Program note

In searching for a text, I came across E. Y. (Yip) Harburg's Rhymes for the Irreverent: two small volumes of poems by the lyricist of the film "The Wizard of Oz," the musical Brigadoon, and many other timeless works. Harburg was a very political poet. He was most often very funny, but occasionally wrote poems of transcendental beauty like "One Sweet Morning."

This anti-war poem looks forward to "one sweet morning" when, "out of the flags and the bones buried under the clover," "spring will bloom"..."peace will come."

                    — John Corigliano

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