L. Koslow: The History Of...

Lily Koslow (b. 2001)

The History Of... (2022)

Emily Hamilton, soprano

Kerry Agnew, piano

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The History Of... is a setting of a poem by the same name, for high soprano and piano. The original poem was written by the composer in the spring of 2021, after being commissioned by Michelle Eisenberg. In the piece, an outcast visits a church at night for some quiet solitude and meditation, and comes across a mysterious book on the altar: The History of Everything. Each chapter of this book elaborates on a particular strand of history, starting from the creation of time itself and spanning across the development of modern human civilization. The poem concludes with the omniscient narrator zooming back into the outcast's disposition, implying that each life is in itself a notable strand of history. Using a musical language that oscillates between mystical, uncanny, dark, and bright, the piece aims to embody the expressive force of the original poem.

The work is dedicated to soprano Emily Hamilton, for whom the piece was composed.

Program Notes, Lily Koslow

Premiered on April 27, 2022 in Tanna Schulich Hall at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec during Emily's Semi-Final Bachelor's Recital

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First, a faint twinkle in a timeless, formless space.

Silent, and without a name, you arise from the origin.

A singularity of gratitude and peace, like a drop in a deep well --

Resonating with that first, ancient love...

After midnight, under the vermilion light of the sanctuary,

you return to anonymity.

Upon the altar, a leather-bound book:

The History of Everything...

The history of words, the history of paper, the history of railroads,

the history of hair removal, the history of rust, the history of lives, the history of time,

of knives, of spies, of lies,

The history of spiders... the history of Us.

Meanwhile, the history of you passes with each breath...

By day, you travel through the world with a natural grace

Like a solid, sure line of counterpoint.

With the elegance of someone who knows how to sit alone in a church at night,

After slipping in through the fire escape door...

At sunrise, you begin again,

With your humble certitude.

You flit, you rise and fall, writing the history of you.

- Lily Koslow (b. 2001)