A setting of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem.

Although this poem reflects on the death of a loved one and the effect of this on the bereaved, there is a child-like fascination displayed through the description of the natural process of snowfall. The music picks this viewpoint, launching into a lilting multifaceted triplet pattern that meanders like a snowflake through the winter landscape of the words, rising and falling on the brisk breeze of the text. Each repetition of the motif is the same, but subtly different, like snowflakes.

This key should be suitable for Mezzo Soprano or Contraltolto.