Tenor voice and piano - Moderately Easy - Digital Download SKU: MQ.8825-3E Composed by Gwyneth W. Walker. African American Heritage. 6 pages. E. C. Schirmer Music Company - Digital #8825-3E. Published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company - Digital (MQ.8825-3E). English.Iâve Known Rivers is a multi-movement work, comprised of songs based on four different poems by Langston Hughes (1902â1967). Though he lived much of his life in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, Hughes was born in Missouri and raised in Kansas, Illinois, and Ohio. At age seventeen, he traveled to Mexico to live with his estranged father. As he crossed the Mississippi River, he was inspired to write The Negro Speaks of Rivers, which begins âIâve known riversâŚ.,â and is the text for the first movement, âMy Soul Has Grown Deep.â It reflects upon rivers of historic and geographical importanceâthe Euphrates, Congo, Nile, and Mississippi. As the rivers have endured over time, so has the human soul. The watersâthe bloodâruns deep.In contrast to the universal message of the first song, âTroubled Water,â which uses the poetry of the same title, is contemporary and personal. Water becomes an image of the unsettled and uncertain nature of love. The journey of love is a journey of troubled water. There is no resolution.Undaunted by the elusive nature of love, the poet, heard via the chorus, turns flippant, displaying a persevering and humorous outlook in âJump Right In!â (to the river) from Hughesâ poem Life is Fine. Romantic misadventures will not conquer the spirit. âI couldâve died for love, but for livinâ I was born.ââIn time of silver rain,â once more using the poem of the same title, is a song of healing. With the regeneration of spring, the poet marvels at the wonder of life.Though intended to be performed as the complete multi-movement work Iâve Known Rivers, each song may be performed separately. Duration: 12:00.Contents:My Soul has Grown DeepTroubled WaterJump Right In!In Time of Silver Rain.
