Itsutsu no danshyou
Instrumentation: mezzo soprano, string quartet
Duration: 8
Written in: 1999
Composed in 1999, Itsutsu no Danshyou (“Five Songs”) is a set a of miniatures based on modern tanka by various Japanese poets. The tanka is form of poetry similar to the haiku in that it is based on a pattern of syllables per each line, in this case 5-7-5-7-7.
The work was written while I was studying for my Bachelor’s degree in composition at the Eastman School of Music.