Poe Songs for soprano and piano - Full Score PDF

The five poems in the Poe Songs chart a timeline in the life of the American poet Edgar Allan Poe. Orphaned early, he was fostered by the wealthy merchant John Allan and his wife Frances. His strained relationship with John worsened after gambling debts forced him out of the University of Virginia. After the death of his foster mother in 1829, he wrote Alone, reflecting on his isolation and foreshadowing his tragic life. An early poem, it was placed it at the end of the cycle as a kind of prequel, foreshadowing his troubled life. Poe later joined the Army, publishing Tamerlane and Other Poems, which included The Lake, a piece rich with Poe’s signature darkness.

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After a brief stint at West Point, Poe gained literary success. By 1835, he was assistant editor at Southern Literary Messenger, where he published Bridal Ballad, a deceptively cheerful poem. Marrying his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836, Poe moved to Philadelphia, working for Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and later Graham’s Magazine, where he pioneered the detective genre with The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

Virginia’s tuberculosis in 1842 led to Poe’s decline. Moving to New York, he published The Raven (1845), reaching peak fame but suffering stress and illness. Excluded from high society, he wrote An Enigma, mocking literary pretension. In 1849, A Dream Within a Dream captured his existential despair.

Following Virginia’s death, Poe pursued multiple romances, including a failed engagement with Sarah Helen Whitman. Reconnecting with childhood love Elmira Royster Shelton, he planned to marry but mysteriously disappeared in Baltimore. Days later, he was found delirious and died on October 7, 1849, under mysterious circumstances.

Poe's legacy endures in the psychological depth and eerie beauty of his work, which inspired me to write these songs so full of romance and despair. The Poe Songs songs were premiered by soprano Rachel Schutz and pianist Andrea Christie at Ithaca College on February 23, 2025. The songs will be released on an album of vocal music with the same collaborators at a future date.

39 pages; duration 24'