Commission: Dieter Hennings

Premiere date: 6 April 2018

Premiere venue: Barness Recital Hall, USF New Music Festival and Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

Premiere performer: Dieter Hennings

Duration: 10 minutes

Program Note:

More than most instruments, I have always felt the guitar is an instrument for storytelling, especially of very old tales. This concept led me to think about common vernacular expressions and the creation of a three-movement work, in which each brief movement’s title is taken from the opening words of three common expressions:

I. Actions speak

II. Absence makes

III. All good things

As is often the case with my work, I was also interested in how musical elements can be recast with new meaning across multiple movements, a concept that seemed to fit well with the always-present-but-with-obscure-origin nature of these wisdom-laced phrases. As such, some of the elements introduced in the work’s opening are more fully-realized later on. Keeping with the storytelling dramatic character of the guitar, I also save a few small surprises—a few special requests—for the performer as things progress.

The work was premiered in 2018 at the USF New Music Festival and Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA, by Dieter Hennings. The work will be included in the forthcoming portrait CD, Sandburg Songs: Chamber Music of Matthew Schreibeis, to be released by Albany Records, USA, in spring 2019.