Till I Become Accustomed to the Dark (2004) by Nicolas Scherzinger Poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay Duration: 18 minutes Four songs for soprano and guitar LISTEN Above live performance is by Janet Brown, Soprano and Kenneth Meyer, guitar. click here to go back to LIST OF WORKS page MUSIC (SCORE and PARTS) - PDF copy Click here (Guitar Part) to download a copy of the guitar part (this is a complete score) Click here (Soprano Part) to download a copy of the soprano part (this is a complete score) email - nscherzi@gmail.com MUSIC (SCORE and PARTS) - order a hardcopy To order a hard copy of the music, please contact Nicolas Scherzinger directly (email below). A paypal option to order hard copies of music will be available soon (2012). Send an email to Nicolas Scherzinger directly, with
the title of the piece you would like to order. NOTE: whether you download a copy of the score,
or order a hardcopy, if you decide to perform the piece in public, please
let me know about it via email, or even send me a program. click here to go back to LIST OF WORKS page PROGRAM NOTE This set of four songs for soprano and guitar is based on sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay. For the past few years I have wanted to write a piece for solo guitar for Ken Meyer, as well a song cycle for Janet Brown. It just so happens that when I talked to both Ken and Janet about the possibility of writing a set of songs for soprano and guitar, they immediately became very excited about the possibilities. Janet introduced the work of Edna St. Vincent Millay to me this summer and, after being immersed in much of her poetry, I found four sonnets that I thought would work particularly well for a song cycle. To me, the first song is about the sufferings of loss. There is a tone of overwhelming darkness that permeates throughout the text. The second and third songs have to do with time and how time is a source of tremendous agony as well as eventual relief. To me, the last song is an acknowledgment and acceptance of definitive truth. This is reflected in the final line of the sonnet, “till I become accustomed to the dark,” which expresses how each of us must learn to meet head-on the reality of loss and the darkness that accompanies it. When I first read this last line of text, I immediately knew that I had found the title for my song cycle. Many thanks go to both Ken and Janet, two masterful musicians and wonderful people, and these songs are dedicated to the two of them with admiration.
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