Skin Songs
Song Cycle for Soprano and Ensemble
Lyrics by Thomas Awad, Sue-Ellen Case, Thomas Meyer, and David Trainer
COMMISSIONED: San Francisco Conservatory of Music Contemporary Ensemble, John Adams, Director
PREMIERE: December 1978, Hellman Hall, San Francisco Conservatory
DURATION: eleven minutes
PUBLISHER: All Conrad Cummings works are self-published; contact him here
INSTRUMENTATION: soprano, alto flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello
Excerpt from the premiere performance by San Francisco Conservatory of Music Contemporary Ensemble:
“Skin Songs,” “Beast Songs,” and “Summer Air” come from that great period when I’d finally finished my studies. John Adams commissioned “Skin Songs” for the San Francisco Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble and premiered it on the same program with his “Shaker Loops.” It was quite a night to be part of.
The title refers to the surface manifestations of love. The varied moods of the poems demanded a lot of stylistic variety in the music, from modal and triadic to completely atonal and fluid. The three poems by David Trainer were written specifically for this piece. Thanks to all four writers.
—Conrad Cummings
1.
Anticipated kisses taste
Sweeter to lip than kisses true.
Embraces remembered kindle bliss
Which real embracing never knew.
This being so, this kiss
Cannot pleasure me
As the memory when it is past
Or dreams of loving yet to be.
– Joseph Awad
2.
skin
clad
I know all birds’ tunes
bring the clear twang again
talk turtle-box
pain-bringer
yarn-spinner
bring my song’s tale
– Thomas Meyer
3.
Elevators doors
rumble-roll and click
like opening eyes in morning.
But when they are closed
they are elevator doors
while eyes become smiling,
blood-streaked mouths –
cocked hammers of death.
– Sue-Ellen Case
4.
Peel back the corner of the made bed.
The established sequence of embraces
Yields with sleep to stranger configurations:
Tumbled forms suspended arm to throat,
Knee to thigh, until one or the other
Shifts abruptly, shoulder up, leg over,
Hair to mouth; a silent, stuttered ballet
Danced nightly to the applause of peace.
– David Trainer
5.
Two girls in a west side room
Entertained a man their boyfriend
Butchered in the bathtub for his drunken pleasure
And left in a plastic bag by the Chinese laundry;
Then walked the streets til they got bored
And led the cops to their friend
Lifting weights when they came home.
– David Trainer
6.
Age makes preliminary calculations:
A nick here, a scratch there, for future reference.
The work is long and cannot be rushed.
You won’t even notice the changes when they come,
Unless you stop and think –– what was it before?
I promise not to ask.
I remember and won’t forget.
– David Trainer
“Skin Songs” complete, premiere performance by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Contemporary Ensemble:
For a perusal copy of the score, contact Conrad
THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE – CHARLES SHERE
“’Skin Songs’ are witty, ironic, toward the end surreally troubling, almost malicious.”
THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE – HEUWELL CIRCUIT
THE SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER – MICHAEL WALSH