JP MERZ COMPOSER
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JP MERZ COMPOSER
an eagle flew
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text by Sarah Burgoyne​

Watch: 

​Listen:

​Instrumentation:
soprano, viola, flute, and piano
additional arrangement for voice, piano and harp
​
Premiere:
June 14, 2015: Ariel Downs (soprano), John Pickford Richards (viola), Virginia Backman (flute), Clare Longendyke (piano) at New Music on the Point in Middlebury, VT

​August 14, 2015: Patrick Terry (countertenor) Lauren Hayes (harp) and Nick Bonadies (piano) at Janesville Performing Arts Center, Janesville, WI
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About:   
an eagle flew takes its text from the subtly evocative poem "an eagle flew in the sun again but it didn't mean the same" by Montreal-based poet Sarah Burgoyne. This setting presents a series of snapshots — memories contemplating on loss, nostalgia, resentment, disappointment and acceptance. 

text from "an eagle flew in the sun again and it didn't mean the same"
i've seen loss bless you
i felt everything but envy 

yet here you are at the edge of the sea
with nothing worth reporting

nothing to replace
your memories of the farm 
the nervous thousand-palmed birches 
the fortress your sister made of rocks 

nothing will suffice 
the sun sets on only a few trees 
and the great grey owl flies headlessly onward 

the days go by 
and every vision 
comes to nothing 

you left the ocean behind 
but the river could have led you 
through the valley


-Sarah Burgoyne

Get Sarah's book here!
​
I performed a solo viola adaptation of this work outside at the ACRE residency in Steuben, WI in 2015.
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