Movement 1 of 4. Laurie Matheson, soprano; Solomon Baer, clarinet; Amanda Wen, cello; Rachel Jensen, piano. Studio recording, completed November 4, 2009. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html. Text by Emily Dickinson.

Victory comes late,
And is held low to freezing lips
Too rapt with frost
To take it.
How sweet it would have tasted,
Just a drop!
Was God so economical?
His table's spread too high for us
Unless we dine on tip-toe.
Crumbs fit such little mouths,
Cherries suit robins;
The eagle's golden breakfast
Strangles them.
God keeps his oath to sparrows,
Who of little love
Know how to starve!

A Wake Of Music, movement  III. (Victory Comes Late)

Movement 1 of 4. Laurie Matheson, soprano; Solomon Baer, clarinet; Amanda Wen, cello; Rachel Jensen, piano. Studio recording, completed November 4, 2009. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html. Text by Emily Dickinson.

While it is alive
Until Death touches it
While it and I lap one Air
Dwell in one Blood
Under one Sacrament
Show me Division can split or pare—

Love is like Life—merely longer
Love is like Death, during the Grave
Love is the Fellow of the Resurrection
Scooping up the Dust and chanting "Live"!

A Wake Of Music, movement  IV (While It Is Alive)

One of eight movements for theatrical vocalist and electronics. William Brooks, performer. Recorded live at Keele University, March 16, 1978. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html.

Duets, part 4. Alone, listening

Duets, part 3. Together, listening

Three of eight movements for theatrical vocalist and electronics. William Brooks, performer. Recorded live at Keele University, March 16, 1978. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html.

Duets, part 2. Together, with; Alone, without; Alone, within

Duets, part 1. Together, among; Alone, with; Alone, around

For wind ensemble and steel band. Recorded in concert on April 24, 1996, by the University of Illinois Symphonic Band and the University of Illinois Steel Band, directed by James Keene. Written in commemoration of the School of Music Centennial year and supported by a grant from the Center for Advanced Study.

Common Ground

For mixed voices and piano. Text by James Joyce (the first thunderword from Finnegans Wake). The University of Illinois Contemporary Chamber Singers; William Brooks, director; Jessica Paul, pianist. Recorded in the Festival Theatre, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 19 Mar and 30 Apr 1991.

A Peal For Calm

For twelve instruments. Recorded in performance in the Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York, on 5 December 2003 by the York New Music Ensemble (now renamed Chimera), John Stringer, conductor.

Canticanon

Teri De Sario, soprano, and Bill Purse, piano. Recorded live in performance in December 1995. Text taken from Gertrude Stein, _Tender Buttons_.

Medley

Recorded live on KPFK, Dec 19, 1980, by EVTE (The Extended Vocal Techniques Ensemble): Deborah Kavasch, Linda Vickerman, Ed Harkins, Phil Larson. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html.

Madrigals

"in memoriam reducere studemus" was commissioned by Donald Nally and West Chester University and first performed on April 27, 1996, on a concert marking the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Anton Webern. It draws on Heinrich Isaac's motet "Natus ante secula," as edited by Webern, which was in turn based on Notker Balbulus's sequence of the same name. The text is abridged from "Anton's Webern's birthday," by Pierre Joris, with the assistance of the poet. The performance is by Donald Nally and The Crossing, recorded live on June 14, 2015. Score available at http://frogpeak.org/fpartists/fpbrooks.html.

in memoriam reducere studemus

Commissioned by The Crossing as a part of "Jeff Quartets", a concert in memory of Jeff Dinsmore. Original poem by Pierre Joris, also commissioned by The Crossing. Recorded July 8, 2016; Donald Nally, conductor.

For Orpheus

Emeritus Professor, University of York, UK. Emeritus Associate Professor, University of Illinois. Senior Research Fellow and Editorial Officer, Orpheus Institute, Ghent, Belgium. 

That's the heavy stuff. I'm retired now. So how come I'm so busy?

William F. Brooks

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