YOUR LOVE LIFTS MY SOUL​

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Persian poet, Rumi understood the ecstasy of love.  The indescribable feeling and electricity of that person.  His writings transcended borders and cultures expressing views on love, religion, politics, and scholarship.  HIs prolific output of poetry and prose have been translated into thousands of languages across the world making him one of the most popular poets of our modern day.  

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In 2016, I was approached by Chris Nelson, an acquaintance at the time I had met through PopUp Choir, who wanted to commission a work for his wife in honor of their 10th wedding anniversary the following year.  Eager to write the piece I was later paralyzed as I tried to figure out how to express the eternity of love and commitment people make to each other.  I searched  and searched for poems that would service the occasion, but every time I tried to write - nothing.   Somehow, I stumbled on a few of Rumi's poems and was immediately captivated by the simplicity of the the poem,

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Your love lifts my soul from the body to the sky

And you lift me up out of the two worlds.

[I want your sun to reach my raindrops,

So your heat can raise my soul upward like a cloud.] - omitted from the work

 

From "Thief of Sleep"

Translated by Shahram Shiva

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Using the first two lines only in combination with a 'vocalise' for the remaining half, I sought to captivate the ecstasy and speechlessness of eternal love.

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Voicing: SATB, divisi, a cappella

 

Status: Unpublished

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Commissioned by Chris Nelson for Heather Nelson in honor of their 10th wedding anniversary

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Premiered by PopUp Choir (Dr. Chris Aspaas, conductor)