From: From the Heart: Three American Women
Volume: Willa
Category: Vocal Music / Art Song
Instrumentation: voice, guitar
Duration: 3 minutes
Difficulty: Intermediate
Text / Source: Poem by Willa Cather
Publisher: Columbia Music

The Tavern is a highly emotional song depicting the feeling of being without any true friends or lovers. Setting words by Willa Cather, the song gives voice to loneliness, emotional exposure, and the ache of human disconnection.

The poem is cast in four stanzas, each set to similar music. This repeated structure strengthens the song’s sense of emotional fixation, allowing the performer to deepen the meaning of each stanza while preserving the work’s clear formal shape.

Suitable for intermediate performers, The Tavern calls for expressive intensity without overstatement. Each stanza should feel related but not identical, with subtle changes in color and emphasis as the emotional meaning unfolds.