The Music of Elizabeth Alexander

Works about Light

Title

Poet/Lyricist

Voicing/Instrumentation

Level

A Love Like That (individual song)
A tender ballad of unconditional love
Poet/Lyricist: Hafiz / Daniel Ladinsky
  • Low voice, piano
  • Medium voice, piano
  • High voice, piano
Level: M
A Love Like That: Songs of Unconditional Love
Six songs full of wholehearted grace, generosity and awe
Poet/Lyricist: Silsbee, Emerson, Hafiz, Alexander, White
  • Low voice, piano
  • Medium voice, piano
  • High voice, piano
Level: Various
A Palette To Paint Us As We Are
A moving tribute to our skins’ true colors
Poet/Lyricist: Gerald Rich
  • SSA, piano
  • SATB, piano
Level: M
Faith is the bird that feels the light
A sweet and soulful affirmation on darkness, light and faith
Poet/Lyricist: Rabindranath Tagore
  • SSA a cappella
  • SATB a cappella
Level: M
Hear Us, O Never-Failing Light
An ancient Mozarabic Easter prayer extolling the bounty of divine Light
Poet/Lyricist: Mozarabic Easter Eve prayer
  • Flexible voicing: 2-4 pt choir
Level: ME
Holy One, Source of Radiance and Reason
A luminous affirmation of the unknowable holy presence found “within, among and beyond us”
Poet/Lyricist: Rob Eller-Isaacs
  • Flexible voicing: SATB a cappella OR 2-5 part canon
Level: ME
I Write This Poem Out Of Darkness
A solitary poet offers unvarnished compassion and solidarity to her imagined readers
Poet/Lyricist: George Ella Lyon
  • Vocal trio, flute, violin, piano
  • SSA, flute, violin, piano
Level: MA
Luminous Awakening
An bountiful and expansive setting of a Hildegard von Bingen prayer
Poet/Lyricist: Hildegard of Bingen
  • SATB a cappella
  • SSAA a cappella
Level: M
Praise Wet Snow Falling Early
A meditation on darkness, transcendence and hope
Poet/Lyricist: Denise Levertov
  • SATB, piano
Level: M
Pure Light beyond Light
Ancient and modern invocations of the Holy filled with reverence, mystery and illumination
Poet/Lyricist: Mozarabic prayer, Hildegard von Bingen, Rob Eller-Isaacs
  • SATB a cappella
Level: M
Shelter This Candle
An evocative work about a cave’s complete darkness – and our own dazzling light
Poet/Lyricist: Edna St. Vincent Millay
  • SATB, oboe, horn, cello, harp
Level: A
Sketches in Gray
Whimsical portraits of the dusky, steely, foggy, shadowy, and furry
  • Piano solo
Level: ME
So Much Radiance
A tender parable about the wisdom and resplendence of the world’s religions
Poet/Lyricist: Elizabeth Alexander
  • SATB, piano
  • SATB, chamber ensemble
Level: MA
Where there is Light in the Soul
A Chinese proverb connecting light, beauty, harmony, honor and peace
Poet/Lyricist: Chinese proverb
  • SAB a cappella
  • SSA a cappella
  • TBB a cappella
  • SATB a cappella
Level: ME