Three Love Songs
Jerry H. Casey
About this work:
I. How Do I Love Thee? II. Never Call It Loving
III. Life and Love
The first and last of these love songs based on poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning are especially related to the courtship and marriage of Elizabeth and Robert Browning. The middle song is a setting of three of the five stanzas of a poem entitled “A Woman’s Shortcomings.“ In “How Do I Love Thee?” the dominant interval is the augmented fourth which occurs in some form each time words, “I love thee,” are sung. The motif of “let me count the ways” is heard from time to time and returns strongly at the end with the phrase, “better after death.”
The waltz was the most popular dance of the 19th century. It seemed fitting to select that form for the second poem, a portion of which hints at a dance scene. The contrast of “Life” and “Love” in the final poem is brought out through a descending line in a somber mode picturing the cold stillness of ”Life” and an ascending line in a bright mode picturing the warmth and joy of “Love.”
Year composed: 2001
Duration: 00:14:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Solo Voice with Keyboard
Instrumentation: 1 Piano, 1 Soprano