MusicSpoke | Artist Owned Sheet Music™

About the Score

The word “German”, in this case, refers to the language, as opposed to the nationalities of the poets who composed the two sonnets. After all, Rilke was native to Austria, though he lived a portion of his life in Munich, among other places. Both Rilke and Goethe are among the most revered figures of all time in the artistic world, and rightfully so. Both were a part of a culture that included poetry, visual arts, and philosophy. It’s the way that philosophy for both men was intertwined with their understanding of science and nature that draws me to their work. Their poetry represents so much more than the literal words themselves. Both of the selected sonnets are vividly descriptive of those things which our senses experience: colors, tastes, even the feeling of freedom. I explored an extensive harmonic language and modality to depict those experiences throughout. Just flirting with the whole-tone scale seems to evoke certain reactions from the general listening masses! What was important in the process was maintaining relatively direct, simple melodies while the harmony accounted for most of the adventurous aspects of the work. Much like my previous work, “Aquamarine”, “Two German Sonnets” is more atmospheric than narrative, despite the spots in each movement that could be interpreted as climactic. Those are simply places to bask in a few more colors! Recorded by Inversion Ensemble for the album "Inversion I"

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