Two Sonnets
Abstract / Program Notes
These two sonnets by William Shakespeare deal with the concepts of aging and longing, two areas items that have been on the mind of the composer recently. The short, two-movement work is meant to give the non-singing trombonist an opportunity to express the beauty of poetry while using the instrument to comment on the verse. In the Sonnet 65, the poet is contemplating aging and his own mortality. Time decays even rocks and gates of steel - what hope does the poet have to withstand the power? In the last two lines, he wonders if he might survive through his "black ink." The composer wonders the same. In Sonnet 97, the poet is expressing a longing for an absent lover: "How like a winter hath my absence been from thee..." The composer has spent most of the current pandemic separated from his beloved.
Two Sonnets
These two sonnets by William Shakespeare deal with the concepts of aging and longing, two areas items that have been on the mind of the composer recently. The short, two-movement work is meant to give the non-singing trombonist an opportunity to express the beauty of poetry while using the instrument to comment on the verse. In the Sonnet 65, the poet is contemplating aging and his own mortality. Time decays even rocks and gates of steel - what hope does the poet have to withstand the power? In the last two lines, he wonders if he might survive through his "black ink." The composer wonders the same. In Sonnet 97, the poet is expressing a longing for an absent lover: "How like a winter hath my absence been from thee..." The composer has spent most of the current pandemic separated from his beloved.