Stars, Stones, Water – Carol Barnett

Composer: Carol Barnett

Text by: Marisha Chamberlain

Instrumentation: S soli, SATB divisi, piano

Duration: Approx. 4 minutes

Date Written:  2011

Composer’s note: The poem, Stars, Stones, Water, was a birthday present to me from Marisha Chamberlain, my collaborator and librettist for/on The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass and Mortals and Angels; A Bluegrass Te Deum. Its evocation of the timeless power of music seemed a perfect text to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Boychoir.

text

Stars, Stones, Water

Beneath the stars, the timeless
stars, fifty years
could be just one breath,
But music argues otherwise,
music, which bids us
to listen and listen, while cares
and quarrels
and even opinions dispel.
[Beneath the stars, music.]

Below the great stones, the implacable
stones, fifty years might be a handful
of pebbles, except for music,
its pressure, its heat,
which brings us back
to molten beginnings:
a heap of gems.
[Below the stones, music.]

Upon the water, the ancient
water, fifty years could be merely
a ripple, except for the way
the music rolls
with and also against the current,
and dives and widens and deepens
and does not end.
[Upon the water, music.]

Marisha Chamberlain