The Bookshop

Pierrot had grown old.

He wore spectacles
And kept a shop.
Opium and hellebore he sold
Between the covers of books,
And perfumes distilled from the veins of old ivory,
And poisons drawn from lotus seeds one hundred years withered
And thinned to the translucence of alabaster.
He sang a pale song of repeated cadenzas
In a voice cold as flutes
And shrill as desiccated violins.

justinmerrit

I stood before the shop,

Fingering the comfortable vellum of an ancient volume,
Turning over its leaves,
And the dead moon looked over my shoulder
And fell with a green smoothness upon the page.
I read:
I am the Lord thy God, thou shalt have none other goods but me.
Through the door came a chuckle of laughter
Like the tapping of unstrung kettledrums,
For Pierrot had ceased singing for a moment
To watch me reading.
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
-Amy Lowell

the
highlight of
the year
came Nov. 9
with Justin
Merritt's
Five
Preludes for
piano
-Peter
Schimpf,
Bloomington
Independent

demands
an audience's
attention
Merritt's
piece was the
standout.
-Rob
Hubbard,
Pioneer Press

In 2000 composer Justin Merritt (bn. 1975) was the

youngest-ever winner of the ASCAP Foundation/
Rudolph Nissim Award for Janus Mask. He is also the
winner of a host of other awards including the 2008-09
Copland Award, the 2008 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute Prize for
River of Blood, and the 2006 Polyphonos Prize
He received his Bachelors from Trinity University and his Masters and
Doctorate from Indiana University. He studied composition with Samuel
Adler, Sven-David Sandstrm, Claude Baker, Timothy Kramer, Don Freund,
and electronic and computer music with Jeffrey Hass. He is currently
Assistant Professor of Composition at St. Olaf College. He resides in
Northfield, Minnesota with his wife Yuedong and their children Cullen Fang
Ouxiang and Molly Fang Qinghe.

8 1 5 t h y e p a r k w a y n o r t h f i e l d , m n 5 0 7 - 6 4 5 - 4 8 2 0 i n f o @ m o o n e a s t . c o m w w w. m o o n e a s t . c o m

Dur: ca. 3' 45" min.

for Chia-wei Lee

The Bookshop
for baritone, clarinet, & piano

Amy Lowell

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Copyright 2008 Justin Merritt (ASCAP)

Published by Moon East
All rights reserved
www.mooneast.com

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The Bookshop pg. -2-

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this is a sample only

to purchase the complete score or parts and
for other compositions by justinmerritt please visit:

www.mooneast.com
or send emails to

info@mooneast.com

8 1 5 t h y e p a r k w a y n o r t h f i e l d , m n 5 0 7 - 6 4 5 - 4 8 2 0 i n f o @ m o o n e a s t . c o m w w w. m o o n e a s t . c o m

!
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choral orchestral

!
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solo

!
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Standard Deviation!.............................................................................................violin
Bar for Hans Sachs!.................................................................................................flute
Veloce!.......................................................................................................violin & piano
Coupling!................................................................................................................organ
Drum Break!...................................................................................................percussion

chamber

!
!
!
!

Janus Mask!..................................................................................................
!
winds in 2s
River of Blood!.............................................................................................winds in 2s
Dervish!.........................................................................................................winds in 2s
Lachryme!..............................................................................................string orchestra
Monster!........................................................................................................winds in 3s

A Gauze of Misted Silver!..........................................................string quartet & harp

Ravening!..................................................................................................string quartet
Invocation!....................................................................................................8 solo brass
The Day Florestan Murdered Magister Raro!............clarinet, violin, cello, & piano
Trio!.................................................................................................violin, cello, & piano

piano

5 Preludes!..............................................................................................................piano
Chaconne: Mercy Endures!..................................................................................piano
Rococo Suite!..........................................................................................................piano
Sierpinski Gasket!..................................................................................................piano
Windchimes!...........................................................................................................piano
Hive!...................................................................................................4 pianos, 16 hands

vocal

other compositions by justinmerritt

Dissonance!.....................................................................................................song cycle
Steps Into Stillness!........................................................................................song cycle
Dhammapada!................................................................................................song cycle
London Thoroughfare, 2AM!...........................................tenor, horn, violin, & piano
May Evening in Central Park...........................................................
!
baritone & piano

Corde natus!..........................................................................................................SATB
Lamentations!.......................................................................................................SATB
Hay Das!......................................................................................................SMsATBrB
Nativity!.................................................................................................................SATB
Adoro Te Devote!.................................................................................................SATB
Fire Sermon!....................................................................................SSATB & orchestra

8 1 5 t h y e p a r k w a y n o r t h f i e l d , m n 5 0 7 - 6 4 5 - 4 8 2 0 i n f o @ m o o n e a s t . c o m w w w. m o o n e a s t . c o m