One Leaf (2013)
For SATB Chorus and Piano, 3’30”
Commissioned by the First Universalist Singers of Denver
On “One Leaf (Autumn)” by Kevin Garlow
One Leaf PDF
For SATB Chorus and Piano, 3’30”. To order, indicate the number of copies needed for your choir.
About the Music
Kevin Garlow’s poem “One Leaf (Autumn)” describes the cycle of life from the point of view of a single leaf. At the work’s premiere, Garlow said, “I wrote this poem as a meditation on how we can choose to create meaning and beauty in our lives, particularly in community and in collaboration with others.” The viewpoint in the poem shifts back and forth between the individual and the communal, and draws a metaphor between the visual splendor of autumn colors and the auditory beauty of music. The words take on a glorious, elegiac quality as the year runs out and the life of the leaf draws to a close: “Bright forest hues in symphony / A slow salute to fading sun.” An unusual aspect of the music is its free-form quality, incorporating piano improvisation within different collections of notes, and naturalistic wind sounds made by the choir.
“One Leaf (Autumn)” by Kevin Garlow
Through summer rains and summer sun,
I bask, I breathe, I feed my tree.
Among the leaves I am but one,
We live aloft, green harmony.
Now as we age our sap runs dry,
The length’ning nights a steady hum.
From each to each a whispered cry,
A rustling murmur: Fall is come!
A patient eye will see by day
Slow fireworks on rare display
The woods the finest gallery,
From leaf to leaf and tree to tree
Each leaf a crucial part to play
Blaze shining now, our life near done
Bright forest hues in symphony
A slow salute to fading sun
With friends I lived in tender care
One leaf the less, one life the more
I cartwheel earthward through the air
And find my place on forest floor.