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About the Composer
Joshua Shank
Graphite Publishing
Yellow Brooms and Cold Mushrooms
The life of a satyr must be an easy thing.
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Color Madrigals
SATB, a cappella
from the cycle Color Madrigals
“Yellow Brooms and Cold Mushrooms” is the fourth movement of Joshua’s 6-movement choral song cycle, Color Madrigals, and uses a poem by John Keats about celebration as its text. The piece was commissioned by The Summer Singers (Vicki Peters, conductor) and would be appropriate for advanced high school choirs and above.
Composer’s Notes
Performance Notes
Because of the tight harmonies, little to no vibrato is desirable.
Take a breath only when indicated by a rest.
If a crescendo appears without a starting/ending dynamic it is based on the treatment of the text.
Program Notes
The life of a satyr must be an easy thing. Essentially they just follow the wine-god around and spend most of their lives wrapped in joy and ecstasy in a drunken state of glee. I used some extended vocal techniques (glissandi, vocal “hiccups” and a violent, “drunken” key change) to portray the unpredictable nature of a jovial forest creature that’s had way too much to drink.
A special note: I am especially indebted to Matthew Culloton and Vicki Peters for supporting the creation of such a large work. They and their respective choirs gave all six pieces amazing premieres in three different “volumes” (red/green, purple/yellow and blue/orange).
Text
Excerpt from Endymion
‘Whence came ye, jolly Satyrs! Whence came ye,
So many, and so many, and such glee?
Why have ye left your forest haunts, why left
Your nuts in oak-tree cleft?’—
‘For wine, for wine we left our kernel tree;
For wine we left our heath, and yellow brooms,
And cold mushrooms;
For wine we follow Bacchus through the earth;
Great god of breathless cups and chirping mirth!
Come hither, lady fair, and joined be
To our mad minstrelsy!’
– John Keats (England, 1795-1821)
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