Not Death, but Love

for saxophone quartet (version for string quartet also available)

Duration - approx. 16 minutes

The title of this work, Not Death, but Love is taken from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s collection of poems, Sonnets from the Portuguese. The title comes from the end of the first sonnet:

And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,—
’Guess now who holds thee?’—‘Death,’ I said. But, there
The silver answer rang,—‘Not Death, but Love.’

The work is a sort of meditation on love. It is melancholy, yet hopeful, serene and sublime. For the movement titles I found fragments in sonnets X through XIV that contained the word “Love”. I don’t want to say too much more about the work, as I’d hope it speaks for itself. Enjoy, and if you are near a loved one, hold him/her tight.

-Ryan Jesperson 6/4/2010

Portions of the string quartet version read by the West End String Quartet in Dec. 2010. The saxophone quartet version will be premiered by the Ineo Saxophone Quartet in the spring of 2011.

The future: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO.

The future: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX.

The future: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be premiered in San Francisco, CA.

fall, 2013: Ryan Ford will perform BA(da)SS in Hartford, CT.

summer/fall, 2013: The Agosto Duo will premiere a new work for oboe and english horn.

summer, 2013: David Tayloe will premiere A Page Out of Zen.

summer, 2013: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed by the SoundScape Trio in South America.

June, 2013: Hebdomas Squatinae (new version for fl, asax,pno) will be premiered by the Verismo Trio in Wyoming at the WMTA convention.

May 26th, 2013: Joseph Abad and Marko Stuparovic will perform Icarus in West Hartford, CT.

April 22nd, 2013: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

April 20th, 2013: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

April 19-20, 2013: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

April 7th, 2013: Joseph Abad and Marko Stuparovic will premiere Icarus in West Hartford, CT.

March 24th, 2013: Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter will be performed by Sheri Brown and the West End String Quartet in Hartford, CT.

February 21st, 2013: Not Death, but Love will be performed by the Ouroboros Quartet at a Misha-maya-gat event in Manchester, CT.

October 18th, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will perform Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter in Manchester, CT.

October 14th, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will perform Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter in Hartford, CT.

August 23rd, 2012: Sheri Brown and others will premiere Getz Going: A Suite for Eddie Sauter on a Hartford Phase Shift concert.

June 23rd, 2012: Ryan Ford will perform BA(da)SS at the New Hampshire Bass Fest

June 7th, 2012 7pm: A concert of the works of Ryan Jesperson will be presented at the Hartt School in West Hartford CT.

Performers: Joseph Abad, Chris Belluscio, Sheri Brown, Ryan Ford, Jordan Jacobson, Anastasia Seifetdinova, Sarah Washburn, The Hartt Vocal Quartet, and The INEO Sax Quartet!

Works: BA(da)SS, Boombox Serenade, fragments and memories, Not Death, but Love, Obscure Songs, Romanza for Alto Sax and Violin

May 31st, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT.

May 27th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson and Anastasia Seifetdinova will perform fragments and memories on a CCI concert in CT.

EVENT HISTORY