sunset in snow
is like a letter read
many times
– Ryuta Iida
Ryuta Iida (1920 – 2007) was the son of the haiku poet Dakotsu Iida. Initially a rice farmer, Ryuta published his first haiku volume, “One hundred noodles”, in 1954.
This piece was written for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, and Cello.
The score is available at bit.ly/SunsetInSnow
scattering ginkgo leaves
faint sound from the wind
far away
– Kenji Fusei
A student of Takahama Kyoshi, Kenji Fusei was a haiku poet who became known under the pen name Tomiyasu Fusei. He was a member of the Hototogisu Haiku Group and founded the Haiku Association of Tokyo University.
This piece was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.
The score is available at bit.ly/ScatteringGinkgoLeaves
the edge of the world
– the road vanishes into
a curtain of mist
– Raymond Cobley
Raymond Cobley is an experimental composer and regular participant in our Haiku challenge. Now retired, Raymond aims to explore the possibilities afforded by open-source software, which he uses exclusively for creating and editing both sounds & images.
This piece was written for Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.
The score is available at bit.ly/35DXMSn
White and white
Heaven and bottom useless
–Winter cloudy
– Yoshida Donguri
Yoshida Donguri is haiku poet who lives in Hokkaido, Japan. Yoshida is a caregiver who loves Buson, Santoka, and sushi.
This piece was written for Alto, Tenor and Bass voices, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.
The score is available at https://bit.ly/3ISceol
adorned with raindrops
from the shower, a sparkling
princess Azealia
Den Sutejo
A contemporary of Basho, Den Sutejo was the eldest daughter of a distinguished samurai family living in the mountainous area northwest of Kyoto. After her husband’s death, she became a nun and spent the final years of her life as a Zen devotee.
Adorned With Raindrops was written for Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Bassoon, Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.
The score is available at https://bit.ly/3KvAa2g
this feeling of loneliness –
he plays with his building blocks
as the snow heaps up
– Kubota Mantarō
Kubota Mantarō (1889 – 1963) was a Japanese author, playwright and Japanese poet. Although he was more interested in novels and plays, Kubota published several haiku collections and for a while was editor of the haiku magazine Shunto.
This piece was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.
The score is available at https://bit.ly/3zTs5j0
This piece was created as a response to Pat Boran’s haiku sequence (or rensaku), which explores the flora and fauna of Dublin Bay’s (North) Bull Island. Boran’s rhyming haiku observe the interplay of bird, human and plant life on the island, and celebrate the delicate balance of a biosphere on the very doorstep of Ireland’s capital city.
An extract of the haiku can be found at https://www.naviarrecords.com/2021/10/14/poetry-in-sounds-bull-island-haiku/
The score is available at http://bit.ly/WavesThemselves
Video available at https://youtu.be/u1rSSRMw1M0
Tewanima was a silver medalist in the 1912 Olympic games. His 10,000 meter run set an American record in that distance that stood for over 50 years. However, as a Hopi Indian, he experienced true Koyaanisqatsi.
In 1906 he was forcibly separated from his parents and community, handcuffed and marched 20 miles to Keams Canyon, where he and other Hopi youths were shackled and made to build a road. Soldiers then marched them another 110 miles where they boarded a train to Pennsylvania, 2,000 miles from home, to stay at Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
His crime was that of being born an American Indian, and the motto of the school’s founder was, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” Indeed, many children did die there due to starvation, disease, and physical abuse. He was forbidden to speak his language or practice his religion as he spent his days sewing shirts while he tried to learn English.
In his original community, Hopi males were expected to be runners, which is also a spiritual practice, and Tewanima was one of the best. Distinguishing himself repeatedly, he represented the United States in the 1908 Olympic marathon, coming in ninth. He hoped that that would allow him to go home, but he was forced back to Carlisle where he baled hay and posed for promotional pictures. “Savage Hopi Indians Are Transformed Into Model Students“
In 1911 he won New York City’s 12-mile modified marathon, and in the 1912 Olympic games he won a silver medal in the 10,000 meter event. In no picture of him receiving his awards in these events (or any others I have seen) is he seen smiling. Following six years of virtual captivity, he was allowed to return home, where he tended cornfields and herded sheep. He married a Hopi woman and had one child, who was taken away to a boarding school, became ill, and was returned home to die.
Tewanima is written for Flute, Alto Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Violin, Viola, Cello and String Bass. The melody of the second theme is based on Marco Lucchi’s “Incipit“. The piece also includes electronic expansions of the original, as well as the inclusion of the original twice.
The score is available at https://bit.ly/2YjQb7P
I decided to write the haiku for this one.
Night’s edge comes early,
leaves crunching under my feet,
suddenly winter.
Happy Halloween!
Night’s Edge was written for Alto Flute, Bass Clarinet, Trombone, Bass Trombine, Bass Drum, Gong, Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, Cello and String Bass
The score is available at https://bit.ly/3kLm6oj
Racket In My Head 