Today I present my original composition, SING WITH ME THE EARTH.  I completed this piece in 1992 and scored it for choir and piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

I here pursue my favorite subject—Nature in all her forms.  This composition for full choir and piano, SING WITH ME THE EARTH, is my setting of the first three lines from my father's poem of the same title.

In this piece I imagine myself represented by the piano entering Nature's realm.  As I wander the forest green, I hear the blessed sounds of the Wild calling to me.  As the music unfolds with sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses layering upon each other in fugal fashion, the piano gradually builds in rapturous excitement until it finally runs free in bucolic bliss.

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SING WITH ME THE EARTH, Copyright©1992 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, THE MERRY WREN.  I completed this piece in 2002 and scored it for piccolo.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

A little rondo for piccolo.

Listen as the wondrous songster is answered by a roaming minstrel who emerges from the deep green, piping praise to an enchanted wood.

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THE MERRY WREN, Copyright©2002 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE.  I completed this piece in 1989 and scored it for string orchestra.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

This early trifle for string orchestra represents one of my numerous musings on subjects of personal importance.  There is nothing significant here--just a momentary dream of being on the wing.

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FLIGHT OF THE EAGLE, Copyright©1989 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, UNDER A MAIDEN'S SPELL.  I completed this piece in 2014 and scored it for piano.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

'Twas Christmas Eve.  My father, sister, and I were at a local store purchasing culinary delights for our evening festivities.  The mood was merry and the setting glowed in the warmth of the occasion.  Suddenly, while awaiting service, I spied a vision of feminine poetry.  An employee, humble in her white deli frock and unpretentious demeanor, with hair pinned behind her head, looked to me with a disarming and slightly inquisitive expression.  She caught my eye and held it until I was distracted by the business at hand. When I looked back, I found the moment had passed like a fleeting dream.  Regal in appearance and reminiscent of Capucine, her long, wavy chestnut hair was illuminated gold by the oven-fire that crackled behind her.  I was immediately reminded of two images: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer and a lost young woman in Picnic at Hanging Rock.

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UNDER A MAIDEN'S SPELL, Copyright©2014 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, THE WARBLER.  I completed this song in 1990 and scored it for soprano and guitar.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

Composed around the same time as THE DOVE, my setting of this Keats poem for soprano and guitar serves as further testament to my love of birds.

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THE WARBLER, Copyright©1990 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, THE DOVE.  I completed this song in 1989 and scored it for soprano and lute.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

This setting of a poem by John Keats is one of several I made in the late 1980s.  It deals with two subjects of great importance to me: one being birds--those feathery angels who, throughout the arc of my existence, have so often lifted my gaze along with my spirits towards their ethereal realm; the other being death--that dreaded but obligatory harbinger to new life, whose merciless hand I felt at a young age.  May this song help bring peace to those who suffer and reflection to those who suffer not.

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THE DOVE, Copyright©1989 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved

Today I present my original composition, PANIC.  I completed this piece in 2005 and scored it for piano trio.  Below is a screenshot of the title page from the autograph score:

PANIC is rather unique in my collection of works in that its construction is quite different from the tonal model I usually follow.  In fact, it is a total departure from traditional tonal practice.  However, unlike modern atonal music produced according to the rules generally followed by those in academia, I take my own approach to creating music that has no tonal center.

I must admit that 12-tone music tends to bore me.  I generally do not take kindly to music created by tightly regulated formulae, as this music usually is.  To my ear, music composed in adherence to the rules established by Schoenberg, Berg, and the other founders of this new musical language, tends to run together and sound the same from piece to piece and composer to composer.  This, I believe, is because many composers insist on following stringent rules like avoidance of recognizable figures and patterns, totally asymmetrical rhythm, and use of the tone-row.

In PANIC, composed for piano trio (piano, violin, and cello), I depart from not only traditional but also modern practice.  If you take a look at the image, you immediately see that I use no key signature and that the first note of the piece is C natural.  It first appears to be obvious that this is simply music in the key of C.  However, that is not the case; not by a long shot!  In fact, there is no key whatsoever.  Notice the cello’s entry on C sharp.  In diatonic tradition, fugal music like this almost always follows the same pattern: first, entry in root key; second, in key of dominant to root; and third, once again in root.  So, if this were a traditional tonal work, we would hear entries in C major/minor to G major/minor to C major/minor.  Regarding modern practice, I dispense with the idea of the tone row entirely.  I see it as an almost absurd constraint on the creative process and, even though I understand it is meant to guarantee “democratic” use of all twelve tones, I find it stifling and almost useless for my purposes.  Also, against the strictest and most vociferous dictates of serial orthodoxy, I do, indeed, establish recognizable figures and patterns in this music.  My purpose is not to impress the listener with technicalities while I bore and befuddle him to tears.  My quest here, as in all art I create, is to move the audience, no matter what tonal language I use.

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PANIC, Copyright©2005 DamonMusic by Sean Damon Rohde.  All rights reserved