Composition
Songs to the Fair Youth:
6 Songs on Time's Passage, Op. 15
Text by: William Shakespeare
Language: English
Year of composition: 2026
Instrumentation: high voice, clarinet, piano
Movement names and duration:
1. Sonnet 64 (2½ mins)
2. Barcarolle (3 mins)
3. Sonnet 19 (2 mins)
4. Sonnet 115 (3½ mins)
5. Sonnet 12 (2½ mins)
6. Sonnet 60 (2½ mins)
7. Durations (3 mins)
8. Sonnet 104 (3½ mins)
Total: 22½ mins
Dedicatee: Kelvin Chan 陳晉杰
Related Work: Durations and Barcarolle
Songs to the Fair Youth: 6 Songs on the Passage of Time is part of the composer’s ongoing project to set the complete sonnets of William Shakespeare into song cycles. Each cycle in the project shares a common lexicon of leitmotifs, and every cycle based on the ‘Fair Youth’ sonnets features an obbligato instrument. This particular one highlights the alto saxophone.