Programme Note
The three songs in this volume were discovered among the composer’s papers after his death in 2009. Also found were the beginning of a fourth song (which we’ve included at the end of this book as a fragment), and a choral setting of Garcia Lorca’s
Dawn. The songs date to the war years, 1944-45, with two of them bearing specific dates and locales.
Remarkably, though only in his mid-20s when he wrote these works, Kirchner’s aesthetic is already evident. Upon hearing, one can think of no other composer who would have written them.
These three songs, the fragment, and Garcia Lorca’s
Dawn are quite a gift – a glimpse into the mind of a young composer who would grow to be one of the most accomplished American musicians of his lifetime.
David Fetherolf
editor