Quick View
Scoring & Instrumentation
Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra
2-2-ehn-2-bcl-2, 4-3-2-btbn-1,cel,timp, harp, str, Mezzo-Sop
Alternate Title
FROM THE DARK TOWER
Year Authored (or revised)
Duration (min)
30
Movements
-
Files & Media
Audio
-
Video
-
Sample Pages
-
Detail
Description
1. O Black and Unknown Bards (text by James Weldon Johnson) pg. 1
2. Southern Mansion * (text by Arna Bontemps) pg. 11
3. Bend Willow and Weep (text by Herbert Clark Johnson) pg. 20
4. Old Black Men * (text by Georgia Douglas Johnson) pg. 27
5. No Images * (text by William Waring Cuney) pg. 33
6. Dream Variation (text by Langston Hughes) pg. 38
7. For a Poet * (text by Countee Cullen) pg. 46
8. From the Dark Tower (text by Countee Cullen) pg. 53
*newly orchestrated movements
First Perfomance
Feb. 25, 2023 Texas State Orchestra, TXST, Jacob Harrison, conductor
Recording
-
Text Language - Non English
-
Text Source/Author
Texts: James Weldon Johnson, Arna Bontemps, Herbert Clark Johnson, Georgia Douglas Johnson, William Waring Cuney, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen
Title Number
Ensemble Type
solo voice(s)+large ensemble or orchestra
Genre/Theme
ArtSongAlliance
Highlight Series
Music by women
Music by BIPOC composers
African American experience
Instrument
Mezzo-Soprano
Purchase Options
Print & Ship
$108.00 full score ACA-MODR-033s
Print Price
$108.00 full score ACA-MODR-033s
From the Dark Tower is a cycle of eight songs composed by Dorothy Rudd Moore (1940-2022) in 1970, originally scored for mezzo-soprano, cello, and piano. Moore orchestrated four of the songs in 1972 for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. This edition of From the Dark Tower includes the four orchestrations by Dorothy Rudd Moore, alongside orchestrations of the remaining four songs, by Michael Ippolito, to allow for a complete orchestral performance of the full eight-song cycle.