Blemish’d MusE

For SATB choir and orchestra (2222, 4221, 2 pc, strings) or piano. Duration - 20 minutes.

In a word, this piece is about passion. The poets represented here - Anne Bradstreet, Phillis Wheatley, Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg, spanning three hundred years of American poetry - write about the frustration of unrecognition; the joy of sudden inspiration; the magic of connection; and a celebration of our voices.

I take “Blemish’d Muse” from the text of the first poem. I feel it is a great depiction to our own frailties as creators and humans, and an apt depiction of our country – an imperfect, beautiful yet ugly place of inspiration.

Commissioned by the Wicker Park Choral Singers.