This is my Opus 57 for SATB choir and piano.
I wrote the 3 Haiku in 1989 intending to set them to music, but it took 28 years to do so.
Haiku are Japanese poems based on Chinese original forms. The Japanese versions have 5 - 7 - 5 characters per line. English translations use multiple words to express the sense of the original lines - usually unsuccessfully, although they are often excellent English poetry.
Some years ago I started writing my own, classifying them as 5 - 7 - 5
- multi-syllable words per line (type 1),
- syllables per line, using mono- or multi-syllable words (type 2),
- 1-syllable words per line (type 3).
The Haiku in this work are type 2. Type 3 IMHO come closest to the spirit of the Japanese originals and are the hardest to write, type 1 being easiest, and type 2 intermediate.
The musical setting attempts to express sentiments akin to Japanese and Chinese music.
The files are accessible below.
3 Haiku - Cantata (Op.57)