Located in the UK
Located in the USA
Located in Europe
- John Harbison
Seven Poems of Lorine Niedecker (2015)
- Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
- pf
- Soprano
- 11 min
- Lorine Niedecker
- English
Programme Note
Composer note
Lorine Niedecker (1903-1970) lived much of her life beside a flooding river in a small cabin without electricity or running water. She worked small, mostly secretarial jobs. Many who knew her, did not know about her poetry.
More of a presence in England (Harrison Birtwistle made a song cycle from her poems in 1998), she is increasingly valued in the United States, with two recent biographies, and complete republication of her spare, strong-minded poems.
The Wisconsin terrain where I have done much of my work, near Token Creek, is not so different from her home-site, on Blackhawk Island near Fort Atkinson.
Seven Poems of Lorine Niedecker was composed in honor of Tanglewood's 75th anniversary. It was designed to include the participation of a long-time friend and colleague, Ursula Oppens. Previous pieces composed for her include my Parodie-Fantasie (1969) and Piano Sonata (1987). She also played the premiere performances of The Flower-Fed Buffaloes (1976) and Variations (1982).
Niedecker's poems are used with the kind permission of Bob Arnold, Literary Executor of the Estate of Lorine Niedecker.
— John Harbison