Romanza for Saxophone and Violin

for alto sax and violin

Duration - approx. 10 minutes

Program Notes:

Romanza for Saxophone and Violin began its life as Romanza for Clarinet and Violin. For the present version I revised very little, merely adding six measures near the climax of the piece. The change in instrumentation is for Sheri Brown and Sarah Washburn, who wanted to play a duet together. This piece is dedicated to them.

Here are the original program notes for the piece...(substitute “saxophone” for “clarinet” for it to make sense)

Oscar Wilde said, “Music makes one feel romantic”. Yet this is not the case in this work; for the romance of this piece is not for the listeners in the concert hall, but for the long notes drawing from each instrument. Romanza for Clarinet and Violin is really a romance of counterpoint. The clarinet and violin play a game of give and take that ends consonant one time and dissonant the other. The melancholy sound of the piece will not supply romance, but rather rightfully reveal what romance one already has available. This effect is akin to seeing a picture in black and white and then noticing a red rose in the corner. This is largely due to the interval choices in the piece. After all, it is the beats of the major and minor seconds, thirds, sixths and sevenths that give the piece its mood. And occasionally, when a perfect interval arrives it sounds like a quiet reprieve that has been delayed for too long.

The counterpoint between the two instruments create a mix of dissonance and consonance that is made melancholy through the use of a heightened sense of chormaticism and inevitability. Repetition of long tones gives the piece a slowness that is sometimes a little awkward to the listener. But the romance is there in the interaction between the instruments. The counterpoint, although maybe not romantic to the listener, is nonetheless intimate and romantic between the instruments. And maybe, this is what Wilde meant in his quote, that music doesn’t actually create the romance, but instead makes you feel the romance that was already inherent.

-Ryan Jesperson
11/30/10

This version of the piece was premiered on Dec. 14th, 2010 in Hartford, CT by Sheri Brown and Sarah Washburn.

The original piece was premiered by Cheryl Melfi and Misty Elfer on September 24th, 2007 in White Hall at UMKC.

Spring, 2013: The UMKC Opera Dept. will perform portions of Songs from Behind the Curtain.

Fall, 2012: Joseph Abad will perform Icarus in Hartford, CT.

Fall, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories with the HICO Orchestra in CT.

fall, 2012: Bobby Watson and the UMKC Big Band will premiere Rhapsody for Dean Moriarty in Kansas City, MO.

fall, 2012: Ashly Evans will premiere Birdsongs in Houston, TX.

Spring-Summer, 2012: Jeux pour Jumeaux will be performed in San Francisco, CA.

June 7th, 2012: BA(da)SS will be performed by Ryan Ford in West Hartford, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

June 7th, 2012: Chris Belluscio will perform Boombox Serenade in West Hartford, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Not Death, but Love will be premiered by Ineo Saxophone Quartet.

June, 2012: The Invisible, Magic, Soccer Phone will be premiered in Middlefield, CT.

June 7th, 2012: Joseph Abad will premiere Icarus in Hartford, CT.

May 27th, 2012: Jordan Jacobson will perform fragments and memories in CT.

May 6th, 2012: "Indeed this very Love" from Sonnets from the Portuguese will be broadcast on kineticsradio.com.

Dec. 3rd, 2011: Ryan defends his dessertation, Songs from Behind the Curtain at UMKC.

July 17th, 21st, 24th, 2011: Music Faculty from the Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival will perform ...and those seven dwarfs in a series of concerts in Western Maine.

June 16th, 17th, 23rd, 24th, 2011:Orphée Redux will be performed by Rhymes With Opera on their East Coast Tour (NYC, Baltimore, Hartford, Boston).

June 12th, 2011:Selection from Songs from Behind the Curtain will be performed at the John Duffy Composers Institute in Norfolk, VA.

May 13th, 2011: The Ineo Quartet will perform the 1st movement of Not Death, but Love on their Fischoff Competition program in South Bend, Indiana.

March 19th, 2011: The Ineo Saxophone Quartet will perform ...and love is fire... from Not Death, but Love at the NASA conference in West Point, NY.

Feb. 25th, 2011: I. Jest will be premiered by Robert Olson and the UMKC Orchestra in Kansas City, MO.

Feb. 14th, 2011: Hebdomas Squatinae will be performed at the Nebraska at Kearney New Music Festival.

EVENT HISTORY