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Your Stars to Hold (2019)

for SATB divisi choir, a cappella

Text: Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Duration: 4 minutes
Difficulty: 3/4

Winner of the 2019 Composition Competition by Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Edmonton, AB).

First performed by Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Jordan Van Biert, dir.) in November 2021.

This piece was written in December 2019 as a gift for Christopher Hawn. The text, by American poet Sara Teasdale, depicts love as an act of comfort and assurance, using cosmic imagery to express the profound safety found in the arms of a loved one. My music tries to capture this warmth through a lush harmonic language and thick choral textures, culminating in a simple repetition of the titular line—suddenly inward and intimate, as if gently whispered.

The audio below is a live recording by Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Jordan Van Biert, dir.) from Spring 2022.

Full Text

Peace flows into me
as the tide to the pool by the shore;
it is mine forevermore,
it ebbs not back like the sea.

I am the pool of blue
that worships the vivid sky;
my hopes were heaven-high.
They are all fulfilled in you.

I am the pool of gold
when sunset burns and dies —
you are my deepening skies;
give me your stars to hold.