Uzaugo Liepa (SATB)

Program Notes

Up grew the linden tree, lioj dautuvo,In a flat place, lylia ratilio.

The linden tree had… nine branches…

All nine… were battered by the storm…
From those branches I will make chairs.
In those chairs I will sit myself.
From the topmost (branches) I shall fashion a bed.On that bed I will lay the sheets.
In that bed I will lay down a young man.
Having laid him there, I will sing him (to sleep).

Sutartinės are traditional Lithuanian multi-part songs and have been recognized by UNESCO as “Master- piecesof the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” in 2010. This piece expands upon the traditional Lithuaniansutartinė “Užaugo liepa,” a story of a linden tree and a woman’s reverie. In the original version, each verse issung three times, each time by a different singer, accompanied by a call-and-response refrain of “Dautuvo” and“Ratilio” in the other voices. My setting preserves this texture in the first verse. After that, we depart from thestrict canonical form; each successive verse is given a unique character to help illuminate the meaning of the textand make this fantasy colorful and vibrant.

We are incredibly grateful to the Resurrection Credit Union Limited for their sponsorship of this compositionand their support for new Lithuanian concert music!

Kęstutis Daugirdas

You can view and hear this piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eYx9izsN9Y