Three Shakespeare Sonnets (2017)
This is the second set of three sonnet settings I wrote for my dear friend Jessica Rossi, the first of which was Three Milton Sonnets). This Shakespeare set is late-Romantic in idiom, contrasting with the more austere, Classical set of Milton poems. The first song, with its bustling textures and winding chromatic harmonies, may project more joy and hope then the poem seems to imply. The second song is pure wistful lyricism— it may be that some of my earlier experience writing show tunes shows through here. The third song does actually start off bleak, in a somewhat Russian manner, but with the sonnet’s typical turn in feeling “haply I think on thee etc.,” the music warms and rises to a Romantic climax.
Three Shakespeare Sonnets