Requiescat: A "Wilde" Stride
COMPOSER'S NOTE
I've always been a fan of Oscar Wilde. Requiescat is my first setting of text by this iconic poet and playwright of such works as The Picture of Dorian Gray (his only novel) and his comic masterpieces, Lady Windermere’s Fan and The Importance of Being Earnest.
Its Latin title means, "May she rest." Wilde wrote it seven years after his sister, Isola, died in 1867, less than two months before her 10th birthday. Wilde was 12 at the time of her death and later made regular visits to her grave. Isola's doctor recalled that Wilde's "lonely and inconsolable grief" sought relief in "long and frequent visits to his sister's grave in the village cemetery."
In its quiet simplicity, Wilde's lyric poem embodies his deep sense of loss:
Tread lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
The final lines, "All my life's buried here, Heap earth upon it," are reminiscent of another untimely death of a young girl, that of Ophelia in Hamlet.
I rendered the piece in a very American musical expression of grief—the blues. It's a classical-blues crossover with a stride piano accompaniment reminiscent of my arrangement of Duke Ellington's Come Sunday. I accordingly subtitled the work, A "Wilde" Stride.
I dedicated the piece to my father-in-law, Sol Kravetz, whose death on June 8, 2017 was profoundly felt by my wife, Lauren, and our entire family. Sol was also a fan of Oscar Wilde, so I thought dedicating Requiescat to him would be eminently appropriate.
I recorded the piece in the fall of 2019 with my friend Kerry Wilkerson at Sono Luminus studios in rural Boyce, Virginia. As a bass-baritone with the United States Army Chorus, Kerry has sung every genre of music, from opera and classical to jazz and pop. Nonetheless, Kerry was stumped by the very last line of the song—Re - qui - es - cat. It's a downward progression of dominant ninth chords. Each time we'd rehearse the piece, he'd insist he wasn't getting that last line right.
On recording day, he jubilantly marched into the studio and exclaimed, "I got it!" When I inquired further, he explained, "For the ending to work, you've got to think Kelsey Grammer singing Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs."
There you have it!
THE TEXT
TREAD lightly, she is near
Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
The daisies grow.
All her bright golden hair
Tarnished with rust,
She that was young and fair
Fallen to dust.
Lily-like, white as snow,
She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
Sweetly she grew.
Coffin-board, heavy stone,
Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone
She is at rest.
Peace, Peace, she cannot hear
Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
Heap earth upon it.
Requiescat.
Oscar Wilde, 1854 - 1900
DURATION
3¼ minutes
YEAR OF COMPOSITION
2017
CATEGORIES
Solo Voice
VERSIONS
Medium-High Voice Solo and Piano
Bass-Baritone Solo and Piano
PERFORMING RIGHTS
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
PURCHASE SHEET MUSIC
US: TBA
World: TBA
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