Beyond the daily mist of our minds 

for a cappella choir​Length: ca. 4'
Voicing: SATB; some divisi (all parts). Requires a minimum of 8 singers (SSAATTBB).
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Text
​“We know a few things which were once hidden, and being known they seem easy; but there are the flashings of the Northern Lights; there is the conical zodiacal beam seen so beautifully in the early evenings of spring and the early mornings of autumn; there are the startling comets, whose use is all unknown; there are the brightening and flickering variable stars, whose cause is all unknown; and the meteoric showers—and for all of these the reasons are as clear as for the succession of day and night; they lie just beyond the daily mist of our minds, but our eyes have not yet pierced through it.”
—Maria Mitchell (1818-1889)
Program Note
I composed Beyond the daily mist of our minds during the summer of 2018. I wanted to write a piece that celebrates knowledge and discovery, and I chose to set a brief passage from the diary of Maria Mitchell (1818-1889), the first American woman to work as a professional astronomer. Dated December 26, 1854, the entry reflects on what has already been discovered in the field of astronomy and how much more there is to explore and learn. ​​
Premiere
Commissioned by Yale Glee Club and conductor Jeffrey Douma; premiered in November 2018.
Recording