Cotton Dust
Song for soprano and piano
Soprano range: from d-sharp 4 to g 5
2017
Duration: 8 minutes
Poem: “Cotton Dust” by Veronica Patterson
Score sample: Cotton Dust
Publication: Available for purchase at Subito Music Distribution.
Composer Notes: Poet Veronica Patterson, inspired by the Lewis W. Hine photograph seen above, wrote the poem “Cotton Dust” in the voice of a young woman working in a southern cotton mill in 1911. I found the poem’s emotional scope so moving that as soon as I read it I approached Veronica about setting it to music.