Product Description
In the Sonata Hymnica Series, composer James Siddons
draws on the ethos of American rural hymns and spirituals to create evocations
of the deeper, larger meaning of familiar church melodies. These sonatas for
piano solo explore these deeper meanings in a variety of contemporary musical influences,
while keeping in mind the acoustics of small rural churches of the late
nineteenth century, with wooden floors and walls, high ceilings, and dimensions
determined by local builders who knew how to shape a room for resonant
acoustics in an age of no electricity and no microphones. These sonatas are but
partly about the specific melodies and words, and mostly about their meaning in
spiritual contemplation . . . and the piano, resonating, reverberant, sometimes
whispering---as a sacred harp.
Sonata
Hymnica No. 4 draws on two religious songs
of the era. The first to be heard in the sonata, "It Is Well with My
Soul," was written by Horatio G. Spafford in 1873, after surviving the
sinking of the ship Ville du Havre in a storm. A phrase in stanza 1,
"When sorrows like sea billows roll," is the inspiration for the
present interpretation of Philip P. Bliss' hymn tune, composed for Spafford's
poem in 1876. The dynamic image of storms at sea has a long history, from
Christ Walking on the Water (Mark 4:35-41) to the medieval chant (a sequence) Rex
caeli, Domine maris
undi-soni ("King of Heaven, Lord of the wave-sounds") to
Franz Liszt's Legend for piano solo St. François de Paule marchant sur le
flots (St. Francis Walking on the Waves) to Spafford's poem.
The melodic
theme for what amounts to the second movement of this sonata is from George
Bennard's "The Old Rugged Cross" (words and music composed together
in 1913). A phrase from the refrain, "And exchange it someday for a
crown," is the inspiration for this piano interpretation's expression of
triumph over sorrow, danger, and adversity. A Coda combines the two themes heard
in this Sonata Hymnica.
Performance Note for Sonata Hymnica
No. 4
The
pianist must keep in mind that these sonatas are about playing the piano as
much as playing a composition. Musical effects characteristic of the piano in
American culture in the 1870-1920 era are the substance of these piano solos.
Touch is important: in many places, several dynamics are called for on the same
beat. A passage built on the "It Is Well with My Soul" tune evokes violent
storms at sea and should be played boldly. Further on, the Refrain melody of
"The Old Rugged Cross" is used to evoke a feeling of flying effortlessly in the
sky. Both passages have cinematic characteristics
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.