Classical Music -- Miraculously -- Continues To Be Born; While Classical Singers And All Other Human Beings, Plants, And Animals Must Pass Away

"“Neruda Songs,” a song cycle written by composer Peter Lieberson that became a parting gift to his dying wife, has earned the 2008 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition.

The work, a group of songs based on five love poems by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, was chosen for the prize among 140 entries from around the world.

Lieberson began writing the song cycle in 2003 for his wife, the late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who was ill with cancer. In 2005, she learned that she was [again] ill with cancer. She performed it with the organizations that jointly commissioned it, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Boston Symphony, before she died in 2006.

Each song represents a different stage of love, from first passion to the end of life, said Marc Satterwhite, a UofL music professor who directs the award program. “The piece has beauty and surface simplicity, but great emotional depth and intellectual rigor as well,” he said." ...

University of Louisville: Dare to Be Great December 2, 2007













The New York MET Opera's Les Troyens: Elena Zaremba as Anna and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as Dido

Classical singer Lorraine Hunt Lieberson and Classical composer Peter Lieberson have now both reached the absolute heights of their beloved artforms.

Photo credit: (c) Marty Sohl for the Metropolitan Opera. All rights reserved. With thanks.