Potato Face Blind Man
for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble
Instrumentation: mezzo-soprano, flute, violin, viola, contrabass, harp, and percussion
Percussion Instruments: Bar Chimes, 2 Triangles, Finger Cymbals, 5 Gongs, 5 Cowbells, Sizzle Cymbal, Tam-tam, Castanets, Wood Block (high-pitched), Temple Block (high-pitched), Wooden Wind Chimes, 3 Bongos + 2 Congas (or 2 Bongos + 3 Congas), Snare, Egg Shaker, Jawbone, Bass Drum, Glockenspiel, Slide Whistle
Duration: 12 minutes
Year Composed: 2016
Commissioned by SICPP and the Callithumpian Consort
Premiered June 25, 2016 at SICPP (Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice)
Score and parts measure 8.5" x 11".
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Program Notes
Potato Face Blind Man is a setting of Carl Sandburg’s “The Potato Face Blind Man Who Lost the Diamond Rabbit on His Gold Accordion” from Rootabaga Stories, a collection of short stories he described as American fairy tales. Most of the stories in the collection are nonsensical, and many are told by the Potato Face Blind Man, of whom Sandburg writes:
“... it is in Rootabaga Country, and in the biggest village of that country, the Potato Face Blind Man sits with his accordion on the corner nearest the post office. There he sits with his eyes never looking out and always searching in. And sometimes he finds in himself the whole human procession.”
The work was commissioned by the Summer Institute of Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) and Callithumpian Consort.
— Charles Halka
Live recording by Callithumpian Consort.
Stephen Drury, conductor.
Thea Lobo, mezzo-soprano.
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