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Six Songs on Poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay: Bonds, Margaret (491-03177)

The following extra resources are available for this publication.

Errata List:

  • Page 5, m. 30 – grace note in the final bar should be a solitary low B flat an octave below the lowest principal note, not octave Cs
  • Page 16, mm. 36-37, piano, LH: clef change occurs on downbeat of m. 37, not m. 36.
  • Page 19, m. 21, piano, RH: the first eighth note should be A natural rather than a carried-over A sharp (editorial suggestion).
  • Page 28, m. 6, piano: beat 4 in the LH may be C sharp (ignore ficta natural sign).
  • Page 28, m. 6, piano: beat 4 in the RH may be a C sharp (editorial suggestion).
  • Page 29, m. 8, piano: last note of beat 4 in the LH may be /C natural/, imitating beat 3 of the RH (editorial suggestion).

Critical Notes

(original keys)

The grouping and ordering of these six songs in the present edition is editorial. The edition takes Margaret Bonds’s autographs held in the Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, as its copy-texts. These sources are as follows (“AS” denotes Autograph Score; “AC” denotes a transfer-paper copy of an autograph; “AD” denotes an autograph or holograph draft):

  • “Women Have Loved Before”:
    • AD 1: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 9, folder 45. Undated autograph draft in pencil, 2 pp. Headed “SONNET / E. St. V. Millay / M. Bonds.” Incomplete, extending only through “I only in such.” The music is completely different from that in AS 1. The vocal line is complete up through “I only in such.” The piano part occasionally includes melody and accompaniment and occasionally provides only chord-names (e.g., “D, A min, F” for the first three measures). Of the known manuscripts for these songs, this is the only one written on G. Schirmer Royal Brand staff paper.
    • AS 1: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 9, folder 45. Undated autograph score in ink, 4 pp. Headed “Sonnet I / Edna St. Vincent Millay / MA Bonds.” Written on Belwin, Inc., Parchment Blend staff paper (same as source AD 5). Copy-text for this edition.
  • “Hyacinth”:
    • AS 2: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 4, folder 21. Autograph score in ink, 3 pp. Headed “HYACINTH / poem by / Edna St. Vincent Millay / music by / Margaret Bonds.” At the bottom of p. 1 Bonds lettered “ASCAP.” Written on Circle Blue Print Co. staff paper (same as sources AS 3, 4, and 5). Folder also contains wax transfer-paper copy (source AC 2). Copy-text for this edition.
  • “Even in the Moment”:
    • AS 3: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 8, folder 43. Undated autograph score in ink, 4 pp. Headed “SONNET: / EVEN IN THE MOMENT / Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay / Music by Margaret Bonds.” On the last page is stamped in red ink: “MARGARET BONDS / COMPOSER (ASCAP) / 501 West 123rd ST., APT. 4B / NEW YORK 27, N.Y.” Written on Circle Blue Print Co. staff paper (same as sources AS 2, 4, and 5). Source AS 3 is found in a folder whose outer front cover, in Bonds’s handwriting, gives the collective title FOUR SONGS, followed by the titles “Even in the Moment,” “Feast” “I Know My Mind,” and “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” and “poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay / music by Margaret Bonds.” A wax transfer-paper copy (source AC 3), without the ASCAP stamp, survives in the Georgetown University Libraries (Booth Family Center for Special Collections, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark GTM-130530 Box 15, folder 2). Copy-text for this edition.
  • “Feast”:
    • AS 4: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 2, folder 10. Undated autograph score in ink, 3 pp. Headed “FEAST / Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay / Music by / Margaret Bonds.” On the last page is stamped in red ink: “MARGARET BONDS / COMPOSER (ASCAP) / 501 West 123rd ST., APT. 4B / NEW YORK 27, N.Y.” Written on Circle Blue Print Co. staff paper (same as sources AS 2, 3, and 5).Copy-text for this edition.
  • “I Know My Mind”:
    • AD 5: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 4, folder 23. Undated autograph draft in pencil, 4 pp. Headed “Sonnet II – Edna St. Vincent Millay.” Incomplete, extending only through “What you cannot do is bow me down.” The music is completely different from that in AS 5. The piano part is sketched and drafted in reasonably complete form. Written on Belwin, Inc., Parchment Blend staff paper (same as source AS 1).
    • AS 5: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 4, folder 23. Undated autograph score in ink, 5 pp. Headed “I KNOW MY MIND / Sonnet by E. St. Vincent Millay [rule] / Music by Margaret Bonds [rule].” On the last page is stamped in red ink: “MARGARET BONDS / COMPOSER (ASCAP) / 501 West 123rd ST., APT. 4B / NEW YORK 27, N.Y.” Written on Circle Blue Print Co. staff paper (same as sources AS 2, 3, and 4). Folder also contains wax transfer-paper copy (source AC 5). At the bottom of p. 1 in source AS 5 is the note “C17-7459.” Copy-text for this edition.
    • AC 5: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 4, folder 23. Wax-paper transfer copy of source AS 5. At the top of p. 2 is an autograph note in pencil: “see Ralph Wednesday at 2:30.”
  • “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed”
    • AS 6: Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Margaret Bonds papers, shelfmark JWJ 151 Box 8, folder 44. Undated autograph score in ink, 3 pp. Headed “SONNET__ “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed” [space] Poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay / Music by Margaret Bonds.” Written on MAESTRO staff paper. Folder includes three photocopies and one wax transfer-paper copy (sources AC 6a-d). Copy-text for this edition.

In the notes below, Pf denotes piano, V voice, and LH and RH right and left hand, respectively.

Notes:
  • “Hyacinth”:
    • 13 meter change lacking in AS 2;
  • “Even in the Moment”:
    • 26 /3 Millay: “hoped”;
    • 34 meter change lacking in AS 3;
  • “Feast”:
    • 26 Pf long notes erroneously given as whole notes in AS 4 (stems forgotten);
    • 27 S /2 given as half note in AS 4;
    • 28 Pf long notes erroneously given as whole notes in AS 4 (stems forgotten);
    • 32 Pf long notes erroneously given as whole notes in AS 4 (stems forgotten);
  • “I Know My Mind”:
    • 9 S /1 notated as dotted 16th – 32nd (short one dot) in AS 5;
    • 21 meter change lacking in AS 5;
    • 22 Pf RH /1-/2 notated as dotted hn (extra dot) in AS 5;
    • 56 meter change lacking in AS 5;
  • “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed”:
    • 8 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 13 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 14 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 15 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 16 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 18 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 26 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d;
    • 30 meter change lacking in AS 6 and AC 6a-d.