Emily Dickinson's poem "As if the Sea should part" inspired me to a short piece for mixed choir.
When I read the poem for the first time I was intrigued by it. I wanted to attempt to translate it's infinity into music. I've tried to find a way 'show ' the sea, in the sea, in the sea by using a rather ambigous theme that doesn't have a clear tonality but isn't atonal either. The turning point in the music is after ”Unvisited of Shores”. The music lingers on and fades out hesitantly.
As if the Sea should part
And show a further Sea —
And that — a further — and the Three
But a presumption be —
Of Periods of Seas —
Unvisited of Shores —
Themselves the Verge of Seas to be —
Eternity — is Those —