Five Russian Poems is a cycle of songs that tells the story of a fraught romantic relationship using texts by two of Russia’s most renowned, twentieth-century poets: Symbolist Alexander Blok (1 880–1 921) and post-Symbolist Anna Akhmatova (1 889–1 966), who are rumored to have had a real-life love affair. I was first introduced to Blok’s “To Anna Akhmatova” in 2007, which drove me to explore Akhmatova’s work in turn. While setting this song in 2008 and delving deeper into their writing, Blok’s florid mysticism and Akhmatova’s direct, psychological depth came to engross me. Their writings exist in many English translations, so it became clear how a lyric could change drastically depending upon the translator. The poems seemed to reverberate with some of the same musical color as Alexander Scriabin’s piano preludes, which are some of my favorite works to play, full of dark warmth, yet illuminating in their introspectiveness.

I developed the cycle over the better part of a decade — setting it aside, coming back to it, reflecting on it from new vantage points, sifting through the authors’ works and lives and translations to find the perfect textual material.

from Five Russian Poems

4. The Last Toast
I drink to the ruined house, 
To the evil of my life, 
To our shared loneliness 
And I drink to you-- 
To the lie of lips that betrayed me, 
To the deadly coldness of the eyes, 
To the fact that the world is cruel and depraved,
To the fact that God did not save.

—Anna Akhmatova
translated by Judith Hemschemeyer

Songs 4 & 5 in Five Russian Poems: “The Last Toast” and “We Do Not Know How to Say Goodbye” were performed at Source Song Festival as part of the 2021 MNSong Composer Showcase. They were performed by Jeremy Wong, baritone, and Ann DuHamel, pianist, via an online broadcast on August 6, 2021.

Ryan Homsey is a versatile American composer, equally at home writing for chamber and choral ensembles, theater, and dance. His music has been performed in the US, Italy, Portugal, France, and the Philippines across a wide range of new music venues from concert halls, churches, and theaters to warehouses, clubs, and galleries.

Ryan’s compositions juxtapose tradition and innovation. His training in classical and popular music draws additional inspiration from his past experience as a professional ballet dancer.

His works have been performed by JACK Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra’s Music to You String Quartet, Quiet City, Ensemble Mise-en, Boston New Music Initiative, violinist Adrianna Mateo, and baritone Kelvin Chan, among others. Commissions and awards have come from the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), Young New Yorkers’ Chorus, NY Children’s Aid Chorus, New Haven Oratorio Choir, and Skidmore College’s Dance Department. Recent performance venues include the Taipei Cultural Center in New York City, the Museum of Natural History, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

As a recipient of American Composers Forum’s Live Music for Dance grant, Ryan composed a multi-movement work entitled Recurrent Stages for The Minnesota Ballet. The short film documenting this critically acclaimed collaboration was nominated for an Upper Midwest Emmy® Award.
Ryan is Lecturer in the Conservatory of Music at the State University of New York (SUNY) Purchase. Ryan has studied with Justin Dello Joio, Julia Wolfe, Alice Parker, and Allyson Bellink. His music is published by Water Willow Music and GIA Publications.

Further information can be found at: www.ryanhomsey.com

 Anna Ahkmatova and Alexander Blok