Irreveries from Sappho

The titles of the three songs are: Andromeda Rag, Older Woman Blues, and Boogie for Leda.

Irreveries is wickedly satiric and full of musical jokes and parodies on the subject of jealousy, ageism, and gossip. The composer comments: “Although Sappho’s poetry is over 2500 years old, the deft translations by Mary Barnard seem remarkably up-to-date. Sappho’s wit calls for whatever musical sleight of hand a composer might muster: thus the use of popular idioms and hidden tunes (‘Turkey in the Straw,’ ‘Auld Lang Syne’), as well as the more respectable tricks of the trade such as counterpoint and recitative. Sappho’s three women have clearly distinctive voices, but all three bespeak a fierce pride.”

This piece has been widely performed by a variety of soloists and choral groups including the New York Virtuoso Singers and the Thamyris Contemporary Ensemble at venues including the Corcoran Art Gallery, Harvard University, Abraham Goodman House, the Cleveland Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the University of Iowa, a NATS Regional Convention, Mills College, Mt. Holyoke College, the Cité International in Paris, and King’s College in London. The songs are published by Arsis Pess and recorded on Capstone and Navona CDs by mezzo Sharon Mabry & pianist Rosemary Platt. In 2016 the piece was performed in Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood by soprano Fleur Barron and pianist Eri Nakamura and at Tanglewood again in 2019.

Note: There are also unpublished versions available from the composer for: two sopranos & piano, mandolin & piano, and clarinet quartet (two bass & two standard clarinets in B-flat).

A dissertation by Maria Theresa Hu on Sappho songs includes a chapter on Irreveries. (Hu chapter.)