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Who is that Stranger?
six songs of personal exile for high voice and piano
based on traditional anonymous oral poetry of women from Yemen and the West Bank
translated from the Judeo-Arabic
by Mishael Maswari Caspi
Program note: Who Is That Stranger?’s six songs are based on the traditional anonymous oral poetry of Jewish women from Yemen and the West Bank, translated from the Judeo-Arabic by Mishael Maswari Caspi. In each song, the singer yearns for home, for Paradise, for deliverance, for the end of her personal exile - an exile even within a community itself in exile. The imagery is that of the ancient, ageless desert diaspora. Thirst is the overarching metaphor for longing, and each song is an invocation of the outcast’s craving for an almost imaginary home. Although several of the songs call on Middle Eastern rhythmic modes, scales and gestures, one, “I am Thirsty,” also appears to be a modern spiritual, invoking another exiled people’s cri du coeur. Performance notes:
1. Is to be sung as a lovesong
2. The narrator tells a story interspreced with personal laments and piano triplets have two roles as the stageset: the LH triplets are like a heart ominously pounding or hooves in the distance, fate. The RH high triplets are like the ululation of women in the middle east.
3. Like many women’s lives, the official plea is interrupted by personal
desperation: the melismatic lines about the mother and sister suggest wailing
4. Stark and empty as truth. The piano is like those little dots of object in the distant desert, faraway and meaningless visual punctuation of the vast emptiness. Deep disappontment,
5. Sung like a spiritual
6. Consider the piano to represent the bejeweled facets of Yemenite wedding
headdress
7. See the singer as a glorious, transcendent bride
8. Let the audience decide whether the jewels are fake.
3 3 3
3
33
and ev ’ry thing I need. O dwell3er in pa ra dise, dwell
3
er in pa
3
3
3
33
3O I
3
shall bring my food,
3
I shall bring
3
my food, 3my mat tress
33
3
3
dwell
3
er of pa ra dise, o pen for me to come in.
3
3
3
3
With An Almost Magestic Yet Lyrical Longing =72-76
O D w e l l e r o f P a r a d i s e
O dwell
3
er of pa ra dise,
2
I
© 2000. Text used by permission.
W h o I s T h a t S t r a n g e r ?
pocopoco
3
3
3
pa ra dise,
3
dwell er in pa ra dise
3
3 3
3
3 3
dwell
3
er in pa ra dise, dwell
3
er in
3 3
3
3
3
3
3pa ra dise, dwell
3
er in pa ra dise,
33 3 3
3
ra dise, o pen for me to come in. O dwell
3
er in
3
lontano
3
3
Mo
3
ther, Mo ther, I will not tell
3
the sor
3
rows, a ca mel
3
ly ing on
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
3
3 3 3
My
3
heart is full
3
of long
3
ing and full of sighs.
3
Oh, Mo
3
ther, Mo ther,
3
Oh,
3 3 3 3
3 33
3
3 3 3
3
3 3 3 3
Oh Lord,
3
a bove
3
all fir
3
ma ments. Oh
3
Lord, my true
3
sup port.
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
4
Subtly ominous and menacing=84
I S h a l l B e g i n t o S i n g
I
3
shall be gin
II
to sing of
3
You,
sotto voce
3
33 3
said, o thers said, "How vo lup tu ous and de light ful, de
3
3
3 33 3 3
3
did
3
n’t know. Mo
3
più
ther, mo
3
ther, nor
3
was I known there.
3
When I walked up on the roof o thers
3 3 33 3
Oh,
3
mo ther, mo ther.
A tempo
Oh
3
how they
3
ab horred
3
me, sentme to a land I
3 3 3 33
my heart, stab bing like dag gars. Oh, my mo ther my fa
3
mi ly.
subito
Oh,
3
mo
poco allargando
ther, mo ther,
5
3 38va
Mo
3
ther, Mo ther,
con molto rubato
Who3 3 is that stran ger?
sotto voce
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3Who
3 3 is that stran ger?
3
Oh, Mo
3
ther, Mo ther, Oh,
3 3 3 3 33
came down in
3
to the yard, they said, "Who3 3 is that stran
parlando
ger."
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
6
light ful," but,
con passione3
Mo ther,
3
mo ther, when I
3
they have ta
3
ken me from my
3
vil lage. At home the mo ther
3
cries;
3
my be lo ved." Write down, write down, O Judge,
3
stran ger. At home, at home, the mo ther cies, my sis
3
ter says, "Oh,
3
W r i t e D o w n , W r i t e D o w n , O J u d g ePleading =63-69
Write down, write down, O Judge, I have mar
3
ried a
7
III
pi ty, pi ty, pi ty." At home, at home, the mo ther cries; my sis
3
ter says, "Fare
home, at home, the mo
3
ther cries; my sis
3
ter says, "Oh,
3
3
3
3
down, O Judge, I
3
am ta ken from my fa
3
mi ly. At
my sis
3
ter says, "She
3
is gone for ev er." Write down, write
8
poco (meno)
poco (meno)
mol to
3
3
3
"Fare
3
well
mol to
for e
3
ver."
3
well for e ver."
sotto voce
At home, at home the mo ther cries; my sis
3
ter says,
3
3well for ev er."
p o c o
My sis
3
ter says, "Fare
3
3
3
well for3
e ver." my sis
3
ter says, "Fare
p o c o
9
day. and ev ’ry day I serve him, I serve him, I suf
3
fer his heat, his chill.
mas ter, my mas ter, and I his slave; and ev ’ry day, and ev ’ry
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I U s e d t o H a v e a F r i e n d
Semplice =66
I used to have
IV
a friend and he be came my
Entire piano part may be plucked inside the piano, the pedal down throughout in any case
was the fault, but thus is writ ten your fate.
drank still wa ter. Oh, lit tle bird, how you were caught in the net they spread. Theirs
Like a Spiritual =76
I a m T h i r s t yV
I am thirs ty, I am thirs ty but I
11
From a spring I drank mild poi son; but now, O my heart, I won’t drink
lit tle bird, how you were caught in the net they spread. Theirs was the fault, but thus is writ ten your fate.
I am thirs ty, I am thirs ty but I drank still wa ter. O
12
poco più espr. e poco più
As though I were blind, they fed me trou bled wa ter, say ing swam py wa ter re me dies wounds.
fault, but thus is writ ten your fate.
was the fault, but thus is writ ten your fate. Theirs was the
drank still wa ter. O lit tle bird, how you were caught in the net they spread. Theirs
it a ny more. I am thirs ty, I am thirs ty but I
13
bright one guid ed me, shin ing through the flow’rs, wa ter ing the fra grant herbs. the
Oh groom, who gui ded you, who
3
showed you our door? The
3 3
14
O h G r o o m , W h o G u i d e d Y o u
Oh
With Luminous, Jewel-like Joy =58
groom, who gui ded you, who
3
showed you our door?
VI
ma ben dolce
bright but legato
poco dolce
who showed
3
you our door?
3 3
3 3
Oh Groom, who gui ded you,
3
bright one guid ed me, look ing down from the pa ra pet.
15
ma ben dolce
