- What We Know About Planets (1996) SSA, piano 13'
- Text: Annie Dillard, "An Epistemology of Planets," from Tickets for a Prayer Wheel (HarperCollins).
Program Note
Though What We Know About Planets has been performed with orchestra, it was originally conceived for 3-part treble chorus and piano, To create a more satisfying musical structure, with Ms. Dillard's permission I adjusted the order of planets, opening the work with a wordless hum, combining the outermost planets, and moving "Earth" to the end. In 2002, What We Know About Planets was awarded High Honors by the University of Oregon's "Waging Peace Through Singing" initiative. To my knowledge, however, the piano version has not been performed.
Annie Dillard was born in Pittsburgh in 1945. Educated at Hollins College, she received the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction for Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Among her many other honors are a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. She is Professor emeritus at Wesleyan University. Her work conveys at once a child's admiration for the world and a keen, ageless spirit, puzzling on its mysteries. Her words have been set by many composers, including the late Sir Michael Tippett.