Canfield: Sonata for English Horn and Piano

Code: JP1115
ISMN: 979-0-3019-0694-1

Canfield’s Sonata for English Horn and Piano (subtitled “The Dove Descending”) was composed in 2020. This sonata helps to fill a void in the scant repertoire for English horn and piano. It is written in the style of the late Romantic composers, even though it does not imitate any one composer in particular. There are several technical challenges in the English horn part.

The inspiration for the music is the story of baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. The first of three movements begins with a descending motive, symbolically representing the “dove descending,” one of the most significant symbols in Christianity today. After a light-hearted scherzo in the second movement, the descending motive returns again to start the slow, third movement. The movement reaches a climactic point wherein a line in the English horn is presented more-or-less in the speech pattern of the phrase, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”

3 movements; approximately 12 minutes duration.

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