To a Skylark began in early 2010 as an undergraduate assignment to compose a short song cycle. Having studied the great romantic poets (Keats, Burns, Coleridge, Blake, etc.) in high school English class, I was immediately drawn to these poems as inspiration for the text of my cycle. Sorting through such great works as The Tyger and Don Juan, I happened to come across one I had never seen before that caught my attention. Its simple, bittersweet message suitable for a single art song, William Wordsworth’s To a Skylark speaks of willpower amidst weariness, hope amidst hopelessness, and optimism amidst despair.

    The art song itself is centered around a five-note motive stated by the piano at the genesis of the work. The motive, an actual male skylark mating call, is bent and twisted in all sorts of ways throughout the song. Sometimes sung at the forefront by the vocalist while at other times serving as subtle accompaniment, these five notes are the foundation of the entire piece. Though I used the birdsong motive throughout the work, there only two times I consciously allowed the song to sound “birdlike”: at the very beginning (where two birds sing from a distance) and at the very end (where the proverbial skylark of the song flies up and away from the singer). The piece ventures from immense despair to sheer triumph using Wordsworth’s text as the impetus for changes in mood and character. The listener sits on the shoulder of the singer, carried musically through the dreams and aspirations of an optimistic man plainly seeking better days.