Three Rumi Love Songs
Aaron Rosenberg
About this work:
Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-73) was a philosopher, mystic, and ecstatic poet. Translator Coleman Barks defined ecstasy to Bill Moyers: "each moment [is] solid and actual, yet numinous, shot through with divine light and guidance."
"This is how I would die" speaks of love as transcendence of self. The singer declares her devotion and surrender, voice joyously dancing and tenderly sweeping the sky. The piano ripples, surges, and effervesces, embracing her in whirling luminous mists.
"Your eyes, when they really see" implies that ultimate truth-in-love is charged with a sense of derangement, an overwhelming saturation. Both singer and piano in turn swoon, skulk, and swell.
"I could not have known" admits the potency of love’s magnetism, which offers a self-replenishing source of rapture where all else fails. The piano music bounds fitfully in search of rest while the singer opens her heart in zealous passion.
Year composed: 2005
Duration: 00:00:00
Ensemble type: Unknown:unknown 1
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Mezzo-Soprano