ARNOLD ROSNER

COMPOSER 1945–2013

I was composer in residence at a community orchestra in San Diego in 1992–1994 and an ancillary event to this would include a performance of the Three Elegiac Songs. The individual at first engaged took a good look at the Kaddish and changed her mind. Not only was it vocally demanding, but she was Jewish and had recently lost close family members, and it was simply nothing she wanted to handle. She recommended a certain very talented young singer, with all the vocal stamina on earth, named Barbara Post. All this worked out and Barbara and I became friends. She showed me certain poems she had written, including Poseidon, about a woman and a male God-like figure. She included musical settings attempted by a friend or two, which did not fully satisfy her. Well—that was challenge enough to me, and my setting was written forthwith. (Notes by Arnold Rosner)