The Whole of All I’ve Sought

artsong for soprano and string quartet

I wrote this piece as a companion to Elvis Costello’s Juliet’s Letters for the 2024 Wintergreen Music Festival. My favorite aspect of Costello’s work is the ambiguity of the lyrics that allows for sudden twists in meaning – even at the very end of a song. I chose Alexander Lawrence Posey’s “To My Wife” as a text to emulate this narrative strategy. It opens with an exaltation of the beauty in the natural world and the wonderment it inspires. Yet in the midst of this celebration, the speaker realizes they have failed to show the same appreciation for the person who means the most to them. The closest people in our lives can so easily be taken for granted if we don’t constantly remind ourselves of how lucky we are to have them. I hope this piece can inspire listeners to say “thank you” and “I love you” to whomever makes their lives whole.

-Matthew Thomas Brown