Roger Steptoe
4 Shakespeare Sonnets
for Baritone Voice & String Orchestra
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Roger Steptoe
4 Shakespeare Sonnets
for Baritone Voice & String Orchestra
- Instrumentation Medium Voice and String orchestra
- Composer Roger Steptoe
- Lyricist William Shakespeare
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Difficulty Level
- Edition Set of Parts
- Publisher Editions Bim
- Order no. BIM-V103C
ships within 1-2 weeks
Description:
Four Shakespeare Sonnets for baritone and string orchestra was composed to commemorate the 450th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s birth in 2014. For more than 40 years, I have enthusiastically composed countless vocal works based on subtle poetry and for voices in all registers; however, this piece marks my first foray into the world of a solo voice accompanied by a string orchestra. I chose these four sonnets for their shared theme of love—heartache and cruelty, enchantment, desire, immortality... Various themes and harmonic sequences unite the four "testaments of love" in their many forms. The fourth sonnet is the most significant, with its lush and sensual harmonies, delicately distributed among the strings. The world premieres of the version with string orchestra took place in May, June, and November 2014 in England, featuring the Orchestra of the Swan, the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, and baritone Jeremy Huw Williams, conducted by Anthony Hose.