Ploughing on Sunday (2018)

for bass-baritone, mixed chorus, horn, and piano.
Poem: Wallace Stevens
Commissioned by Luke Zyla for the Parkersburg (WV) Choral Society
Duration: 3 min 15 sec

Here is a recording.

The white cock’s tail,
Tosses in the wind.
The turkey-cock’s tail
Glitters in the sun.

Water in the fields.
And the wind pours down.
The feathers flare
And bluster in the wind.

Remus, blow your horn!
I’m ploughing on Sunday,
I’m ploughing North America.
Blow your horn!

Tum-ti-tum,
Ti-tum-tum-tum!
The turkey-cock’s tail
Spreads to the sun.

The white cock’s tail
Streams to the moon.
Water in the fields
And the wind pours down.

The poem paints a fanciful picture of the sights, sounds, and feelings one might experience while working in the fields.