Written as I completed my folk-opera The Fiddler and the Old Woman of Rumelia, sea-changes is part of a series of works in which I explore different ways to musically respond to folk musics of the former Ottoman province of Rumelia (countries of the Balkan region, including, in this collection, Hungary, Turkey, and Romania). Melodies were chosen to express the notion of continual unseen human change, as when we fall in love or realize we are getting old. The folk melodies, collected in the early twentieth-century, are presented "untouched" by the string instrument (viola or cello) as a kind of sonic trace of the past in dialogue spanning decades with the piano part. The songs were modified freely, as part of the creative process of composition.

Recordings below by Daniel Dona, viola, and Ketty Nez, from the CD double images, Albany Records.

View performance with Hyun-Ji Kwon, cello (Boston University, 3.5.20).

Historical folk sources consulted when composing sea-changes.

a little bird (Hungary) (audio)
A little bird
Often came to see me.
In my flower garden
There did build her nest.
Yesterday she flew away,
Oh so empty are the branches.
If she does not return,
I know, she sought another.

ship of sadness (Hungary) (audio)
It's easy to build a bridge of dry wood,
But difficult to find a sweetheart true.
I did find a sweetheart who was loving,
and who will sail with me on the ship of sadness.

old age is a shoddy coat (Rumania) (audio)
Old age is a shoddy coat:
And I'm afraid I'll fall into it;
Old age is a flimsy coat:
And I'll slip inside it, I fear.
Go away into the fire,
For you have not yet found your husband.
Why I have not yet grown old;
I have only barely flowered!

shaking leaves (Rumania) (audio)
Forests, you cause me wonder.
For you grow old in autumn.
Then in spring you grow young once again.
Whereas man, once he grows old,
Never grows back young again.
Forest leaves shake,
As does a man with his thoughts.

from Istanbul I sailed (Turkey) (audio)
From Istanbul I went sailing on the sea,
I yearn for the Circassian girl.
I can't eat nor drink, but can only look in her eyes.
Take me on they saddle and ride swiftly, Kurdish boy!
My bloodthirsty husband soon will awaken at dawn.
Take me on they saddle and ride swiftly, Kurdish boy!

I was gold, but now am dust (Turkey) (audio)
Ah, what they call the falcon: it is only a small grey bird.
What you call a beauty: her eyes and eyelashes.
Oh dear God, let me see her once again.
If she's far away, show me the path.
I used to be precious gold, but now turn into dust of the earth.
If you had granted my wish, dear God,
I never would have reached for the forbidden fruit.