John Burge

Commissioner: Florida All State Elementary Choir, Tampa Bay, Florida

Premiere: January, 2013, Tampa Bay, Florida

Duration: 4' 30"

Program Note: The Wind was commissioned by the Florida All State Elementary Choir for a premiere in January, 2013 during a concert conducted by Earlene Rentz.  The work is a setting of a three-verse poem by Robert Louis Stevenson for SA choir, piano and optional wind chimes.  The poem beautifully captures a child’s view of the wind as an invisible entity that is mysterious in its motivation and in its demonstration of both subtle and powerful effects on the landscape.  The singers are asked to generate wind-like vocalizations at times thereby creating a sonic image to match the words.  These moments can be further accentuated by the use of a few wind chimes.

Text:

The Wind

I saw you toss the kites on high / And blow the birds about the sky; / And all around I heard you pass, / Like dragging clothes across the grass— / O wind, a-blowing all day long, / O wind, that sings so loud a song!

I saw the different things you did, / But always you yourself you hid. / I felt you push, I heard you call,/ I could not see yourself at all— / O wind, a-blowing all day long, / O wind, that sings so loud a song!

O you that are so strong and cold, / O blower, are you young or old? / Are you a beast of field and tree, / Or just a stronger child than me? / O wind, a-blowing all day long, / O wind, that sings so loud a song!

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894). (from A Child’s Garden of Verses and Underwoods. 1913)