LORI%LAITMAN!is!one!of!America’s!most!prolific!and!widely!performed!composers!
of!vocal!music.!She!has!composed!two!operas,!an!oratorio,!choral!works!and!over!
200!songs,!setting!the!words!of!classical!and!contemporary!poets,!among!them!the!
lost!voices!of!poets!who!perished!in!the!Holocaust.!The$Grove$Dictionary$of$American$
Music!will!include!an!entry!on!Laitman!in!their!2012!edition.!In!May!2013!Opera!
Colorado!will!present!the!professional!world!premiere!of!her!opera,!The$Scarlet$
Letter.!Laitman’s!discography!continues!to!grow,!with!released!on!Albany,!Naxos,!
and!others.!For!more!information,!please!visit!artsongs.com!and/or!
scarletletteropera.com.!!
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!
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Regarding!downloading!this!choral!score!as!a!PDF:!
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Please!purchase!one!score!for!each!that!you!intend!to!distribute.!The!price!here!is!
for!one!copy.!!If!you!are!performing!this!work!on!a!concert,!please!send!a!copy!of!the!
program!to!BMI!so!that!I!might!receive!performance!royalties.!Here!is!the!address:!
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Please!write:!“Attention:!Classical!Music”!on!the!envelope.!!!
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Thank!you!!
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!
THE!SKY!IS!LOW!
By!Emily!Dickinson!
!
The!Sky!is!low!—!the!Clouds!are!mean.!
A!Travelling!Flake!of!Snow!
Across!a!Barn!or!through!a!Rut!
Debates!if!it!will!go!—!
!
A!Narrow!Wind!complains!all!Day!
How!some!one!treated!him!
Nature,!like!Us!is!sometimes!caught!
Without!her!Diadem.!
!
PREVIEW
The Earth and I is an a cappella choral cycle which sets three Emily Dickinson poems. The title is
taken from a line in the first song, but all of the poems are ruminations on nature and life, as seen
from Dickinson’s unique perspective. I composed the work between April 11 and June 15, 2011,
in Potomac, MD. Dr. Adelaide Whitaker underwrote this commission for the Washington Master
Chorale under the artistic direction of Thomas Colohan. The Chorale premiered the work on
December 19, 2011 at the Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, MD.
The Sky Is Low is the second song from the cycle. It opens with a fairly complicated texture. The
harmonies used color the emotional content of the words. Word painting is employed: for
example, the contour of the melodic lines mirrors the snowflake as it travels and debates, and
dissonance comes into play as the Wind “complains.” Lyricism ensues as the poet realizes how
much “Nature” is like us, and the song concludes with a return of the opening textures, but the
ending is dramatic, unresolved and very high, matching the image of the “Clouds.”
!
— Lori Laitman
PREVIEW
The Sky Is Low
EMILY DICKINSON
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PREVIEW
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LORI LAITMAN
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©2011, Lori Laitman — Enchanted Knickers Music, BMI
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