Apparently I like Robert Frost

Welp it's been two weeks since I uploaded my first ever bona-fide piece o' music, so I've decided that it's time to upload my second.

Once again, it's a Robert Frost poem - this time "Nothing Gold Can Stay" - set to SATB chorus, each with two part divisi. And as before, It's mostly complete but in my opinion could still use some minor tweaking to get it just right.

I think that's all I have to say about it, except if you decided to tell me you hate it, please include WHY - I'm trying desperately to get better every day, and I can't do that without other people telling me, specifically, the methods in which I suck.

So here it is, enjoy.

nothinggold.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage

I think you write rather well for the modern mixed chorus; it isn't hard at all to imagine your lush harmonies sung by a real chorus and sounding wonderful.

Considering how you approached it, I thought the chord at 19 might sound better in root position, with a G or a G and D divisi in the bass...just my opinion. Also, the soprano part in measures 25 and 26 puzzles me; you have two notes on the same pitch and the same syllable; are you wanting a re-articulation there? If not, it would be clearer just to write whole notes there; the alto is already doing the rhythm you want on different pitches. In any case, you may want to clarify your intentions.

Just a caution: you may want to reconsider using Frost as subject matter if you hope to get any public performance or publication of this or other such pieces. Frost's poetry is not yet in the public domain, and will not be for some time. You may know of the young American composer Eric Whitacre who is quite a hot commodity these days; well, he did a characteristically fine choral setting of Frost's "Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening" and when he went to publish it was unable to secure permission to use the text from Frost's estate. He ended up having to commission a poet to write a new text that would mirror the metre and mood of the original. A friend of mine wrote a comic operetta on Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs And Ham" and encountered the same problem. Just a word to the wise.

Very nice work.

Yes I'm familliar with and even own a copy of Sleep - and yet I still set Frost's poem. I don't really know what I was planning to do with it, maybe I'll just make new words myself, as the poems I set were pretty short. Maybe I'll just be content with letting these settings be unpublishable and consider them perhaps a jumping-off point for other works, who knows.

And as for measure 25, yeah - I just wasn't thinking. Thanks for pointing that out.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Nothing Gold Can Stay is already IN the public domain, so with this piece you shouldn't have any problem if you chose to publish it.

Oh snaps, really? Well the real question is...WOULD YOU RECOMMEND DOING THAT! (AKA didja like it Y/N)

Yes, I'm nearly 100% certain that it's in the public domain. I did really like it, actually. I go to school with a guy who did a choral-arrangement of a Robert Frost poem (but I like yours more). I like your harmonies. They're beautiful and I really feel like you convey the emotion of the poem.

So, to answer your question: Yes.

This is very nice..i too like robert frost as a poet.

you have very good ideas and your harmonies are wonderful...it's a sound similar to eric whitacre but you definatley have your own style and i love it.

great work

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Nothing Gold Can Stay is already IN the public domain, so with this piece you shouldn't have any problem if you chose to publish it.

Well, "Nothing Gold Can Stay" was written in 1923, and "Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening" was written in 1922; both were first published in 1923. If Whitacre had trouble with the latter, it would stand to reason that there might be some with the former. The Frost Estate is apparently very active in renewing copyrights. Who knows? Maybe by now you're right. It might be better to err on the side of caution.

Wikipedia says Nothing Gold will be public domain in 2018, but Fire and Ice is in public domain so good news/bad news I guess.

Just bumping this to see if anyone has anymore commentary on it - if not then I look like a jackass I guess