Wait (high voice)

Description

The Greek lyric poet Sappho (c. 630–570 BCE), one of antiquity’s most significant female voices, survives only in fragments. Her texts, often marked by intense emotion and sensual precision, explore love, longing, and the fleeting nature of moments. The incomplete remnants of her poems—sometimes just single words or phrases—resemble poetic shards that still today invite fascinatingly open interpretations.

Inspired by four of these fragments, German composer Isabel Mundry wrote the song cycle “Wait” in 2021 as a commission for the 70th International ARD Music Competition. What makes it special? The songs exist in versions for all four voice types (EB 9424 alto and bass, EB 9423 soprano and tenor), making them a flexible yet demanding work for singers.