Asphodel

1988

13 minutes

Soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, percussion, piano

William Carlos Williams

Boston Musica Viva

April 10, 1989, Kathryn Bache Miller Theater, New York City. Maria Tegzes, soprano, Leone Buyse, flute, William Wrzesien, clarinet, Nancy Cirillo, violin, Katherine Murdock, viola, Kim Scholes, cello, Dean Anderson, percussion, Sally Pinkas, piano, Richard Pittman, conductor

“The text for the piece is about a long marriage and its weathering of storms; the lines come from a poem by William Carlos Williams. The speaker of the lines is apparently a man; he draws a comparison between himself and Orpheus, who went to hell for love’s sake. But in Fine’s music the singer becomes a coloratura soprano. The storms go by quickly, and the singer vocalizes flowering melismas of reconciliation over music that lifts the voice and wafts it like a gentle breeze. It’s a lovely piece, and Marla Tegzes sang it with sympathy and virtuosity.”

–Richard Dyer, The Boston Globe, April 22, 1989

excerpt 1

Of asphodel, that greeny flower…

excerpt 2

like a buttercup
                    upon its branching stem-
save that it’s green and wooden-
          I come, my sweet,
                    to sing to you…