1. A Valediction: of Weeping
2. A Jet Ring Sent
3. The Computation
4. The Flea
5. Good Morrow

 

YEAR: 2019

 

DURATION: 24′

 

INSTRUMENTATION: String Orchestra and Tenor

 

SELECTED PERFORMANCES:
28 September 2019,  Cheadle Hulme

Amaretti Chamber Orchestra with Tim Kennedy

 

 

NOTES: True Plain Hearts is based on poetry by John Donne on the theme of love and relationships, from the grief of separation, a broken romance, an expectant seduction to the intensity of true love.

 

The first poem, A Valediction: of Weeping, expresses the grief of separation felt by the lovers on parting.  In A Jet Ring Sent, the woman has returned a jet ring that the poet once gave to her: he muses on it as a token of their broken romance.  The Computation describes the bewildering, interminable pain of separation felt by the poet.  In The Flea, the poet uses imagery of a flea to seduce his would-be lover.  The final poem, Good Morrow, expresses the intensity of true love.