Annabel Lee (Original Composition)

in #music8 years ago (edited)

Hello everyone, as I said on Tuesday, I needed to finish the music for a performance of Annabel Lee on Wednesday. I completed the music the night before, and screwed up massively in the performance. It turned into a comedy act rather than a vocal performance, so I decided to just post the computer version, practice it,  and hope my voice teacher will help me perform it again in a few months. It is a setting of the poem by Edgar Allan Poe Here is the completed song:

Lyrics (Taken from Poetry Foundation)

It was many and many a year ago, 
   In a kingdom by the sea, 
That a maiden there lived whom you may know 
   By the name of Annabel Lee; 
And this maiden she lived with no other thought 
   Than to love and be loved by me. 

I was a child and she was a child, 
   In this kingdom by the sea, 
But we loved with a love that was more than love— 
   I and my Annabel Lee— 
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven 
   Coveted her and me. 

And this was the reason that,  
   In this kingdom by the sea, 
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling 
   My beautiful Annabel Lee; 
So that her highborn kinsmen came 
   And bore her away from me, 
To shut her up in a sepulchre 
   In this kingdom by the sea. 

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, 
   Went envying her and me— 
Yes!—that was the reason
That the wind came out of the cloud by night, 
   Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 

But our love it was stronger by far than the love 
   Of those who were older than we— 
   Of many far wiser than we— 
And neither the angels in Heaven above 
   Nor the demons down under the sea 
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul 
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams 
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes 
   Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; 
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side 
   Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, 
   In her sepulchre there by the sea— 
   In her tomb by the sounding sea.


I learned from my piano teacher that the time signature for this piece is odd, and pretty cool (There's an example from Mikrokosmos [volume 6, I don't know what piece]). This piece uses 3/8 + 3/8 + 2/8 for a majority of measures (as in the strong beats are 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2), so I tried to format it likewise, sorry if the vocal part is grouped differently, I forgot to check that part. Anyway, let me know what you think of the piece, I decided not to post the performance because of how much it back fired. 


Thanks for reading this! I have been procrastinating this song for months and it is finally done! As always, feedback is appreciated, and remember to check back later (I think I'm going to write a weekly7 too).

Also remember to check for: My weekly 7 post, As Well As My Composer Birthday Posts



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You could always either:
a) do a special recording for us of you singing it, or
b) post the performance under the tag of comedy {wink}

Good job regardless, and I still look forward to hearing it sung one day.

Yes, but I haven't learned the piano part yet, and don't have an accompany-est. Maybe, I'll have to watch it again and see how bad it is {wink}
Thank you! I hope to sing it one day [and not screw up]:)

Hey @cmp2020! Outstanding! Enjoyed it.

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it.