Instrumentation: SATB Choir
Duration: 4:20
Commission: Illinois Wesleyan University Collegiate Choir, J. Scott Ferguson, conductor; made possible by the Sylvia Monti Anderson Commissioned Choral Work Fund honoring Delta Omicron at Illinois Wesleyan University
Premiere: 3/2/19
Conductor J. Scott Ferguson
Illinois Wesleyan University Collegiate Choir
First Presbyterian Church
Springfield, IL
Program Note:
I Love is a setting of verse XXIX of the thirty in Gertrude Stein’s poem Before the Flowers of Friendship Faded Friendship Faded and is used by permission granted by the Estate of Gertrude Stein, through its Literary Executor, Mr. Stanford Gann, Jr. of Levin & Gann, P.A. Stein’s extended poem was inspired by Enfances, the poem by Georges Hugnet. Originally conceived as a translation of Hugnet’s poem, the transformation into her own piece led to a break in their friendship. What drew me to this particular verse, quoted below in full, is its charming whimsy, its sudden twists, and its linguistic and syntactic play. –JS
Text:
I love my love with a v
Because it is like that
I love myself with a b
Because I am beside that
A king.
I love my love with an a
Because she is a queen
I love my love and a a is the best of then
Think well and be a king,
Think more and think again
I love my love with a dress and a hat
I love my love and not with this or with that
I love my love with a y because she is my bride
I love her with a d because she is my love beside
Thank you for being there
Nobody has to care
Thank you for being here
Because you are not there.
And with and without me which is and without she can be late and then
and how and all around we think and found that it is time to cry
she and I