Charles Anthony "Tony" Silvestri (born 1965) is an American poet and lyricist, and a lecturer in history at
Washburn University
Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 u ...
.
Early life and education
Silvestri was born in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
in 1965. He studied ancient and medieval history at
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...
and has a PhD from the
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...
, where his doctoral dissertation was a critical edition of some of the writing of medieval English theologian William of Ware.
Lyrics and poetry
He has provided lyrics for several works by choral composer
Eric Whitacre
Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. ...
. In 2000, he translated into Latin a short poem attributed to Edward Esch, to form the words of Whitacre's ''
Lux Aurumque
''Lux Aurumque'' ("Light and Gold", sometimes "Light of Gold") is a choral composition in one movement by Eric Whitacre. It is a Christmas piece based on a Latin poem of the same name, which translates as "Light, warm and heavy as pure gold, and ...
''. Also in 2000, Whitacre had written music to the words of
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...
's poem "
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
"Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" is a poem by Robert Frost, written in 1922, and published in 1923 in his ''New Hampshire'' volume. Imagery, personification, and repetition are prominent in the work. In a letter to Louis Untermeyer, Fros ...
" and had been "crushed" when the copyright owners forbade this use. He commissioned Silvestri to write new words for the music, which he described as "an enormous task, because I was asking him to not only write a poem that had the exact structure of the Frost, but that would even incorporate key words from "Stopping", like 'sleep'". This work, ''
Sleep
Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefulness by a de ...
'', was sung by the second iteration of Whitacre's Virtual Choir, has been widely performed, and has been used by grief counselors, especially those working with bereaved children and in conjunction with artist Anne Horjus's 2013 picture-book edition.
Silvestri's wife Julie died from ovarian cancer in 2005 aged 36. A group of poems he wrote about their relationship, her death, and his grief, together with three poems by her, form the words of Whitacre's 2018 ''The Sacred Veil''.
Silvestri wrote the libretto for Whitacre's 2001 ''Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine'', based on extracts from
Leonardo
Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate ...
's notebooks. This too was published as a picture-book with illustrations by Anne Horjus.
Silvestri has also worked with Norwegian composer
Ola Gjeilo
Ola Gjeilo ( , ; born May 5, 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist, living in the United States.Draumkvedet''), ''Tundra'', and ''Across the Vast Eternal Sky''.
In 2019, Silvestri published ''A Silver Thread'', a collection of his poetry written over 20 years.