All That Her Heart Desires

Description

Tenor 1, Tenor 2, Bass, Piano — American author Henry van Dyke (1852–1933) is known for his short stories and poetry, including the poem A Lover's Envy, which serves as the basis for the text of this piece. During his life van Dyke taught as a literature professor at Princeton, served as an American ambassador to the Netherlands, was known as a friend of Helen Keller, and is remembered as one of the leading writers of his time. The first three verses of van Dyke's poem, written in the first person, describe the envy the speaker has for lovely things which bring joy and beauty to the life of his beloved. The final verse of the poem describes a selfless love that seeks to give her "all that her heart desires."This gentle piece calls for a legato (smooth) style toxa0convey the style and meaning of the poetry. Try to crescendo (get gradually louder) and decrescendo (get gradually softer) on each phrase, especially as you move through the dotted quarter notes in the piece. Each time the text repeats at the ends of verses, exaggerate the soft dynamics (volume). Work to sing those quieter passages with energy and intensity to add interest to thexa0repeated text and improve tuning on the repeated notes.This piece may be performed with TB or TTB voices. Throughout the piece at places where two notes are written in the bass part, the lower note should be performed for TTB voicing, and the upper note should be sung if performing TB. Additionally, at m. 44 and m. 67, the high G is optional and may be performed or omitted based on the ranges of the ensemble's singers. Farnell's lovely piece employs the text from a Henry van Dyke poem which describes a selfless love that seeks to give all that her heart desires and speaks to a beautiful, selfless love. Sure to pull at the heart strings of both singer and audience, with lyric melodies, beautiful harmonies and a well-crafted form, opportunities for learning musical skills abound in this song with options to perform TB or TBB.

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