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Hope is the Thing with Feathers

SSA a cappella + solo - 2.5 minutes - easy difficulty

This piece was written for a very special chorus of mine during the 2020 pandemic when we found ourselves unable to rehearse in person. It occured to me that we may not have been able to experience the beauty of simultaneous harmonies in real time... but we could sing aleatoric melodies-- music that was meant to be asynchronous. The words of Emily Dickinson are timeless and, in this case, apropos. She was known as a recluse and rarely left her home. The piece can, of course, be performed virtually or in-person.

Hope is the thing with feathers

“Hope” is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops - at all -
And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard -
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm -
I’ve heard it in the chillest land -
And on the strangest Sea -
Yet - never - in Extremity,
It asked a crumb - of me.

~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1836)