ACROSS THE WIDE. SONGS OF FAREWELL

Commissioned by the Hughes family in memory of Bob and Ginny Hughes - inspired by their love of music
Composed for a combination of soprano solo, choir, violin and piano.
Lyrics by Rabindranath Tagore, Li Po, Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Frye
Version with piano accompaniment premiered in concert on June 7, 2015
Complete collection available for piano accompaniment.  Orchestrated version contains the exact same piano part with additional instruments

Page in progress.  Perusal scores will be featured here soon.

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PEACE, MY HEART
Music by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text by Rabindranath Tagore
Allison Hughes, soprano.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano.

Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

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YOU ASK ME WHY I DWELL IN THE GREEN MOUNTAINS
Music by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text by Li Po
Allison Hughes, soprano.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano.

You ask me why I dwell in the green mountain;
I smile and make no reply for my heart is free of care.
As the peach-blossom flows downstream and is gone into the unknown,
I have a world apart that is not among men.

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DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE
(version for solo voice and choir with piano)
Music by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text by Mary Elizabeth Frye
Allison Hughes, soprano.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano.

TWO BUTTERFLIES
Music by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text by Emily Dickinson
Allison Hughes, voice.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano.

Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed above a stream,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;
And then together bore away
Upon a shining sea,Though
never yet, in any port
Their coming mentioned be.

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DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE (version for solo voice and piano)
Music by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text by Mary Elizabeth Frye
Allison Hughes, soprano.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal, piano.

Do not stand at my grave and weep
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning's hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft starlight at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there.
I did not die.

SHENANDOAH
Traditional Melody.  Arr.  Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal.  Text Traditional
Paint Branch Unitarian Universalist Church Choir.
​David Chapman, conductor and pianist

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