ODE TO LAKE MICHIGAN

FO R S O P R A N O, C ON T R ALTO, AN D P I AN O

PHILIP RICE
2013
PRC 201
PHILIPRICE.NET

ODE TO LAKE MICHIGAN

By Richelle Wilson
You caress Chicagos bony wrist
all the way up to the fleshy fingertip of the Upper Peninsula,
rustling winds that ignite daydreams:
your sweet beach grass,
your quartzy singing sands,
the thrill of building a castle
hoping youll melt it with grace,
give me a new start,
wash my mistakes
(and maybe my sins).
Your meteorology strikes the fear of God in me.
I forgive your lake-effect snowstorms
because summer looks so lovely on you.
Loch Ness has nothing on your fairy-tale
frozen mermaids shimmering deep beneath.
In a burst of silver and green they rupture in Julys swelter,
[dazzling the tips of your crumpled blue crests,]
swelling in slow pulsing rhythms,
undulating canvas of your immense out-there.
You, my dear, are a great lake.
Dont worry if other lakes seem superior,
for you alone are the mishigami, the great waters,
[the twenty-two thousand square miles of uninterrupted aqua pura.]
You alone hold the Petoskey stone with her honeycomb
eyes that see the past,
tell the past.
You are big enough to hold
my childhood.
You are wide enough to make me
forget.
You are deep enough.
[text in brackets does not appear in the music]

for Emily Marvosh, Margot Rood, and Boston University Marsh Chapel

ODE TO LAKE MICHIGAN

1
You Caress Chicago

RICHELLE WILSON

Carefully q = 60-70

4
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Soprano
Alto

Piano

&

& 44

Carefully q = 60-70

& 44

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pp

PHILIP RICE

Pi mosso q = 80

You

w
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ca - ress Chi - ca - gos

Pi mosso q = 80

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19

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20

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cause

for- give your lake

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11

5
Loch Ness Has Nothing
Turbulent (q = ca. 80-90)
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ff

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(pp)

12
6

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13
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16

6
You Are a Great Lake

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18

7
You Are Deep Enough

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3
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Lontano (q = 80)

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19

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32

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