S1003
InDream
for Soprano and Piano
by J.J. Swift
Text by Judy Aslesen Rekela
1. Twilight
2. Kite Dreams
3. Abandoned Fields
4. InDream
5. Dawn
Vocal Music: Soprano and Piano
Score:
Vocal/Piano
Duration: 14
min.
Level: Advanced
Commissioned: Carolyn Finley
Premiered: St. John's University,
1992;
Carolyn Finley, soprano; Edward Turley, piano
Awards: The song cycle "InDream" received an honorable mention in the 1992 NATS
National Composition Competition from judge Robert Ward.
InDream is a
set of five vignettes. A cycle, in the true sense, it begins with
Twilight, the first verse and ends with Dawn, the second verse
(with slight variations) of the same song. Between these “verses” are
Kite Dreams, Abandoned Fields, and the song InDream.
Highly psychological, abundant in symbolism, InDream is about coming
to terms with one’s loss of childhood dreams as well as the disappointments
of adulthood. It is about losing and regaining hope. It addresses the inner
struggle to integrate the adult self with the “child within”.
As the poetry is decidedly symbolic, so is
the music. The simplicity of the melodies and harmonies belie the
complexities of ideas and craft of composition. The InDream cycle is
jam-packed with “word painting” and “sound painting”. For instance, the
simple tune of Twilight and Dawn symbolizes child-like
innocence. Twilight, the beginning of this quest to self-realization
includes fear and anxiety: a semi-disguised quote of the Dies Irae
chant,
as well as ominous thunder in the bass tremolo at the end of the movement.
Dawn is filled with resolution, the Dies Irae replaced
with a reference to the childhood hopefulness of the Kite Dreams
theme as the sun rises.
Some of the sound-painting is obvious: the
running 8th notes in Kite Dreams symbolize the churning
legs of the child running with his kite; the rapid descending chromatic
scale is the kite plunging to the ground as childhood dreams are shattered.
However, most of the word/sound-painting is more subtle, only to be
discovered through intricate score analysis, such as the lower neighbor
tones on the word “swayback”, or the highest note in Kite Dreams
landing on “above all else that matters”. The powerful text directly
influences the music throughout the set of songs.
In Abandoned Fields, the “child
within” has been set aside. The adult self deals with broken dreams and
memories. The poetry lends itself to a more conventional ABA form with
transitions. Once again, there is sound-painting: the octave half notes in
the piano bass symbolizing both a slow walk down “sorrow-rutted roads to
forgotten fields”, as well as the slow process of self-examination at the
tick-tock of the pendulum of time.
The free form of the song InDream
directly follows the text, which is split into two characters representing
one’s adult self and inner child. The conflict between these two aspects of
the personality is captured in the music until finally, resolution occurs.
Elements of the other pieces are incorporated in the song InDream,
the climax of the cycle.
After a night of soul-searching, the adult
self and inner child are reunited in the final movement Dawn, which
as previously described is, in essence, the second verse of Twilight.
This recapitulation lends structure and cohesiveness to this set of songs.
InDream’s soul-searching journeys through fear, the loss of innocence,
disappointment, and despair. Its destination is the regaining of hope and
the ability to dream again.
