One Sweet Morning (for chorus) (2005)

Premiere
29 April 2006
Young People’s Chorus of New York City
Francisco J. Nuñez, conductor
Ethical Culture Society
New York, NY

Composer note
This is my first work for a youth chorus. In searching for a text, I came across E. Y. (Yip) Harburg's Rhymes for the Irreverent: two small volumes of poems by the lyricist of the film "The Wizard of Oz," the musical Brigadoon, and many other timeless works. Harburg was a very political poet. He was most often very funny, but occasionally wrote poems of transcendental beauty like "One Sweet Morning."

This anti-war poem looks forward to "one sweet morning" when, "out of the flags and the bones buried under the clover," "spring will bloom"..."peace will come." It is an exalted prayer for the future, and, when sung by young people who are the future, has special meaning.

— John Corigliano