“Mnemosyne”: An Art Song Project

Poetry Editor Don Bogen: As I mentioned when we published the score of Carrie Magin’s setting of Todd Hearon’s poem “Mnemosyne” in our Winter 2017 issue, this particular commission brings our series of art songs full circle, since the project began four years earlier in a course on music and poetry Carrie taught at the University of Cincinnati.  Last year Carrie found Todd’s sonnet from our Winter 2012 issue and set it for baritone and piano.  Its first performance was at Interlochen Arts Camp in summer of 2016, with Ian Greenlaw singing and Brianna Matzke at the piano.  You can hear that performance on our YouTube channel here:

 

And, to go back a bit in the process, you can see Todd reading the poem here:

A poet, a poem, a composer setting the poem, a singer and a pianist performing the setting, and two videos—there are a lot of people doing different things behind this.  Mnemosyne, the mother of the nine muses, would be proud.  At this stage, “Mnemosyne” the poem and “Mnemosyne” the song are here for folks to read, hear, and see individually on screens and on the page.  Feel free to share, of course, and huddle around a laptop if you’re so inclined.  Or sing, or play the score, as one of our subscribers did with “Sefiros” in our Winter 2015 issue.  And, if you like what you find, check out the five other art songs we’ve commissioned here on our blog.

Happy reading, viewing, listening, singing, and whatever.

(Buy a copy of Issue 13.2 in our online store—in e-book form!—to see the score or read the poem yourself.)