​My Wife

• For tenor and piano; secular text from a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson—a loving tribute to a spouse
• Length: 2:00
• Difficulty rating (1-5): 3

• View a PDF score excerpt
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• Score: $3 (reproduction rights for two scores; additional charge for hard copies)

My Wife was premiered (sung by the composer) at the farewell recital for Don Wharton, who was retiring as President of Plymouth State University. The song is dedicated to my wife, Marcia.

My Wife
TRUSTY, dusky, vivid, true,
With eyes of gold and bramble-dew,
Steel-true and blade-straight,
The great artificer
Made my mate.

Honour, anger, valour, fire;
A love that life could never tire,
Death quench or evil stir,
The mighty master
Gave to her.

Teacher, tender, comrade, wife,
A fellow-farer true through life,
Heart-whole and soul-free
The august father
Gave to me.
​
—Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)