Composition
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Lance's most substantial project to date is to set the complete Shakespeare's Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint to music. Their common lexicon of leitmotifs unifies this ongoing project.
The first product of the project is the setting of the final two sonnets (153–4) in the form of Two Songs to Cupid, Op. 6 for medium voice and guitar. The 26 addressed to the Dark Lady (127–52) will be set for voice and piano and collected under one opus, while A Lover's Complaint will be written for mixed choir.
The sonnets addressed to the Fair Youth (1–126) are divided into groups of 6 by their common themes, each, together with 2 instrumental movements which are performable as separate works, forming a song cycle featuring voice, an obbligato instrument, and piano. The following is an overview of the content of the completed cyles:
Songs to the Fair Youth
6 Songs of Winter
6 Songs of the Night
6 Songs on Flowers
6 Songs on Time's Passage
Op.
8
9
14
15
voice
med
high
med
med
x
14
54
64
97
x
x
x
5
43
98
19
sonnets (x: instrumental movements)
6
28
99
115
2
61
x
12
13
86
95
60
x
x
69
x
73
30
1
104