Tennessee Songs (2024)

Songs
1. My Little One
2. Carrousel Tune
3. Across the Space
4. The Beanstalk Country
5. Life Story
6. Towns Become Jewels

Composer note
Works for singer, violin and piano have been written since at least the 19th century. This is partly because many singers gave evening-length recitals in those days: they needed a pause between sets, and alternating with an instrumentalist gave them a little rest. The pattern was usually that the singer did a set, then the instrumentalist did a set, and then they both performed with piano accompaniment to round things out. My father was a violinist who played recitals like this on tour with early 20th-century artists such as Marion Talley and Feodor Chaliapin.

This cycle, however, is an entire group of poems set for soprano, violin and piano to texts of Tennessee Williams. Williams is world-renowned as a playwright, but few know of his extraordinary poetry. Like his plays, his poems are serious, funny, mad and restrained – all these temperaments are displayed in these works.

The cycle begins with a short vignette, “My Little One,” which describes a youth unaware of those who feel for him. Next, is a wild ride called “Carrousel Tune” – a mad waltz that spins out of control as Williams portrays both himself and his gay friends as “freaks.” “Across the Space” is a tender poem of the intimacy between two people, and is followed by a snapshot of madness entitled “The Beanstalk Country.” (Williams’s sister was mentally disturbed, and he knew well how to describe her situation.) In “Life Story,” Williams describes, with humor and gentleness, the tender first moments of a casual encounter. And finally, “Towns Become Jewels” extols the beauty of a town after sunset, with one questioning line in what is otherwise a hushed setting of a gemlike text.

The cycle is dedicated to Larisa Martinez and Joshua Bell.

— John Corigliano