Immortal Love

Everything about John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem “Immortal Love” is timeless. Its eight short lines overflow with transcendent words like “forever,” eternal,” and “never-ending.” When I was considering setting this lyric, I realized the music would need to suggest nothing less than the Truth beyond all human understanding.

Yeah, right.

At the time I was setting Whittier’s poem to music, I was mom to two young and very active boys. Their bodies ran headlong through the world, and their curious minds were clicking and sparking every minute of the day. When I thought of words like “never-ending,” what generally came to mind was laundry and dirty dishes. So when I sat down at the piano to work on this song I had to consciously move myself into a still place.

It wasn’t easy. I would periodically close my eyes and take long breaths. I repeatedly reminded myself that the most profound music is often the most simple music. At the same time, I wanted every voice part to listen deeply to every other voice part, so that they would move through time and space in an interconnected way. One week of composing turned into two, and then three. How could I possibly spend so much time on a fourteen measure piece? But every day I kept sitting at the piano and closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, until one day I made the last small adjustment and there it was: A luminous braid of silken cords.

It’s an illusion, of course, as is all art. If there is any small suggestion of “the Truth beyond human understanding” in my setting of “Immortal Love,” it’s still just a suggestion, a clumsy reminder that beyond the boundaries of our small lives there exists some incomprehensible beauty and order. But the act of composing this song gave me a small glimpse of that incomprehensible thing. Hopefully it might do the same for you.

-Elizabeth Alexander