Texts: (1) William Shakespeare, Puck’s first monologue from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 2:
(2) Wallace Stevens, “The Emperor Of Ice-Cream,” reprise
PUCK:
Through the forest have I gone.
But Athenian found I none,
On whose eyes I might approve
This flower’s force in stirring love.
Night and silence.–Who is here?
Weeds of Athens he doth wear:
This is he, my master said,
Despised the Athenian maid;
And here the maiden, sleeping sound,
On the dank and dirty ground.
Pretty soul! she durst not lie
Near this lack-love, this kill-courtesy.
Churl, upon thy eyes I throw
All the power this charm doth owe.
When thou wakest, let love forbid
Sleep his seat on thy eyelid:
So awake when I am gone;
For I must now to Oberon.
Recorded April 18, 2010, at 3033 Guilford.
Collaborators: Richard Goldberg (vox), Daniel Schwartz (piano), Dara Weinberg (dir)
||8ve: the parallel octave chorus 