An excerpt from "According to Us," a musical with Book, Music, and Lyrics by Charles R. Butler III Neto, orchestral arrangement by Rosanna E. Tufts. Performed by Charles and Rosanna. Recording copyright (c) 2004. All rights reserved.

Follow Me To The Forest

Be a Child in your Dancing

The instrumental track to "Be a Child in your Dancing," remastered to be sung-along with, during live performance of the play, "According to Us." Music by Charles R. Butler III Neto, Orchestral Arrangement by Rosanna E. Tufts. Played by Rosanna E. Tufts. Copyright (c) 1997. All rights reserved.

Unknown Album (6/12/2009 1:18:51 AM)

Instrumental: Be a Child in your Dancing

From the Rising of the Sun

A meditation for the Spring Eclipses of 2024.

CYOA-TakeBackYourPower

Music and Lyrics copyright (c) 2019 by Rosanna E. Tufts. All rights reserved. This is the instrumental track from Act II, Scene 2 of "The Passion of Persephone." A year has passed since Persephone’s disappearance into the Underworld, which prompted her mother Demeter to cast a perpetual Winter upon the world. Humans and Gods alike beg Demeter to relent, but . . .

Lyrics:
Go,
No longer trouble me with prayers,
They have no power to console me,
They can’t replace what I’ve forever lost.

Was I too demanding? Did I raise the bar too high?
Why did she run away? And now my broken heart
Has had to pay the highest cost.

If I can’t be giving
Love, there’s no reason why
I should go on living,
But a Goddess cannot die.

Lovely, so captivating, pink and glowing,
Soft and warm, exquisite and beguiling,
Sweetly charming everyone who saw you,

Radiant girl, my heart’s delight, my darling,
Precious pearl, my beauty rare, you took my
Breath away, my dearest love, I was in awe of you ….

(Reprise) Go,
No longer trouble me with prayers,
You have no power to console me,
You can’t replace what I’ve forever lost, etc. 

(Coda) No mother loved a daughter more,
Persephone, the girl I bore.

Demeter's Lament -- Threnody

Sneak preview for our concert on January 19, 2020! The two sisters are being courted by two brothers, and they are deciding which brother they each want to play with. This is a practice session without piano. Cathleen McGowan plays Fiordiligi, I play Dorabella. 
Come see us at 3 pm on January 19, Christ Lutheran Church, 30 Chambersburg Street, Gettysburg PA!
Translation:
Me: I'll take the brown-haired one, who seems to me more fun.
She: And meantime I'll laugh and joke a bit with the fair one.
Me: Playfully I'll answer his sweet words.
She: Sighing, I'll imitate the other's sighs.
Me: He'll say to me, My Love, I'm dying!
She: He'll say to me, My Dearest Treasure!
Both: And meanwhile, what sport and pleasure I shall have!

Cosi Rehearsal "Prenderò quel brunettino"

Another sneak preview of our concert on January 19, 2020, this is a practice session recorded January 14. In Yeomen of the Guard, Phoebe and her father (a sergeant among the Yeomen) are trying to jailbreak a man they believe to be innocent of the charge against him. But first, Phoebe has to sneak the keys away from the Head Jailer, who happens to have the hots for her .... 
Were I thy bride, then all the world beside were not too wide 
to hold my wealth of love, were I thy bride!
Upon thy breast, my loving head would rest as on her nest
the tender turtle dove, were I thy bride!
This heart of mine would be one heart with thine, and in that shrine
our happiness would dwell, were I thy bride!
And all day long, our lives would be a song, no grief, no wrong
should make my heart rebel -- were I thy bride!
The silvery flute, the melancholy lute were night-owl's hoot
to my low-whispered coo, were I thy bride!
The skylark's trill were but discordance shrill to the soft thrill
of wooing as I'd woo -- (She lifts the keys from the Jailer's belt and passes them to her father) Were I thy bride!
The rose's sigh were as a carrion's cry to lullaby
such as I'd sing to thee, were I thy bride!
A feather's press were leaden heaviness to my caress,
but then of course, you see: I'm NOT thy bride!

Were I Thy Bride Practice

Alternate titles: "The Hag with the Money," "She's Your Granny"

Often sung at weddings, this tune is said to be composed by the Fae Folk. The Cailleach is an ancient Goddess of Winter and storms. In the final chorus, the lines about her blue skin and eating meat on Fridays (which breaks a Catholic taboo) reveal her true Pagan origin as a Goddess of the Fae. 

First voice: Cathleen McGowan, Soprano
Second voice: Rosanna Tufts, Mezzo (who also composed the harmony)

Translation:
(Chorus) She is your granny, she is your granny, she is your granny, 
The Hag with the money.
She is your granny from the town of Inishmore,
And she would put coaches on the roads of Cois Farraige. 

If you'd see the train going past Toin Ui Loin
And the wheels turning speedily out from her flanks,
It would scatter the stour nine times to the back,
But it would never keep pace with the Hag with the money. 

(Chorus)

Do you reckon he'd marry? Do you reckon he'd marry?
Do you reckon he'd marry the Hag with the money?
I know he'll not marry, I know he'll not marry,
'Cause he is too young and he'll squander the money.

(Chorus)

Two are going to marry, marrying two appetites.
Two are going to marry in our town.
John James Eustace and Mary Casey.

Final Chorus: 
She is your granny, (her skin is) blue forever,
She is your granny, the Hag with the money.
She is your granny from the town of Inishmore
And she eats meat on Fridays and Saturdays.

Cailleach An Airgid

The finale of Act I of "The Passion of Persephone." Music and Lyrics by Rosanna E. Tufts, copyright (c) 2008. All rights reserved. Zeus has refused to help Demeter rescue Persephone from the Underworld; now Demeter wreaks a terrible revenge. Note the use of "Dies Irae" in the music.

Demeter:
If Zeus, the greatest High God,
A coward has become,
I'll make him rue this insult,
Until he will succumb!

Let clouds begin to gather,
All blotting out the Sun,
Let crops begin to wither,
Let harvest there be none!
Let flowers lose their beauty,
And leaves on trees turn brown,
I cannot do my duty
While my daughter is underground!

A Goddess is immortal,
Yet she's as good as dead!
While Hades holds her hostage,
My mother-joy has fled!
No life from Earth emerges,
Death has the upper hand --
Let Earth be plagued with scourges,
And fallow lie the land!

The Sun grows ever fainter
As coldness fills the air,
This name I give it: Winter!
Descending ev'rywhere!

My cold unending sorrow
All life will come to fear,
I have no heart for growing
As long as I despair!
My vengeance has no quarter,
No prayer my heart will sway --
Because I've lost my daughter,
Let Winter last for aye!

Three Fates:
Look how the threads of life are changing!
Lines grow shorter than they used to be,
And cutting's happening far more often,
A diff'rent picture on the Tapestry!
We Three must put our heads together
Now that the world's going all awry,
To show the effect of this strange new weather,
Who gets to live, and whoooo muuuust diiiiie?

Humans:
Look at my potatoes!
What's happening to them?
The leaves become all blackened,
With fungus on the stem!
This grain is not like usual,
It's tiny and tough to grind,
And the bread I'm baking with it
Makes people lose their minds!

I'm hungry, mommy, feed me!
We're down to eating grass!
If I can't give them something,
Their bellies will fill with gas!
My corner of the market
Collapsed, in record time,
How far my fortune's fallen --
Buddy, can you spare a dime?

What are these frozen raindrops
That fall out of the sky?
There's ne'er been anything like them --
Can the Gods please tell us why?

(Demeter repeats her last verse as the Humans sing)
This cold and strange new horror
Has filled our hearts with fear,
Seems ev'rything's stopped growing,
The strong fall to despair!
The days grow ever shorter,
The sunlight is going away,
We can't feed our sons and daughters,
Will Winter last for aye?

RosannaTufts

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