Micro Dramatic Songs II
from Prague
(2010)

FOR PIANO AND SOPRANO

Dan Senn

This song cycle is based on texts I wrote in Prague in the Spring 2009 soon after completing
Micro-Dramatic Songs from Prague I (2009) for marimba, soprano and string trio. Like the previous set,
they are presented as musical vignettes meant to be humorous, and both socially and personally reflective.
Including the pauses between songs, this cycle has a duration of about twelve minutes, depending on
interpretation. "Micro dramatic" is used to describe the small dramas which occur in a society where people
are continuously in close proximity with one another. For example, in a trip to the market in Prague, on
the #217 bus over the Petrin hill to the Anděl shopping area, a dozen small dramatic exchanges may
occur before I again cross the threshold of my flat, my back pack full of groceries. That I am not fluent
in Czech only adds to the observational intensity. In this sense Prague has become for me an urban
Walden Pond in stark contrast with my drama-free life in rural Wisconsin, pond and all.

Scores and performance links below.
The Sun Wrinkled Lady, 2:02
The Tram Spider, 2:37
The Never Close, 3:33
The Bitumen Race, 2:23
Duration for all works is about 12 minutes.
Purchase Song Collection*

*Buy individual songs on red links above.
 BMI