So Lit Song Lit

Francesca Caccini (1587-1640) came from a very important musical family, studying music with her father alongside her brother and sister. A noted singer and voice teacher as well, Francesca spent much of her musical career working in the Medici court. She composed the first extant opera by a woman and the first Italian opera that was performed outside of Italy.

Much of the information this season comes from Karin Pendle's Women and Music: A History.

Musical clips performed by Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, Troy Cook, baritone, and Ellen Rissinger, piano:

Primo libro delle musiche a una e due voci

• Ecco ch'io verso il sangue
• Regina coeli
• Fresche aurette (duet)
• Non so se quel sorriso (also found in 24 Italian Songs & Arias by Women Composers)

You can also find music by Francesca's sister Settimia in the 24 Italian Songs & Arias by Women Composers.

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

"Exactly" Counter--Ellen 2, Toni 1 

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can find out more about Troy Cook on his website, https://www.troycookbaritone.com/

The So Lit Song Lit academy is back in session - Season 4 drops starting August 19th! This season, Toni Marie and Ellen focus on women composers from the 16th century through the 1990s. Make sure to subscribe and tell all your friends, colleagues, and students, you won't want to miss this season!

So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

In the final episode of Season 3, our guest Dr. Zuly Inirio of the Afro-Latinx Song & Opera Project shows us some fabulous songs by Afro-Latin composers that she uses in her concerts entitled ¡Tumbao! A Celebration of Afro-Latin Music!

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Zuly Inirio, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, piano:

Modesta Bor: "Guitarra" Tríptico sobra poesía Cubana 

Errollyn Wallen: "My feet may take a little while"

Antonio Carlos Gomes: "Suspiro d’alma"

Xavier Montsalvatge: "Cuba dentro de un piano" Cinco canciones negras

Recorded at  the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA.

So Lit Song Lit will be back in August with Season 4, with a whole season of women composers! Until then, make sure to check out CSI's other podcasts, Follow the Lieder and Song Cycle.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

B.E. Boykin is a graduate of Spelman college, Westminster College, and holds a doctorate from Georgia State University. In addition to Moments in Sonder, she has an extensive catalog of choral works as well. Her music is sold through Graphite Publishing.

M. Roger Holland II has been a guest on several episodes of So Lit this season, so we couldn't leave him out of the musical line-up! Make sure to check out the episodes on William Grant Still and Margaret Bonds to hear him discuss composing and poetry with us. His music is sold through GIA music.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Aliyah Quill, soprano, Rachel Boll, cello, and Ellen Rissinger, piano:

Boykin--Moments in Sonder (published through Klavia Press) (sung by Aliyah)

• Passing Time
• Refusal
• The Lesson

Holland--Three Spirituals (sung by Toni)

• There is a Balm in Gilead

Recorded at  the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA and Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

Season 3 Episode 20 will drop on May 27, 2025.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

Aliyah Quill is a student of Carnegie Mellon University.

This episode was inspired by the program of a colleague that was posted on Facebook! Both Carlos Simon and Dave Ragland are modern composers working with some of the most important companies and singers of our time, creating all kinds of new works that are powerful, accessible to audiences, and absolute gems of the repertoire.

Carlos Simon:

• Caro mio ben (sung by Solomon)
• Vocalise (sung by Toni)
• Prayer (Gather Up) (sung by Solomon)

Dave Ragland:

• I Believe (High Voice score, Low Voice score) (sung by Ricky)

Posting a quote here from Carlos in an interview with Good Faith Media a few months ago:

"We’ve always been here, but there’s been in classical music, there has been such a large spark of new commissioning, new music that has come about, yeah. I think people just want to hear new music, and it’s all really just happening here in America. Talking to my colleagues in Europe, they’re kind of stuck in the old way of Beethoven and Bach, which is great. But to really push the envelope and push the medium forward, that comes with funding, which we are seeing. So that is another thing I’m hopeful about."

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

For more information on Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, visit his website.

Solomon Onyukwu is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

This episode offers a taste of a few different songs from the anthologies that we've been talking about all season, all of which would be a great addition to everyone's library. Those anthologies are:

   An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs
   Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers
   A New Anthology of Art Songs by African American Composers
   The Second Anthology of Art Songs by African American Composers 

Musical clips featured on this episode, performed by Solomon Onyukwu, baritone, Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, and Ellen Rissinger, piano:

• Compensation (Charles Lloyd, Jr.) Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers (sung by Solomon)
• Compensation (Betty Jackson King) A New Anthology of Art Songs by African American Composers (sung by Toni)
• A Song Without Words (Charles Brown) Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers (sung by Solomon)
• Music I Heard (Roger Dickerson) The Second Anthology of Art Songs by African American Composers (sung by Toni)

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA and at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

Solomon Onyukwu is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.

This episode is an eclectic mixture of pieces and composers, starting with two song cycles by Dorothy Rudd Moore! Born and raised on the East Coast, she studied with Nadia Boulanger, and was one of the co-founders of the Society of Black Composers. Her music has enough dissonance to bring out the colors of the texts beautifully, while still being very accessible to an audience. Jonathan Bailey Holland is currently the Dean of Music at Northwestern University, and has some stunningly beautiful pieces - he was a student of Ned Rorem.

We also included both settings of I Want to Die While You Love Me that we have talked about this season so that you can hear them back-to-back and see how different the two settings are, while both are excellent settings! The songs are in An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs and appear in the book back-to-back as well!

Dorothy Rudd Moore
Flowers of Darkness
1. Flowers of Darkness (sung by Aliyah)

Sonnets on Love, Rosebuds, and Death (vocal chamber music, soprano, violin, piano)

6. Idolatry (sung by Gracyn)

Jonathan Bailey Holland
Little Elegy (in An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs) (sung by Solomon)

Undine Smith Moore
I Want to Die While You Love Me (in An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs) (sung by Gracyn)

Rosephanye Powell
I Want to Die While You Love Me (in An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs) (sung by Gracyn)

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

For more information on Gracyn Blu, visit their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @gracynblu

Aliyah Quill and Solomon Onyukwu are students/graduates of Carnegie Mellon University.

On this episode we focus on some songs of Rosephanye Powell and Betty Jackson King, both amazing women with some fabulous songs to their credit. All of these songs are sure to be accessible and exciting to audiences, while offering enough challenge to performers to make their songs worth digging into!

Our guest today is Dr. Sonya Baker, Professor of Voice at James Madison University. Sonya performs a lecture recital based on Marian Anderson's 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and helped curate a new song literature curriculum for NATS that can be downloaded from the NATS website, called Expanding the Canon.

Rosephanye Powell

Miss Wheatley's Garden (sung by Gracyn)

• I Want To Die While You Love Me 

Langston Dreams (sung by Aliyah)

• Hold Fast to Dreams
• I Dream A World

Then, Here, and Now (sung by Donovan)

• Oppression

Betty Jackson King (sung by Toni)
these songs are in A New Anthology of Art Song by African Composers

• Theology
• Compensation

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA, and Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA.

To compare Rosephanye Powell's setting of "I Want To Die While You Love Me" with the one from Undine Smith Moore, check out Episode 6 of this season!

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

For more information on Gracyn Blu, visit their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @gracynblu

You can follow Donovan Elliot Smith on his YouTube page.

Aliyah Quill is currently a senior at Carnegie Mellon University.

Adolphus Hailstork is an active, award-winning composer with a great output of art songs - and he's another name in our growing list of fabulous composers who studied with Nadia Boulanger! His works blend African, American, and European musical traditions in a unique way that is satisfying to both performers and audiences. We also have personal stories about Hailstork today from countertenor Darryl Taylor of the African American Art Song Alliance and baritone Kenneth Overton.

The exciting news from the episode intro: you can order Tyson Deaton's new anthology Songs of Joseph Bologne de Saint-Georges Vol 3 from Classical Vocal Reprints! We discussed that with him on Season 1 Episode. Additionally, soprano Karen Slack (also a CSI Digital family member with  #KikiKonversations!) has published the works of Florence Price on her album Grammy Award-winning Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price. The scores can be purchased from ONEcomposer.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Gracyn Blu, mezzo-soprano, Donovan Elliot Smith, tenor, Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano, Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

• A Charm At Parting (Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers) (sung by Gracyn)
• Loveliest of Trees (An Anthology of African and African Diaspora Songs) (sung by Donovan)
• Song (Art Songs for High Voice) (sung by Toni)
• Vocalise (Art Songs for High Voice) (sung by Ricky)

Recorded at Morningstar Studios in Norristown, PA, the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA, and The Church Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA.

Check out Darryl Taylor and Brent McMunn performing Yet Do I Marvel by Adolphus Hailstork!

Be sure to check out Kenneth Overton and Casey Robards' new CD What Dreams We Have: The Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, which includes some pieces by Hailstork!

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

For more information on Gracyn Blu, visit their website, or you can follow them on Instagram @gracynblu

You can follow Donovan Elliot Smith on his YouTube page.

For more information on Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, visit his website.

Robert Owens (1925-2017) funded his musical studies in Europe on the GI bill after serving in the military. He lived most of his adult life in Germany and in addition to composing, he was also a much-sought-after actor! All of his scores are available at Classical Vocal Reprints, and he has lots of songs in English, French, and German to choose from.

Recordings featured in this episode, performed by Hanna Atsedewoin, soprano, Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, and Ellen Rissinger, pianist:

Op 14 Heart On The Wall (sung by Hanna)

• Havanna Dreams
• Girl

Op 101 Rimbaud Cabaret (sung by Ricky)

• Rages de Césars

Recorded at the Carnegie Mellon School of Music Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA, and The Church Recording Studio in Pittsburgh, PA.

Listen to the orchestrated version of Heart On The Wall: Havanna Dreams sung by Louise Toppin with the Dvořak Symphony Orchestra.

Listen to the complete Rimbaud-Cabaret sung by Darryl Taylor with Maria Thompson Corley on piano.

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So Lit Song Lit is a production of Cincinnati Song Initiative. You can learn more about its network of podcasts at cincinnatisonginitiative.org/podcasts.

You can follow Ellen and The Diction Police on Facebook and at www.dictionpolice.com.

You can follow Toni Marie on Facebook at Toni Marie Palmertree, soprano and Instagram @ToniMariePalmertree

You can follow Hanna Atsedewoin on Instagram @hanna_atse

For more information on Ricky L. Owens, Jr., countertenor, visit his website.