For soprano and piano
We Cannot Remember Them
for Soprano and Piano
A song for soprano and piano on Mark Strand’s poem The Dead.
Text
Mark Strand. The Dead, 1966, in English.
Premiere
1 April 1996. New York · Lina Tetruashvili, soprano · Lera Auerbach, piano.
Structure
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We Cannot Remember Them
Song for soprano and piano.
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Text
Mark Strand’s poem The Dead.
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Duration
Approximately 5 minutes and 15 seconds.
Work Information
Listen to Work
Educational listening access to We Cannot Remember Them for soprano and piano.
Text
The Dead
Mark Strand · 1966
The graves grow deeper. The dead are more dead each night. Under the elms and the rain of leaves, The graves grow deeper. The dark folds of the wind Cover the ground. The night is cold. The leaves are swept against the stones. The dead are more dead each night. A starless dark embraces them. Their faces dim. We cannot remember them clearly enough. We never will.
Text source: Mark Strand, The Dead, 1966.
The Work
We Cannot Remember Them is a song for soprano and piano composed in 1992. The work sets Mark Strand’s poem The Dead, a spare meditation on memory, burial, and the gradual fading of the remembered face.
The title is drawn from the poem’s penultimate line, where mourning becomes inseparable from the limits of recollection.
- Form Song.
- Language English.
- Forces Soprano and piano.
Online Materials
Public links related to We Cannot Remember Them. Audio is available on this page for educational listening.
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AudioListen to Work leraauerbach.com
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ScoreBoosey Print on Demand Boosey & Hawkes
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ReferenceAuerbach Work Catalogue Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski
Publisher and Materials
Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. The available Boosey Print on Demand / sales page and the Boosey Auerbach catalogue PDF are linked below.
