LISA NEHER | MEZZO-SOPRANO | COMPOSER
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  • A Visit from the Sea for voice & piano

A Visit from the Sea for voice & piano

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PDF score of A Visit from the Sea for voice & piano, music by Lisa Neher, poetry by Robert Louis Stevenson

Length: 3 minutes
​
Range: C4-F5
Additional transpositions available by request
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Score

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Program Note

I love open-ended stories. I love it when authors end a narrative with some lose threads and I get to let my imagination run wild imagine what might happen after that final sentence of the book. Stevenson’s poem A visit from the sea is filled with unanswered questions and a mood of restless unease. It leaves us with more questions than answers. I poured this agitation into the piano’s right hand ostinato, which swirls like surf or the wind off the sea while dark octaves in the low register hint of something ominous. The directness of the poetry led me to a lyrical, folk-inspired setting for the singer, heightened through many phrases which end with an ascending line, suggesting uncertainty.

Poem

by Robert Louis Stevenson from Underwood

Far from the loud sea beaches
Where he goes fishing and crying
Here in the inland garden
Why is the sea-gull flying?

Here are no fish to dive for;
Here is the corn and lea;
Here are the green trees rustling.
Hie away home to sea!

Fresh is the river water
And quiet among the rushes;
This is no home for the sea-gull,
But for the rooks and thrushes.

Pity the bird that has wandered!
Pity the sailor ashore!
Hurry him home to the ocean,
Let him come here no more!

High on the sea-cliff ledges
The white gulls are trooping and crying,
Here among the rooks and roses,
Why is the sea-gull flying?
Copyright Lisa Neher 2025, All Rights Reserved.
  • Home
  • About
    • Biography
    • Eblast Newsletter
    • Testimonials
    • Discography >
      • Of Wind and Waves
    • Press Kit
  • Sheet Music Store
    • Shop All
    • Chamber Music
    • Choir
    • Coaching
    • Educational
    • Guitar
    • Harp
    • Large Ensemble
    • Opera
    • Percussion
    • Piano
    • Solo Voice(s) >
      • Art Song
      • Opera Arias
      • Unaccompanied Vocal
      • Chamber Vocal
      • Young Singers
      • Spoken Word/Narrator
    • Strings
    • Woodwinds >
      • Oboe
      • Saxophone
      • Flute
      • Clarinet
      • Bassoon
    • Brass
  • Calendar
    • Calendar
  • Singer
    • Listen and Watch
    • Repertoire
  • Composer
    • Report a Performance
    • List of All Compositions
    • Southern Resident Consortium
    • Commission Me!
  • Voice & Composition Lessons
  • Contact
  • Blog