Robert Carl

SATB Quartet

Composer's Note:
15 poems of Charles Simic set for SATB choir.

Simic Songs is a book of fifteen settings of poetry by the American Charles Simic. I have long been drawn to the precise imagery, verbal concision, and trenchant wit of Simic's work. Its combination of intimacy and fantasy seems ideally suited to the form and tradition of the madrigal, especially in its great flowering of the late Renaissance.

This is a "book" of madrigals, rather than a cycle. While all fifteen may be performed in a single concert, it is not required. The order of songs in the book only reflects the chronology of their composition. Ensembles are encouraged to select and order individual numbers as they please, discovering their own interpretive and musical connections. Tempo and timing indications for each madrigal are meant as suggestions, rather than dicta. Performers can always take liberty with tempo and rhythmic phrasing when they feel it enhances the meaning or comprehension of the text.