Composition

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art is a setting of John Keats’s sonnet. The poem inspired the most tonal work in the composer’s oeuvre to date. The song is set to a modified AABA form with a codetta ending in a deceptive cadence as the sonnet deviates from the ideal of eternal love to contemplating death, and thus love’s mortality. The stable pulse and tonality echo the tranquillity of the night and the steadfastness the poet vows to his love. The piece is available in E major, C major, B major, and A major.