Composed by
Z. Randall Stroope
Voicing: SATB
Instrumentation: piano and violin
Catalog number: AMP 0726
Price: $2.50
About the poet...
Edward Estlin (E.E.) Cummings was an American poet, painter, essayist and playwright. Author of over 900 poems,
Cummings was born in Cambridge, Ma
About the poet...
Edward Estlin (E.E.) Cummings was an American poet, painter, essayist and playwright. Author of over 900 poems,
Cummings was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1894, son of Edward and Rebecca Cummings. His father was a
professor of sociology and political science at Harvard University and was later killed in a car/train accident. His father
had a profoundly positive impact on young Cummings, which led to the young boy's later focus on writing as a career.
Cummings attended Harvard and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1915 and master's degree in English and Classical
Studies in 1916. He spent a great deal of his life traveling, fulfilling speaking engagements and of course, writing &#ndash; much
of which occurred on Joy Farm, his summer home in Silver Lake, Massachusetts. Though born into a Unitarian family,
he moved to a more personal belief with age, as demonstrated by one of his most famous poems, “i thank you God for
most this amazing / day.” Cummings died in 1962 at the age of 67.
About the poetry...
Cumming' poetry often deals with themes of love and nature, with frequent use of satire, sarcasm, and a poetic device
called “enjambment” (or the running on of a sentence from one line to the next). He wrote traditional poetry, but in
unorthodox ways, such as word choice, misspelled words, pacing, and a variety of other methods to communicate feelings
to the reader. His use of punctuation (or lack thereof) is like a second alphabet, conveying emotions without using
words. “i carry your heart with me,” like so many of Cummings' poems, is best served by reading straight through, and
then experiencing the emotion that it brings, as opposed to line-by-line analysis.
About the composer...
Z. Randall Stroope is an American composer and conductor www.zrstroope.com. His compositions are frequently heard on internet media, television broadcasts, and NPR radio, as well as on programs of esteemed ensembles throughout the world. Randall has composed over 150 works, having studied with Cecil Effinger and Normand Lockwood ‐ both students of the famous French teacher, Nadia Boulanger. He is the Artistic Director of two summer music festivals in Europe, has conducted at Carnegie Hall (New York) every year since 2001, and is a university professor. (See www.zrstroope.com for a complete biography and list of works.)
To listen to a performance of “i carry your heart with me” Click here.
Click here to see a sample.
