“Let It Be Forgotten” cascades like an incantation for inner peace. A gorgeous yet simple setting of Sara Teasdale’s text, this piece is perfect for treble choirs newer to a cappella works and divisi. The vocal parts flow in and out of each other, winding their way toward a new sense of hope and healing.

Ashley Eyre is a singer, composer, and teacher based in Utah. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Choral Music Education in 2019. While there, she sang in both Women’s Chorus and Concert Choir, serving as section leader in both ensembles. She also studied choral music while studying abroad in London in 2017. Ashley began singing with Cantorum Chamber Choir in 2016, and has performed with them across the U.S. and internationally. She also had the opportunity to perform across Europe in 2015 with the Utah Ambassadors of Music. Ashley has written numerous compositions with premieres throughout Utah. She is honored and privileged to have been named winner of the American Choral Directors Association of Utah Composition Competition twice (2018 & 2022), and is the youngest winner to date. Ashley currently teaches choir and AP Music Theory at Orem High School. Additionally, she earned a second Bachelor’s degree in Communication Disorders from Utah State University in 2023 in preparation for a Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology to further study vocal health. Ashley is thrilled to be mentored by Jocelyn Hagen and published with Graphite Publishing.

Composer’s Notes

I’ve always felt deeply inspired and connected to Sara Teasdale and her poetry. “Stars” and “There Will Be Rest” are some of the first I can remember truly resonating with. I began reading her poetry and found, as I did so, that melodies flooded my mind. I’d immediately sit at the piano to write the music of her words. Inspiration? Some sort of divine intervention? I’m not sure, but I truly feel a bond with Sara Teasdale through experiencing her words and expressing them through my music. As my life continues, colored by new experiences, I love to revisit my favorite poems. It amazes me how words that were so poignant then can be even more so now, how the meaning I composed evolves into different perspectives through her words.

“Let it Be Forgotten” came to me at a time in my life when I was really struggling to let go and move on. Many changes were happening around me– moving from my parents’ house to start a Bachelor’s degree, navigating relationships with friends and family, deciding whether to continue or end a romantic relationship– it was a very new, unfamiliar chapter in my life. I think Sara Teasdale could relate to the sentiment that “it” has meant many things to me. As she says, “If anyone asks, say it was forgotten”, but those that know the complex matters of the heart and mind know that saying is much easier than doing. The music for this text came to me suddenly, written in one sitting after studying these words for the first time. The melodies and sonorities that filled my mind convey that simultaneous desire and struggle to let “it” be forgotten. This composition was soul healing for me and is one that I hope helps those that sing it and listen to its message. Thanks, Sara, for helping me figure “it” out time and time again.

– Ashley Eyre

Text

Let it be forgotten, as a flower is forgotten,
Forgotten as a fire that once was singing gold,
Let it be forgotten for ever and ever,
Time is a kind friend, he will make us old.

If anyone asks, say it was forgotten
Long and long ago,
As a flower, as a fire, as a hushed footfall
In a long forgotten snow.

– Sara Teasdale

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