The Theft of a Rose

Duration: 4:30 minutes

This music was commissioned by Chamber Music Quad Cities, and premiered in 2022 by Lily Arbisser, soprano, and Tom Sauer, piano.

When I first read Carl’s poem, The Theft of a Rose, I was taken by the rich imagery and the heartbreaking, yet beautifully told story. It conjured up images of coastal Scotland, Oregon and Washington and evoked an almost Gaelic manner. This was my basis, then, for the musical setting. I marked the tempo and character as a “Slow lilting ballad.” In the Celtic tradition, many types of songs have a lilt to them, a gentle swing to the rhythm that corresponds with a rise and fall in the melody. Additionally, lilting is a form of traditional singing without words. Both of these meanings are present in this setting, along with a piano part that is indebted to the sound of a Celtic harp. To complete the picture, imagine our musicians enshrouded in a mist, and coming out of it to sing this story of dreams, love and loss, only to return to the foggy nature of the question posed in the poem.

… and that’s why the willows
bow down, drop their leaves,”
he ended, his whispers as shallow

as pools of sand dollars
and starfish, the sea wash,
and river-run down from the meadows.

He could see from her clothes
that she’d come from a time
when mirrors from both sides were open,

but he’d wanted her name and
pursued her, no shame for
the words of the love that he’d spoken.

She saw from the eyes of
his leaving, the stars of
his fall, that his moon waned pale yellow.

Too late for return, she
could hear from his sighs; he
was lost in embrace with his shadow.

From the garden she’d come,
where dark hedges grew
over black sweating stones that had given

a name to her fear and
a home to her dreams. Can
the theft of a rose be forgiven?

William Campbell Music · The Theft Of A Rose

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