The Songs
Raymond Wise, PhD
Dr. Raymond Wise, Director of Indiana University's African-American Choral Ensemble, composed musical arrangements for Dr. Abegunde's poems.
Specifically, Dr. Wise used the art song form, a Western Classical musical tradition in which composers set a poem to music. Using musical word-painting to create visual images and emotional connections, the composer conveys and enlivens the text through music. A set of art songs featuring the poems of a single poet is referred to as a "song cycle."
The four poems arranged into movements comprise a song cycle to tell the story of what Lizzie Breckenridge's life and inviting saw, heard, imagined, and felt. All music © 2022 Raymond Wise
Each movement's music sheet is followed by a video performance. The four movements were compiled to form a complete Stargazing Four Song-Cycle Video. Filming took place at Wylie House Museum in April 2023 with vocalists Kathiana Dargenson and Shenika John Jordan.
