Soul and Fire
flute, clarinet, voice, and piano
movements 2, 3, & 4

St. Martin Chamber Players - Merkin Hall

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Soul and Fire is a setting of four quatrains by the 12^th ­century Persian poet and mystic Jalaluddin Rumi.  The songs are arranged according to texts.  The quatrians were untitled by the poet, and were given their titles in this setting by the composer. The first and third songs (The Power of Love, and Memories of Love) focus on the power that love possesses, and the ability of love to effect how we see the world.  The second and fourth songs (Alchemy, and Flame) are about personal transformation through experience and choice.

Setting poems involves many decisions for the composer.  The question of “How does one best represent the poems?” must be considered.  Two choices made in this work are:  1) following natural rhythmic inflections of the translated texts for the voice (and rhythmic aspects of Rumi’s native tongue in the instrumental parts);  2) using musical scales that are associated with music from ancient Persia.  In Rumi’s day, these musical scales themselves carried associations of time-of-day, mood, color, and the four traditional elements.  By focusing on both the text-rhythm relationship, and qualities of scales, the essence of the original context of the poems is carried to a modern audience.