About this work:
Chen Yi
Thinking of My Home (2015)
for middle school treble clef choir and piano
American Composers Forum ChoralQuest Commission
Commissioned by the American Composers Forum as a part of its ChoralQuest Commission project, my Thinking of My Home for middle school treble clef choir and piano sets a famous ancient Chinese poem with the same title by Li Bai in Tang Dynasty into music. It’s my privilege to have such great opportunity to work together with the ACF and our lovely students in the Frontier Trail Middle School Choir, guided by their wonderful and enthusiastic director Gretchen Harrison during my creation of the work. Our piece is premiered at the FTMS in Olathe, KS, on May 5, 2015.
The nonsense syllables in the beginning of the piece are printed in italic. Yue means the moon; Ye means night in Chinese. They are used to create a background with the mood of the poem, in meaning, and also in sound.
Thinking of My Home
Text by Li Bai (701-762)
Moonlight in front of my bed,
Is it frost on ground I guess?
Lift up my eyes, gazing at the moon,
Low down my head, thinking of my home.