Performed by Allison Martin, soprano and Ana Yoder, piano.

These poem is an example of my favorite kind of Whitman poem—what I would call his "atmospheric poems"—describing a clear midnight.

This is thy hour O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent, gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best.
Night, sleep, and the stars.

A Clear Midnight (Whitman)

Performed by Adriel Santiago, Killian/guitar, Josh Yoder, violin, Chelsea Wimmer, viola, Justin Yoder, cello, and Ruth Wiens, double bass.

From "Home of the Trojans: An Everyday Musical of Mythical Proportions." This 70-minute one-act musical is a retelling of Ancient Greek Mythology, set at a modern-day college. The characters and plot shamelessly parallel the ancient myths: Zeus is represented by “Professor Z.;” The Trojan War is represented by The Homecoming Football Game. In "I Guess You Could Call Her," Killian Heele (Achilles) performs this song at halftime for the talkative, slightly awkward Lara Nymph (Larunda).

I Guess You Could Call Her

This piece revolves around the concept of mirroring and reflection. Throughout, the first violin and low strings are written in “perfect contrary motion,” playing over an ostinato in the middle strings. Halfway through, all parts are suddenly played in reverse (as if a mirror were placed in the middle of the piece). The piece is in 7/8, but uses a 2-2-3 division in the first half and a 3-2-2 division in the second half. For this reason as well as the mirroring effect, I chose the palindrome “never odd or even” as the title of the piece.

neverod|doreven

Performed by Stephanie Hollenberg, mezzo-soprano and Allison Yoder, harp.
 
Darío’s “Rimas” were recommended by my composition mentor, Jorge Muñiz. Because of the image of the lyre in Rima VI, I wanted to accompany the mezzo-soprano with harp, for a mellower, sweeter sound.
 
Hay un verde laurel. En sus ramas (There is a green laurel. In its branches)
un enjambre de pájaros duerme (a swarm of birds sleep)
en mudo reposo, (in silent repose,
sin que el beso del sol los despierte. (without the kiss of the sun to wake them.)
Hay un verde laurel. En sus ramas (There is a green laurel. In its branches)
que el terral melancólico mueve, (that the wistful breeze moves,)
se advierte una lira, (warns a lyre,)
sin que nadie esa lira descuelgue. (no one takes the lyre.)
¡Quién pudiera, al influjo sagrado (Who could, on the sacred influence)
de un soplo celeste, (of a celestial breath,)
despertar en el árbol florido (awaken in the flowering tree)
las rimas que duermen! (the rhymes that sleep!)
¡Y flotando en la luz el espíritu, (And floating in the light spirt,)
mientras arde en la sangre la fiebre, (while the fever burns in the blood,)
como "un himno gigante y extraño" (like “a hymn gigantic and strange”)
arrancar a la lira de Bécquer! (snatch the lyre of Bécquer!)

Rima VI (Rubén Darío)

Performed by the women of the St. Joseph Valley Camerata and Christine Larson Seitz, piano, under the direction of Scott Hochstetler.
 
This piece was originally written to be performed in concert alongside Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria” for men’s voices. To that end, this “Ave Maria” is quite different from the Biebl—perhaps most notably the “Angel Dance” section at the end of the piece.
 
Sets of three permeate the “Angel Dance” section: an accent on every third pair of eighth notes in the piano bass clef, a traveling three-note texture in the piano treble clef, and “stacked thirds” as each new vocal line enters the dance. These sets of three refer to the completed Trinity, welcoming the long-expected Son.

Ave Maria

Text by Walt Whitman; SATB chorus (a cappella)
Written for the 2014 Sound in the Land Festival
Premiered by Rockway Collegiate Choir in Waterloo, Ontario in June 2014

A Clear Midnight (SATB)

Performed by Goshen College Choir students in April 2011

Song Of The Silenced

An arrangement of the Stephen Foster song, performed by the Chestnut Street Singers in June 2014.

Hard Times, Come Again No More

Text by Walt Whitman, performed by "Beyond Ourselves" and the Lancaster Mennonite High School Campus Chorale in March 2015.

"As They Draw to a Close" is an original, commissioned composition for Bb clarinet, alto saxophone, viola, piano and SATB chorus. The composition utilizes the instruments both as accompaniment and response to the chorus, adding their own, distinct harmonic flavor to the texture.

Charles M. Oliver writes this of Whitman's As They Draw to a Close (1871) in "Critical Companion to Walt Whitman: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work":

"First published as 'Thought' with a cluster of poems titled 'Now Finalè to the Shore' in the fifth edition of Leaves of Grass (1871); and it was the 11th of 17 poems in the 'Songs of Parting' cluster for the sixth edition (1881).

As Whitman sees the end of his poetic ability, he attempts here to explain his purpose for writing his poems, a need he says to 'rapport,' to harmonize Nature and his own soul...His purpose has been to 'compact' all of nature together with his own soul."

Whitman's "As They Draw to a Close" (referring to the end of his poems) is an ambitious existential statement, his manifesto and justification for writing poetry. In musicalizing this poem, I wanted to capture Whitman's urgency and grandeur. As Whitman seeks to marry his soul with Nature through his poetry, I sought to marry the instruments and chorus in a unified musical partnership.

Whitman says:
"To compact you, ye parted, diverse lives. To put rapport the mountains and rocks and streams and the winds of the north and the forests of oak and pine—with you, O soul."

As They Draw To A Close

Commissioned and performed by the Chestnut Street Singers for their May 2015 concert, "As Birds Do Sing".

Emily Dickinson's "Hope is the thing with feathers" struck me as the perfect fit for a concert celebrating the natural world, including birds and trees—and the 5th anniversary of the Chestnut Street Singers. I was excited by the challenge of musicalizing "hope", a word that shouldn't be understood as unequivocally positive or simple. In setting this text, I sought to reflect the uncertainty of hope, suspended and resolved, and ascending ever so slightly over time (note the chromatic bass line of the first four chords). Hope isn't easily pinned down, and has a tendency to change us more than the object of our hoping. 

Hope is the thing with feathers

When thou commandest me to sing
It seems that my heart would break with pride;
And I look to thy face, and tears come to my eyes.

All that is harsh and dissonant in my life
Melts into one sweet harmony-
And my adoration spreads wings
Like a glad bird on its flight
Across the sea.

I know thou takest pleasure in my singing.
I know that only as a singer
I come before thy presence.

I touch by the edge of the far
Spreading wing of my song
Thy feet which I could never aspire to reach.

Drunk with the joy of singing I forget myself
And call thee friend who art my lord.

- Rabindranath Tagore, from "Gitanjali"

Finale Files

When thou commandest me to sing

Before Me Is Peace

Stand By Me: Hymns of Hope & Healing

Abide with me

When the storms of life are raging

Oh, have you not heard

Guide my feet

My Shepherd will supply my need

O thou, in whose presence

Lord, thou hast searched me

Be Thou my vision

My life flows on

O healing river

Thank you for listening to my music and do not hesitate to contact me if you're interested in commissioning a new work! I'm a composer, arranger, sound designer and musician/vocalist. I've held positions as a minister of music, led theatre productions as music director/composer and organized recitals of my original music. I've worked as a freelance composer/arranger for a wide variety of voices and instruments. 

Pax Ressler

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