English Program notes from Recital: Lee Hoiby

Where the music comes from

Written in 1974, Hoiby dedicated this song to a support group he was once in called “The Guide.” In 1986 he revised the song, a common practice of his. This revision includes the modulations after each stanza, giving the piece an overall popular music feel.

Wild Nights

Dickinson uses the sea as a metaphor throughout the text, and Hoiby enhances that imagery with an unruly flow in the accompaniment. Wild Nights is about a wild heart looking for a place to drop anchor.

Goodby, goodby, World

I must admit that in choosing my English pieces, I was merely searching “Lee Hoiby” on Spotify and listening to the songs with interesting titles. I only clicked “Goodby, goodby, World” by mistake. Its title seemed a little heavy for my taste. But I’m so glad I listened because this is now my favorite song in the set. With text from Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, this song is about leaving something behind that you know you can never come back to again. This song was originally intended to be the second song in his Three Women song cycle, but had too much difficulty getting publication rights from the Wilder family.

There came a wind like a bugle

This is the fourth and final song in The Shining Place, a cycle of Emily Dickinson poetry. Storms come through our lives literally, figuratively, and often without warning. There isn’t much we can do besides batten down the hatches and hope for the best. What’s beautiful is what follows the storm: the strength of the human spirit to continue on. For most of this song, the melody, harmony, and piano are wild and unpredictable: a reflection of the scene of terror and destruction painted by the text. Yet after all that destruction, the church bells still ring! It’s not surprising that at this point in the song we have an identifiable key and meter. Dickinson makes a poignant commentary on the ways of the world: “How much can come and much can go, and yet abide the world!” and Hoiby makes it even more meaningful by setting it to such moving music.