Three Poems of Adele Graf
for mixed choir | 17’
Three Poems of Adele Graf is a choral trilogy set to the evocative poetry of Canadian poet Adele Graf. Suitable for both large and smaller ensembles, the work is ideal for advanced amateur through professional choirs. The piano serves as an equal partner to the choir, offering active interplay and generous harmonic support throughout.
"Summer morning" captures the peace of a secluded lakeshore, beginning with airy stillness that rises to a radiant choral ascent. "Memory" explores the mechanism of speaking while, in grief, the poet remembers a sister who died after forgetting how to breathe. "Crescent" paints a vivid seascape of a shrieking girl on a runaway mare, thundering through the froth of a windswept Nova Scotia Beach. The song’s music is inspired by Schubert’s “Erlkönig,” Scottish dance, and epic film music.
The songs may be performed individually or as a set.
The maximum divisi for each song is:
1 . "summer morning": SS AA TT BB (mostly homorhythmic)
2. "memory": SS AA TT BB (mostly homorhythmic)
3. "Crescent": SSSS AAA TTTT B (Melody fans out to a 12-note cluster. This happens several times throughout piece, always the same. All other divisis max out at SS AA TT BB.
Commissioned and World Premiere Performance
Ottawa Choral Society
Gabrielle Gaudreault, Artistic Director
Scott Richardson, piano
October 2025
Lyrics
summer morning
air hovers in its newborn skin of light
stillness that flourishes before day's burst
before the sun's vigour overheats the sky
and brisk voices overwhelm the calm
while dew suspends its last moist breath
morning, bathed and rosy, rises
memory
how can my brain remember
to close my lips for the m
lower the tip of my tongue for the s
touch the roof of my mouth for the d
so I can utter the words
my sister died
after my sister's brain forgot
how to breathe
Crescent
Waves rear and froth. They bound
like the mare onto white sand. Your scream
pierces their sudden rumble, then hovers
above the ocean.
Wind swirls the mare's mane as she sprints
unchecked down the crescent beach, whose end
fades from where I stand, my mouth
a perfect O.
That runaway mare abducts you, loud
in fright as I am mute, your father's gait
a doomed attempt to match
her headlong gallop.
Haunches drenched, at last she halts. You
slowly descend. Now decades later, what lingers
for us, below your floating shriek, is
the splendour of that beach.