“When I Rise Up” is a cycle of five songs for medium voice and piano composed between January and March of 2020 while living in Leipzig, Germany just before the start of the COVID pandemic. I began the project earlier in 2019, but when I arrived in Leipzig in January of 2020 to begin my study-abroad program, I took the opportunity to select and set the four other texts of this cycle.

Writer and poet Georgia Douglas Johnson lived in Atlanta in the early 1900’s, and was one of the first female African American playwrights in the U.S, playing an important role in the Harlem Renaissance movement in the early 20th century. Her writings center around a foundational theme of dreams and the persistence in pursuit of them. She wrote of her struggles against inherent racism, sexism, and classism that she regularly faced, but also a hope for a better world. You can hear these sentiments reflected in the music through widely-spaced harmonies, expressive melodies, and subtle shifts in tonality. The music was meant to reflect not only the form and spirit of the poetry, but also my own experiences of experiencing a brand new culture amidst a rising uncertainty of the future.

The poems I selected for this cycle convey Johnson’s determination, beginning with the triumphant introductory “Calling Dreams,” followed by the dramatic imagery of “Common Dust,” which paints a picture of the equality of humanity throughout history. Next, “My Little Dreams,” ironically set as a tender lullaby, laments the dreams that are constantly present but seemingly insurmountable. Following that is the bold “Your World,” which begins with a declaration that “your world is as big as you make it,” before taking flight and breaking through constraints and soaring “with rapture, with power, with ease.” The cycle concludes with an atmospheric setting of “When I Rise Up,” a dream state where the singer has risen above all those on the earth “that fetter me,” and begins to imagine dreams that have yet to come.

Click HERE to see my lecture about the life and poetry of Georgia Douglas Johnson, followed by a full performance of the cycle by baritone Dr. Lee Gregory and pianist Dr. Andreea Mut.