The song cycle gives voice to six of the composer’s direct ancestors, each a remarkable American woman with an untold tale. The poems were researched and written by his wife, the lyricist M.J. Alexander, for their children. 

Three of the songs feature the voices of New England pioneers: reluctant Pilgrim Patience Brewster Prence (1603-1634), daughter of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower and the composer’s ten-great grandmother. Another British-born ten-great grandmother, Quaker martyr Mary Dyer (1611-1660), was hanged on Boston Common for refusing to renounce her religious beliefs. Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyce, with her sisters Rebecca Towne Nurse and Mary Towne Estey, were jailed on accusations of witchcraft in 1692 Salem. Rebecca and Mary were hanged on Gallows Hill; Sarah escaped execution when the political tide turned and campaigned for years to clear her sisters’ names.  She is the composer’s nine-great grandmother.

The remaining three songs feature the composer’s five-great grandmother Keziah Keyes Ransom (1774-1837) who, before the age of 10, saved her western New York settlement from raiders by running miles for reinforcements; Keziah’s (pronounced kah-ZI-yuh) granddaughter Helen Harvey Tiffany Paddock (1822-1914), a Civil War widow; and Helen’s granddaughter Bessie Barton Paddock Dyer (1885-1958), the composer’s great-grandmother.

All of the women are ancestors through Edward Knight’s paternal grandmother, Kathryn Dyer Knight (b. 1920), a concert pianist who introduced him to the wonders of music.

Score and parts available at www.subitomusic.com.

5. Bessie Barton

Today's best improvisation, live. No edits.  

It's not you it's me

The Wings of Night – a song cycle for mezzo-soprano, oboe and piano -- was written for my dear friends Catherine and Jan McDaniel and for my daughter, Allegra, on the occasion of the 2019 Oklahoma Music Teachers Association State Conference.

The challenge was to create a work where the oboe is not merely accompanying the singer, but performing as an equal voice.

These three lyrical poems of the American poet Sara Teasdale (1884-1933) are an ideal platform for a musical partnership where two voices speak equally, from different perspectives.
 
In TWILIGHT, the oboe depicts a bird searching in vain for its mate as “the wings of night are falling.” 

A PRAYER allows the voice and oboe to express a desire to “love with all my strength, to my soul’s full depth and length.” 
 
In COMPENSATION, the voice and oboe strive to stave off loneliness by creating a song as beautiful as “a falling star on a winter night.”

Music available at:
Subitomusic.com
973.857.3440

The Wings Of Night

The music of Edward Knight (born November 4, 1961, in Ann Arbor, Michigan) eschews easy classification, moving freely between jazz, theatrical and concert worlds. Critics call him a "fresh, original voice" with "an inventive sense of humor" (Bernard Holland, The New York Times) who creates music that is "visceral in its excitement" (John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune).

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﻿His work -- described as "suave and sinister" (Timothy Mangan, Los Angeles Times) and "inventive and melodic" (Wayne Lee Gay, Knight-Ridder) -- has been performed on five continents by ensembles from the San Francisco Cabaret Opera to the New York Philharmonic to the Dutch-based American Voices, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall to the "Meet in Beijing" Festival to the Hollywood Bowl.
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He is composer-in-residence, director of composition and founder of Project 21: Music for the 21st Century at Oklahoma City University.  OCU's 2013 Faculty Member of the Year, Knight has created works ranging from fully staged musicals to song cycles to fanfares to sonatas. He music is featured on five commercial recordings, including a solo CD from Albany Records: Where The Sunsets Bleed: Chamber Music of Edward Knight.
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He is a voting member of The Recording Academy, which selects the Grammy Awards. An Oklahoma Musician of the Year, Knight is winner of an Aaron Copland Award, the American Art Song Competition and ASCAP's Rudolf Nissim Award for Best New Orchestral Work. He studied privately in New York City with John Corigliano and earned his DMA from University of Texas at Austin. He was the first American to win the Sir Arthur Bliss Memorial Award for outstanding postgraduate composer at the Royal College of Music, where he was a Rotary Foundation Scholar.
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He has been awarded fellowships to the Yaddo, MacDowell, Ucross, Brush Creek, and Djerassi colonies and been honored by the Bergen Festival's Morton Gould Memorial and Vienna Modern Masters.
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His works are published exclusively by Subito Music, Inc.

5. Bessie Barton

Edward Knight

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