Melissa Dunphy

Commissioned by the Washington and Lee University Singers, Shane M. Lynch, Director.

A setting of Yeats' mysterious and magic-filled poem about Maud Gonne's cat, Minnaloushe, and his relationship to the moon.
br> The Cat and the Moon
By W.B. Yeats (1919)

The cat went here and there
And the moon spun round like a top,
And the nearest kin of the moon,
The creeping cat, looked up.
Black Minnaloushe stared at the moon,
For, wander and wail as he would,
The pure cold light in the sky
Troubled his animal blood.
Minnaloushe runs in the grass
Lifting his delicate feet.
Do you dance, Minnaloushe, do you dance?
When two close kindred meet,
What better than call a dance?
Maybe the moon may learn,
Tired of that courtly fashion,
A new dance turn.
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
From moonlit place to place,
The sacred moon overhead
Has taken a new phase.
Does Minnaloushe know that his pupils
Will pass from change to change,
And that from round to crescent,
From crescent to round they range?
Minnaloushe creeps through the grass
Alone, important and wise,
And lifts to the changing moon
His changing eyes.

Artwork by Abigail Markov.

Performances

• 18 Apr, 2023: Manhattan School of Music Contemporary Vocal Ensemble at Ades Performance Space, Manhattan School of Music, New York, NY
• 05 Mar, 2023: Harmonium Choral Society at Morristown United Methodist Church, Morristown, NJ
• 04 Mar, 2023: Harmonium Choral Society at Morristown United Methodist Church, Morristown, NJ
• 23 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at St. Ann’s Church, Dublin, Ireland
• 22 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland
• 21 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at Guildhall, Londonderry, Northern Ireland
• 20 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at Sacred Heart Church, Clones, Ireland
• 19 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at St. Columba’s Church, Drumcliffe, Ireland
• 05 Apr, 2022: Washington & Lee University Singers at Lenfest Center/Wilson Concert Hall, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA