Premiered March 9, 2019, Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY.
The text for Give Her the Fruit of Her Hands is a Biblical phrase, co-opted early on in the struggle for equal rights for women. “Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her in the gates.” It was written as part of a cycle of songs called We Hold These Truths. Texts for two of the songs were written by women who were outspoken pioneers in the early women’s movement for suffrage and equal rights. Freedom & Truth, text by Margaret Fuller, discusses the important relationship of these two ideals. The New Colossus, text by Emma Lazarus, is a setting of the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. Both were written at a time when the very fact of being a woman writer was taboo, yet the strength of their words still rings true today. The cycle will soon include its namesake, a setting of a portion of the Declaration of Independence, We Hold These Truths.
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