Sonata Hymnica No. 1

A piano sonata intended for recital performance. The two movements are interpretations of "In the Sweet By and By" and "Sweet Hour of Prayer," respectively. Program Note 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 styles, 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 excellent 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, reverberent, sometimes whispering---as a sacred harp. The first three sonatas in the Sonata Hymnica series may be thought of as the Prayer Sonata, the second as the Travel Sonata, as in a spiritual journey, and the third sonata is about our greatest fear, that of being alone and without God. The later sonatas in the series have similar themes, expressed in a wider variety of musical styles.