If Music Be the Food of Love

This beautiful poem of love begins with seven words from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and then moves to Colonel Heveningham's original words. As the colorful imagery of the text unfolds, the music reflects the textual meaning. With cascading melodic lines and nontraditional harmonic progressions, the music touches on several tonal centers and closes with a recap of the opening section with the final measures repeating the most poignant words of the poem Sing On.