“Epigram” and “Epitaph: upon the death of Sir Albert Morton’s Wife”

1941

5 minutes

Contralto or mezzo-soprano and piano

Sir William Jones and Sir Henry Wotton

Fine expressed her feelings [about World War II] in two song collections. The first consists of two songs, “Epigram,” and “Epitaph: upon the death of Sir Albert Morton’s Wife,” on texts by Sir William Jones (1746-1794) and Sir Henry Wotton (1568-1639). “Epigram” is a parent’s hope that a baby will live, and “Epitaph” is a statement about a wife who died not long after her husband’s death. She wrote the second collection, “Songs of Our Times” (1943) for a concert that Lazare Saminsky produced at the Temple Emmanuel [in New York] to support the Russian/American efforts in the war.

–Heidi Von Gunden, The Music of Vivian Fine, Scarecrow Press, 1999

“…the attractive Epigram, of a limpid vocal line and imaginative instrumentation….”

–Lazare Saminsky, Musical Courier, February 1944