Queen Liliʻuokalani, Arr Robert Cazimero Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani

The Stanford Chamber Chorale, under the direction of Stephen M. Sano performs Robert Cazimero's arrangement of Queen Liliʻuokalani's "Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani."
This performance was presented on 3 March, 2024 in Stanford University's Bing Concert Hall.
One of the greatest of all Hawaiian composers was the eighth and last reigning monarch of the sovereign island nation of Hawaiʻi, Queen Liliʻuokalani. She composed over 160 songs during her lifetime, many of them now well known “standards” in Hawaiian vocal literature. The story of Ku‘u Pua I Paoakalani (“My flower at Paoakalani”) belies its simple beauty - two years after the illegal 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, the Queen was imprisoned for treason for eight long months in her own royal residence, ‘Iolani Palace. While held captive, she was not allowed contact with the outside world. Indeed, as Dorothy Gillett and Barbara Smith note in their wonderful edition of the Queen’s music, the Queen herself wrote:
"Though I was still not allowed to have newspapers or general literature to read, writing-paper and lead pencils were not denied, and I was thereby able to write music, after drawing for myself the lines of the staff. At first I had no instrument, and had to transcribe the notes by voice alone, but I found, notwithstanding disadvantages, great consolation in composing and transcribed a number of songs."
One other comfort she was afforded was the daily delivery of flowers cut from her gardens, most often from the garden at Uluhaimalama in Pauoa. But on Wednesday, 20 March, 1895, she was brought flowers from Paoakalani, her residence in Hamohamo, Waikīkī. Kuʻu Pua I Paoakalani is dedicated to the boy who was tasked to bring her flowers each day - Johnny Wilson, who later grew up to become the mayor of Honolulu three times: 1920-27, 1929-31, and 1946-54.
Mahalo nui loa to the faculty and staff at the Kamehameha Schools Performing Arts Department, Kapālama campus, for sharing this arrangement with us so many decades ago.
For more information and other performances by the Chorale, please visit our website and UA-cam channel:
chorale.stanford.edu/
/ @stanfordchor. .