​​April Elegy​ - Set by John Duke (1899-1984), Words by Alfred Young Fisher

John Duke, a composer in the 20th century, is most known for his art songs, which he composed during and after his tenure at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Duke was born in Maryland, and studied at Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland. Duke studied piano with Franklin Cannon, and composition with Howard Brockway and Bernard Wagenaar when he moved to New York in 1918 after a brief period of volunteer service in the army.

​Although primarily know for the art songs he wrote while on faculty at Smith College, he also wrote music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments, piano, chorus, as well as two operas and an operetta. Duke surprised himself at his own writing, writing “I am still amazed at the way my musical career has turned out. In my early days, my ambition was to be a great pianist, and I could not have believed anyone who told me I was destined to be a song composer.”

Duke’s songs are certainly challenging for singers, and April Elegy is no exception. April Elegy invokes the idea of an April shower, with the piano illustrating the rainfall, and the singer remaining contemplative throughout the piece. April Elegy is a piece that combines disjunct and chromatic intervals, with slightest hints of diatonicism peaking through. Several of the piano interludes have some degree of resolution within them only to become the springboard the voice into the next section of chromaticism. The final phrases of the piece have a resolution from a single B major chord to an E minor, only to flow back into the same chromatic entrance that was played earlier.

HAL LEONARD. (1989). Songs of John Duke: High voice. Page 2

Friedberg, R. C., & Fisher, R. (2012). American art song and American poetry. Scarecrow Press c. Page 45