Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Commissioned by the Laudate Singers in 2015.

Duration approximately 5’00.

The origin of the poem, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is a 19th century book by Jane and Ann Taylor called, “Songs For The Nursery”. I read the text as an expression of thankfulness and I was drawn to the idea of a choral setting that emphasizes this reading. I tried to imagine a traveler lost in the wilderness with no guide save for this supernatural beacon in the sky and the feeling of gratitude they would feel towards it at the crest of the last horizon.

Poetry by Jane and Ann Taylor

      Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark
Thanks you for your tiny sparks;
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye
‘Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark
Lights the traveller in the dark,
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.