Sonata Hymnica No. 2

Program Note about the Sonata Hymnica Series 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 of the old hymns, and mostly about their meaning in spiritual contemplation . . . and the piano, resonating, reverberent, sometimes whispering---as a sacred harp. Sonata Hymnica No. 2 is a recital work in three movements: I. "Farther Along" (1911), II. "Ivory Palaces" (1915), and III. Epilogue: "Lord, I'm Coming Home" (1892). These three sonata movements are not arrangements of the familiar tunes but interpretations of their deeper meanings, set in a modern recital style of music. Although the first three sonatas in the Sonata Hymnica Series have no specific titles, the first sonata may be thought of as the Prayer Sonata, this second sonata 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. Later sonatas in the series are on similar topics, and are in a broader range of styles; some are for piano ensemble.