Welcome to Resounding Verse

05/15/21 • 3 min

Announcing a new podcast about poetry and song. Join music theorist Stephen Rodgers as he explores how composers transform words into songs. Each episode discusses one poem and one musical setting of it. The music is diverse—covering a variety of styles and time periods, and focusing on composers from underrepresented groups—and the tone is accessible and personal. If you love poetry and song, no matter your background and expertise, this show is for you. Episodes are 20-30 minutes long and air on the first of every month. The podcast launches on Tuesday, June 1, with a batch of three episodes.
The trailer features a clip from Farayi Malek's song "Phenomenal Woman" (sung by the composer) and Josephine Lang's song "Scheideblick" (performed by mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas and pianist Susan Manoff).

Next Episode

Scheideblick (Parting Glance): Nikolaus Lenau and Josephine Lang

In Nikolaus Lenau's poem "Scheideblick" (Parting Glance) a man leaves his beloved and, as he departs, imagines sinking his happiness into the ocean. Josephine's Lang's setting of the poem evokes the ebb and flow of the sea, and also the ebb and flow of the emotions associated with it.
For more on Josephine Lang, see Harald and Sharon Krebs's book Josephine Lang: Her Life and Songs.
The recording of “Scheideblick” is by mezzo-soprano Milagro Vargas and pianist Susan Manoff.
Learn more about Lang's songs, access her song scores, and hear video performances of six of her songs by tenor Kyle Stegall and pianist Eric Zivian on Art Song Augmented, my website devoted to art songs by underrepresented composers.
Scheideblick
by Nikolaus Lenau
Als ein unergründlich Wonnemeer
Strahlte mir dein tiefer Seelenblick;
Scheiden musst’ ich ohne Wiederkehr,
Und ich habe scheidend all mein Glück
Still versenkt in dieses tiefe Meer.
Like an unfathomable ocean of joy
Your soulful gaze shone for me;
I had to take leave, knowing I would never return,
And as I departed I quietly sank
All my happiness into this deep ocean.