Sonata Hymnica No 7

The Sonata Hymnica series by composer-pianist James Siddons explores the ethos of American rural hymns and spirituals to create evocations of the deeper, larger meaning of familiar church melodies and their words. These sonatas, for piano ensemble as well as piano solo, explore these deeper meanings in a variety of contemporary musical interpretations, while keeping in mind the acoustics of small rural churches of the late nineteenth century.

In Sonata Hymnica No. 7, three 19th-century hymns (words and music) serve as core material from which the music in each movement is developed. Movement I, “Climbing Higher,” is based on the African American spiritual “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder.” The sustained chords, open harmony, and hammer-stroke rhythm evoke the ascent of a mountain climber. The listener will notice polytonality in the music. Movement II, “The Solid Rock,” is based on the hymn “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” (1834). The soprano sings brief lines from the hymn, interspersed with long passages for the pianos that explore many tonal and rhythmic qualities of the original hymn tune. The driving harmony, albeit in duple meter, makes this the scherzo movement of this sonata. Movement III, “On Snowy Wings,” is based on “O Come, Angel Band” by the New England Methodist preacher Jefferson Hascall (1807-1887). The appearance of liturgical dancers as angels with “snowy wings” brings this old hymn into the 21st century, an era of many arts in worship, of visual effects in media, and our fascination with the appearance of the old in modern settings.