"The Glory of Your Eyes" is set to a two-line fragment of a poem by the Ancient Greek poet Sappho. Our society remembers Sappho as a poet and a lesbian icon, but fewer people know that she was also a composer and a performer of her own work. The parts of her opus that survive were likely once songs, and it feels special to give them music once more. This fragment, only two lines, is a favorite of mine, and my setting of it is intended as a celebration of mutual support and joy in friendship.

Recording credit: Nora Farley and Hayla Alawi, voices; Jake Ellzey, frame drum; Emily Graham, piano; recording by Nelson Walker

This piece is designed to be singable by three soloists but may also be performed by a full choir.

Handbells, hand-held chimes, or anything with a similar timbre may be substituted for singing bowls and performed by members of the choir. Piano is acceptable if no appropriate percussion is available. For ease of reading, the singing bowl notes are never tied across bar lines, but all notes should be allowed to ring for their natural duration without dampening.

This piece includes vowel harmonics, indicated by a horizontal zig-zag line over the duration of the note. On these notes, the singer is to hold the notated pitch, close to a rhotic (American “R”) sound and move the lips and tongue around to create a spectrum of overtones. It is used as an effect, so there is no need to aim for specific harmonic partials.