Appalachian Liebeslieder Op. 54

Description

Soprano, Baritone, Piano — The Appalachian Liebeslieder, Op. 54, were written on commission from the New York Festival of Song who had asked for a song-cycle that would have to do with some aspect of marriage in 20th-century American life.xa0 The texts were written by Laren Stover, whom I had met during a Yaddo Colony residency.xa0 The poems are told from the viewpoint of a native German woman who comes to America on vacation, marries an auto-mechanic named Roy, and is living with him in a trailer-park in Appalachia.xa0 The songs are scored for soprano, baritone, and piano, four-hands. A German woman comes to America as a tourist. Her car (a Volkswagen, of course) breaks down in Appalachia. She falls in love with the mechanic who repairs it, ends up marrying him and living in a trailer.