The Music of Elizabeth Alexander

Works about Spring

Title

Poet/Lyricist

Voicing/Instrumentation

Level

A Garret of Old Playthings
Five Carl Sandburg songs full of wistfulness, gumption and glee
Poet/Lyricist: Carl Sandburg
  • High voice, piano
Level: MA
April Rain Song
A richly-textured lullaby sung by the rain itself
Poet/Lyricist: Langston Hughes
  • SATB a cappella
Level: MA
Bells in the High Tower
A beloved Hungarian carol celebrating the cyclical nature of the seasons
Poet/Lyricist: Howard Box
  • SATB, piano
Level: ME
Blessed Be the Flower That Triumphs
A rich meditation on tenacity, resilience, and rebirth
Poet/Lyricist: Michael DeVernon Boblett
  • SATB a cappella
  • SATB, chamber orchestra
Level: M
Glen Song
A playful ode to what’s really important…love, of course!
Poet/Lyricist: Scott Bates
  • SSATB, piano
Level: M
Nature Creature (CD/mp3)
Songs on being alive in this beautiful, complex world
Poet/Lyricist: Lyon, Ignatow, Moore, Ammons, Erdrich, White, Hafiz / Ladinsky
  • Voice, cello, piano
Level: Various
Nature Creature (musical score)
A passionate, eclectic song cycle on the beauty and complexity of being alive
Poet/Lyricist: Lyon, Ignatow, Moore, Ammons, Erdrich, White, Hafiz / Ladinsky
  • Low voice, piano, opt. cello
Level: MA
Spring Grass
The first dance of spring: tweedle-dum and fiddle-dee-dee!
Poet/Lyricist: Carl Sandburg
  • SATB a cappella
Level: MA
Spring Revels
Three spring songs full of vitality, generosity, and love
Poet/Lyricist: Langston Hughes, e. e. cummings, Carl Sandburg
  • SATB a cappella
Level: MA
Tree Song
A simple and wise reflection on the generosity and interdependence of trees
Poet/Lyricist: George Ella Lyon
  • SSA, cello, piano
Level: M
Trust the Seeds
A meditation seed-planting, patience and faith
Poet/Lyricist: Elizabeth Alexander
  • SATB a cappella
  • SATB, flute, oboe, piano
  • SATB, orchestra
Level: Various
We Remember Them
A tender embrace of those we have loved and lost
Poet/Lyricist: Rabbis Sylvan Kamens / Jack Riemer
  • SATB, piano
Level: M
when faces called flowers float out of the ground
A whimsical and amorous song of spring
Poet/Lyricist: E. E. Cummings
  • SATB a cappella
Level: MA