Clothes of Heaven

Joelle Wallach

Joelle Wallach’s The Clothes of Heaven for vocal quartet or chamber choir, commissioned by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble, is based on a  short poem by W.B.Yeats.   The lush tapestry of love and longing woven by the voices’ lyrical interplay reflects that evoked by Yeats’ text.

Aedh Wishes For The Clothes Of Heaven

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.                          

William Butler Yeats

The Clothes of Heaven is one of several short Wallach works for vocal quartet or chamber choir which can be performed as the cycle, Spiritual Speculations.

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