MELIA WATRAS: A DANCE OF HONEY AND INEXORABLE DELIGHT
for narrator and violin
or for violin solo (2022)

Photo by Michelle Smith-Lewis

World Premiere: Herbert Woodward Martin, recorded voice; Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin; February 25, 2023, Seattle, WA

Duration: 3:00

Program Notes:
A dance of honey and inexorable delight takes its title from lines from two poems by the illustrious Herbert Woodward Martin, to whom I am grateful for his artistry and friendship. Herb’s words from A Time for Bees and Virus illuminate my composition, with his text flowing and intertwining with the sounds of a lone violin.

How thankful I am to have Herbert himself reading in the premiere performance and upcoming recording.

I wrote A dance of honey and inexorable delight for my dancing partner in life, violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, and it exists as both a work for narrator and violin, and as music for violin solo.

—Melia Watras