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in the speaking silence

Andrea Reinkemeyer

in the speaking silence for Alto Saxophone and Bassoon (2018) was commissioned by the Post-Haste Reed Duo -- Sean Fredenburg, saxophone and Javier Rodriguez, bassoon -- for a "rituals"-themed concert. The piece is lovingly dedicated to the memory of my mother, Linda, who passed away while I was writing the work. To honor her love of hymns, I wove the rhythmic pattern from the stark refrain of Philp P. Bliss's hymn, It is Well with my Soul throughout the piece. The title comes from the second line of Christina Rossetti's poem, Echo.

Echo
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Come to me in the silence of the night;
    Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
    As sunlight on a stream;
        Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
    Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
    Where thirsting longing eyes
        Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
    My very life again tho' cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
    Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
        Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago.

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