In the spring of 2000 I set Robert Frost’s beloved poem Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening to music. It was performed just a few times before we were notified by the Frost estate that I was not allowed to use the poetry again for performance or publication. Devastated, I asked my dear friend Charles Anthony Silvestri to replace the Frost lyrics, and he wrote a new poem with the same metrical structure as Stopping By Woods. His poetry was innocent and magical, and I quickly adapted the music to his words and we called it Sleep. This was the first of our many collaborations, and for the past 25 years that is the only version that has existed.
Recently, the Frost poem became public domain and we can finally present the original setting, exactly as it was first composed in 2000. I find it fascinating how musically different the piece becomes depending on which poem is sung. To my ears, Silvestri’s text makes the music warm and lush, like a feather bed, while the Frost text somehow makes the music starker, colder, more fateful.
I love both versions, and I am so happy to be able to now offer Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening as it was originally composed.
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