNY Graduate Center.
When she told me she was planning a recital for her doctorate degree, I offered to write her a song cycle. Mary was thrilled. We had email exchanges about what text or poems to choose for the cycle. After dropping a few names, we decided on Edna St. Vincent Millay.
For my research I read two biographies of the poet, one by Nancy Milford and the other by Daniel Epstein. The readings helped me decide on the six poems I chose from the mind-boggling amount of material Miss Millay had amassed from childhood until her death in 1950.
Copyright © 1923, 1928, 1939, 1940, 1951, 1955, 1967, 1968 by Edna St. Vincent Millay and Norma Millay Ellis.
Text used by permission of Elizabeth Barnett and Holly Peppe, Literary Executors, the Millay Society.
Audio link. Copy and paste the URL link into your browser.
https://thomasoboelee.bandcamp.com/album/vincent-millay-cycle-2010
Video link: https://youtu.be/k43XDkLj2lY
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