SHAKESPEARE SONNETS (2001)
baritone and piano, 8 min.

The three Shakespeare Sonnets are unique among my songs, as they were written for male voice. Sonnet 15 considers life's ephemeral nature through gestures suggesting stars and the growing and decaying of plants. The second song, "How shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" is perhaps the Bard's most famous sonnet, number 18. Ascending figures in the vocal line and the piano affirm the life-giving sun, and the "eternal lines to time which give life to the beloved.” The set ends with Sonnet 43: In a hypnotic, lulling texture the poet dreams of his absent lover. These settings came about as commissions from the Joy In Singing's "Millennium Songbook" project, and from the North Carolina Music Teachers Association.