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Song for Viola

This piece was inspired by the poem "A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe. The opening melody is taken from the rhythm of the opening lines of the poem. The material then develops and intensifies before returning to a calm conclusion. 

A Dream
Edgar Allan Poe

In visions of the dark night 

I have dreamed of joy departed— 

But a waking dream of life and light 

Hath left me broken-hearted. 

 

Ah! what is not a dream by day 

To him whose eyes are cast 

On things around him with a ray 

Turned back upon the past? 

 

That holy dream—that holy dream, 

While all the world were chiding, 

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam 

A lonely spirit guiding. 

 

What though that light, thro' storm and night, 

So trembled from afar— 

What could there be more purely bright 

In Truth's day-star? 

Viola and Piano
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