When the Guitar

Program Notes

As a companion piece to Victoria’s O Vos Omnes, I chose to set a beautiful text by the 14C Persian poet Hafiz. The text of O Vos Omnes is asking, simply, to be seen in a moment of sorrow — to be beheld through suffering and darkness. And Hafiz’s text responds in such a beautiful way — it moves through that darkness and begins to let those very first slivers of light in. 

This piece is about that first moment of trust, of softening. About the most inward moments of the human experience, of realizing that ‘breakthroughs’ often don’t have the hard edge, the burst of energy that the word implies, but that they can be about finding tender, warm, deeply resonant spaces within ourselves as well.

NOTE on this version: I adapted my original work, When the Violin for choir and guitar quartet as part of a project with Conspirare and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Of course, it seemed odd to still call it ‘When the Violin’, so with the permission of translator Daniel Ladinsky, we changed the text as well.

Recording

A recording of When the Guitar, with Conspirare and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet will be available soon.

In the meantime, please listen to the recording of When the Violin:

Text

When
The guitar
Can forgive the past

It starts singing.

When the guitar can stop worrying
About the future

You will become
Such a drunk laughing nuisance

That God
Will then lean dow
And start combing you into
Her
Hair.

When the guitar can forgive
Every wound caused by
Others

The heart starts
Singing.

— Hafiz, The Gift (tr. Daniel Ladinsky)

Audio Guide

Here is the original audio guide for When the Violin:

Premiere/Performances

The original work (When the Violin) was commissioned by the Golden Bridge Choir, directed by Suzi Digby. It was premiered on September 8, 2018 at All Saints Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills, CA.

It was adapted for choir and guitar as part of a project with Conspirare and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. It was premiered on November 2, 2019 in Austin, TX.