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About the Composer

Paul John Rudoi

Paul John Rudoi is an award-winning musician, entrepreneur, and advocate for arts access. As a professional tenor vocalist, Paul has performed and recorded a wide range of music in professional ensembles nationwide including Seraphic Fire, The Santa Fe Desert Chorale, True Concord, the Oregon Bach Festival, and most notably as a member of the full-time...

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PJR Music (Paul John Rudoi)

Midnight Songs

Name: Midnight Songs
SKU: PJR-017
Availability: InStock

Paul John Rudoi

A cycle of confidence, love, and loneliness, all in less than 8 minutes.

Difficulty: 3

PJR-017

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Cycle for Contralto, Cello, and Piano

A truly intimate yet powerful song cycle, Paul’s Midnight Songs sets 3 translations of 5th-century Chinese courtesan Tsu Yeh’s incredible poetry in a cycle focused on confidence, love, and loneliness, all in less than 8 minutes.

Text

I. It is night again.
I let down my silken hair
over my shoulders
and open my thighs
over my lover.
‘Tell me, is there any part of me
that is not lovable?’

II. The bare branches tremble in the sudden breeze.
The twilight deepens.
My lover loves me,
and I am proud of my young beauty.

III. So soon…
Today, love, we part,
And our reunion
When will that time come?
A bright lamp shines on an empty place,
in sorrow and longing: not yet.

-TSU YEH
Trans. Rexroth and Chung

$10.00 per licensed PDF