There are many small, supporting structures or ideas that we often take for granted in our daily lives, no matter how frequently we may use them. The is a short art song and piano prelude reflecting a powerful word used frequently in all languages that employ definite articles, representing something as a definitive – or relevantly definitive – version of a concept during discussion. When using this word, we rarely think twice about its significance or about its prevalence in our speech, viewing it simply as something that is, has been, and always will be in support of some greater idea that it enhances. Our world often falls as this word does, always present and always governing, but ultimately forgotten among that which we, citizens of our world, produce from it, mainly without acknowledging its contributions. What else do we take for granted? And why should I compare our treatment of Earth’s grandeur to that of a simple word, of all words, one so elementary?

One letter alone separates “word” from “world,” and this world is not just a world, but the world in which we live.

The was first premiered at UNC Greensboro on March 4, 2022 and was subsequently performed on March 16, 2022.