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Timothy C. Takach
Timothy C. Takach Publications
I Leave, She Stays
Two people say goodbye after a lifelong relationship.
SATB a cappella
A touching way for two people to say goodbye, this piece sets a portion of famed novel “My Antonia” by Willa Cather for a cappella choir. Through homophonic and evocative writing, Takach conveys the beauty of the landscape, the connection of the two characters, and he provides an emotionally accessible score to which singers can connect. Aleatoric unvoiced whispers at the end provide extended choral technique and deftly support the closing harmonies.
Composer’s Notes
It’s always a challenge to set prose to music, but it’s a challenge I enjoy, especially when it’s such great writing. There’s a connection between these two characters in the book, and the only reason this passage works out of context is because you can sense that connection, if only from these lines. Compositionally I’m not pulling any punches here – the simple homophonic declamation of text is all that’s really needed. The end of the piece does include some novelty, though I think the whispers elevate this down-to-earth scene into something more magical.
– Timothy C. Takach
Text
As we walked homeward across the fields, the sun dropped low and lay like a great golden globe in the west. We reached the edge of the field, where our ways parted. I took her hands and held them against my breast, feeling once more how strong and warm and good they were. I held them now a long while, over my heart. About us it was growing darker and darker, and I had to look hard to see her face, her face, which I meant always to carry with me; the closest, realest face, under all the shadows of women’s faces, at the very bottom of my memory.
“I’ll come back,” I said earnestly, through the soft, intrusive darkness.
“Perhaps you will” – I felt rather than saw her smile. “But even if you don’t, you’re here. So I won’t be lonesome.”
As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.
– Willa Cather
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