Shawn: Romances

Description

• Composer: Allen Shawn (1948-)
• Instrumentation: Piano, Violin
• Work: Romances (1996)
• Binding:
• ISMN: 9790600236633
• Size: 8.9 x 12.0 inches
• Pages: None

Description

Composer’s Note:

“Romances” was written in Winter 1996 at Yaddo artist colony. It was dedicated to Jamaica Kincaid (to whom I was married from 1979-until 2001). It is a single movement piece lasting fourteen minutes, in three distinct sections (slow-fast-slow) that could be viewed as three aspects of a love relationship, three romances, one romance interrupted by another–or, if one prefers, simply as a piece of music. The three part form is not a traditional “ABA” structure, but is a progression. The music of the first section is like a long rhapsodic Aria, full of youthful longing and ardor. in the middle section one might hear adventure, dialogue, and quarrels. The music of the final pages is not a return to the beginning, but has a more intimate, searching, resigned and mature character.