Upon a Day: Verse and Other Writings

Well-known as a composer and philanthropist, Gordon Getty's compositions include orchestral, chamber, and piano pieces, but most prolifically, vocal works: four operas, a dramatic cantata, and numerous choral pieces and songs. Less well known is the fact that he has also written or adapted the texts for the majority of these works.

Upon a Day is the compilation of a lifetime of lovingly, meticulously written poems and libretti, the majority of which he has set to music over his long musical career. In Getty's words, "Music and verse, at their best, are the wine or mead that reminds sweet reason of things outside its reach."

Praise for Gordon Getty's UPON A DAY

The extraordinary Gordon Getty is a deeply gifted and prolific composer with a poet's heart and soul: there is great poetry in his music, and profound music in his verse. This vibrant collection makes clear that his enthusiasm and passion for form, structure, invention and beautiful language inhabits every part of his creative psyche. Jake Heggie, Composer

What I admire about Gordon, both as a human being and as a writer is his passion. He is a tireless enthusiast, and that fuels everything he does whether as a writer or a composer. He is quite irresistible. Stephen Rubin, Publisher, Author, Music Critic

The richness of Mr. Getty's language-its classical models audible even in his contemporary subjects, his images no less evocative for being expressed in the most lucid prose and verse forms-could only be the work of a composer as passionate about the music in his words themselves, as well as that music he composes to illuminate and complete them. An indispensable introduction to the artist's work. John Corigliano, Composer

The texts he has penned fit his music impulses hand-in-glove, as anyone who has encountered his operas and song cycles can attest. In his settings he is not afraid to speak directly, does not shy away from the sentimental, nor is he averse to entertaining both the listener and the reader. John Adams, Composer