Travels' End, by Florence Price

Today's #artsongfix is Travels' End, by Chicagoan Florence Price.

Mary Folwell Hoisington's poem is narrated by a weary traveller who longs to sleep peacefully, as they did once in their childhood bed. Price's hymn-like piano accompaniment creates a prayerful atmosphere for the narrator to confess in the final line:

I would that your sheet might be my shroud,
And I in earth be laid.

A sweeping melody in the piano part brings the song to a deeply satisfying conclusion.

This performance features bass-baritone David Govertsen and pianist Maria Sumareva on FCE's November 9, 2019 American Woman concert at St. Paul and the Redeemer in Hyde Park, Chicago.

To learn more about Florence Price's remarkable life, visit the African American Art Song Alliance website.  To view a list of her works, check out the African Diaspora Music Project database.  Many of Florence Price's works are available for purchase in sheet music at Classical Vocal Reprints.

Author

Bridget Skaggs is the founding mezzo-soprano and Executive Director of Fourth Coast Ensemble.  She studied opera at Oklahoma City University's Wanda L. Bass School of Music, and moved to Chicago in 2012 to pursue a dual career in singing and yoga.  Bridget's passion for art song grows from her lifelong love of words, communication, and the human voice.