I Will Keep Still – Michael John Trotta

About the poet . . .

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) was a Bengali writer, painter, and musician perhaps best known for his poetry.  In 1913, he became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for his work.  Gitanjali (Song Offerings), is comprised of 103 English poems dealing with a metaphysical nature of union. From this larger work, the text for If thou speakest not (Verse 19)  used as the foundation of this choral work.  The imagery highlights the path interior reflection as offering solace to the disquietude of the waiting for a light in the midst of darkness.

 

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If thou speakest not

I will fill my heart with thy silence

and endure it.

I will keep still

and wait like the night

with starry vigil

and its head bent low with patience.

The morning will surely come,

the darkness will vanish,

and thy voice pour down

in golden streams

breaking through the sky.

Then thy words will take wing

in songs from every one

of my birds’ nests,

and thy melodies

will break forth

in flowers in all

my forest groves.

 

 

From Gitangali (1913)

 

Dr. Michael John Trotta is a composer, conductor, and clinician regularly accepting commissions and conducting engagements throughout the country. As an educator, he has held positions at the middle school, high school, and university levels. As a composer, he is published with Colla Voce Inc., GIA Publications, Kjos Music Company, MorningStar Music Publishers, Alliance, Walton Music, and Carl Fischer Publications. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education and Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Rowan University where he studied with Dr. Z. Randall Stroope. He completed his Doctorate in Musical Arts at Louisiana State University. He served as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Oklahoma State University. He was recently appointed the Director of Choral Activities at Virginia Wesleyan College.