1996

Briefly It Enters

Song Collection

Briefly It Enters sets nine poems of Jane Kenyon for high voice and piano. The audio recordings from Briefly It Enters are made possible through a collaboration between the Hampsong Foundation and SongFest. The performers are the 2012 SongFest Sorel Fellow Rachel Schutz, soprano, and Tomasz Lis, piano, and the performance took place at SongFest 2012 at The Colburn School.

Listen

“Briefly It Enters, and Briefly Speaks” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)3:51

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“February: Thinking of Flowers” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)1:58

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“Man eating” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)1:32

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“Otherwise” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)2:53

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“Peonies at Dusk” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)2:21

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“The Clearing” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)4:05

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“The Sick Wife” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)3:34

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“Twilight: After Haying” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)3:43

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

“Who” (from “Briefly It Enters”)

Rachel Schutz (soprano) & Tomasz Lis (piano)1:48

William Bolcom

Composer

Jane Kenyon

Poet(s)/Writer(s)

2012

Date

The Colburn School (Zipper Hall)

Location

In collaboration with SongFest (http://songfest.us)

About

Briefly It Enters

Donald Hall, Kenyon’s husband and also a poet, wrote the following preface for the song cycle:

“Jane Kenyon’s passion for music was as great as her genius for writing poetry. Before we left Michigan in 1975, we came to know William Bolcom and Joan Morris, who visited us several times on our farm in New Hampshire. When Jane contracted leukemia in 1994, Bill had already set Jane’s “Let Evening Come” in a cantata.

“While she was ill she listened over and over again, with the greatest pleasure, to a tape of Benita Valente singing her words.

“She loved Bill’s music and Benita Valente’s voice. Bill was already planning Briefly It Enters, for Benita Valente, which was a thrill for Jane to imagine. She corresponded with Bill about the choice of poems before she died at forty-seven on 22 April 1995.”

Songs

Related Information

SongFest Website

songfest.us

The Sorel Organization

sorelmusic.org/festivals.htm

Video

Sheet Music