For piano, contrabass, mezzo soprano, and baritone.
I was not familiar with Conde de Villamediana (Juan de Tassis), but I had a fragment of melody for which I was seeking a poem, in the public domain, whose flow lent itself to my work in progress, and I found it in Villamediana’s Soneto of 1622. Written in 1622, the sonnet speaks of unfailing love and devotion typical of the period (timeless nonetheless), and when I learned of the author’s rumored affair with the queen and subsequent murder by the king (or his minister), as well as his trial for sodomy, the words seemed even more poignant. The result, I think is a song based mainly on purity and devotion, but with elements of tension and doubt, that hopefully reflects some of the subtleties of the text.
Premiered July 17, 2021 in Baltimore Composers Forum’s online concert Sonitus. Jazon Buckwalter, baritone, Elise Jenkins, mezzo soprano, Bonghee Lee, piano, Ian Rashkin, contrabass.
