A setting of the Shakespeare sonnet. The countertenor is David W. Solomons.
Classical-modern. orchestra, vocal and piano.
I am a classical-style composer and MIDI sequencer.
Story behind the song
This was written for a contest for other settings of the same sonnet, some years back. It describes the poet's feelings about his own aging and how it would be perceived by his lover.
Lyrics
SONNET 73 by William Shakespeare
That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.