Two Lives

suite in 5 movements for classical guitar duo

I. Beginning | II. Laughing | III. Dreaming | IV. Loving | V. Believing

This piece is dedicated to and inspired by my twin sister and favorite guitarist, Elizabeth. Each movement explores something I associate with our “twinship.” I composed it from September 2022 to January 2023 as my first major work as a student at the Oberlin Conservatory. Our first semester of college was also the first time my sister and I were apart for an extended period, prompting me to think more deeply about our relationship than I had the previous 18 years.

“II. Laughing” portrays the incredible goofiness that only my sister and I can bring out of each other. It takes a traditional dance associated with guitar, the tango, and distorts the certainty of its rhythm. Each guitarist takes turns musically jabbing at the other and responding in turn with energy and wit.

“III. Dreaming” is inspired by long walks with my sister as teenagers when we would talk about all our dreams and how we would accomplish them. Therefore, it starts with simple ideas that go on a great journey through chromatic harmony. The guitars motivate each other to go higher and higher until the main theme blossoms at the very end, like dreams coming to pass.

“IV. Loving” is my thank you to my sister for always being at my side and a revelation of how much that means to me. It is the most inward, meditative, and expressive of the movements, relying on a tender melody, soothing arpeggios, and ringing harmonics.

“I. Beginning” and “V. Believing” use the same basic motif that combines the major melodic material from the three inner movements. “Beginning,” which disguises the motif within a fast arpeggiated texture, creates a wash of sound in preparation for the story to be told. It is also my own reflection on how my sister and I were together from the very beginning of our lives, before the rest of the world even knew we were here. Believing extends this idea, reassuring my sister that our special twin bond will always remain, regardless of the space that separates us.

Writing for instruments you don’t play is the job of a composer, but approaching guitar as a pianist was especially daunting for me. Most of the guitar canon is composed by the great virtuosos themselves, and players can be quick to call out music by outsiders as “unguitaristic”. One can play a well-written passage in a variety of positions on the neck; yet it so easy to write something unplayable in all — a uniquely cruel paradox.

I knew I would need to compose this piece with some mechanical awareness of the instrument, so I bought the cheapest full-sized classical guitar on Amazon, along with stickers labeling the notes at each fret. A sticker in the sound hole read “Hola Music: Quality Instruments.” Upon seeing that in my composition lesson, Stephen Hartke jested, “You know Matthew, quality can be high or low. The word alone isn’t necessarily…positive.”

But I persisted with my little “guitar-shaped object”, and wrote much of the suite with my left hand on its neck while the right bounced between piano and pencil. The first tune I got comfortable plucking myself became the main theme in “IV. Loving”, and I am still proud of how it captures my love for my sister, despite and perhaps because of its simplicity.

Movements IV and V were premiered in Kulas Recital Hall, Oberlin on 4/14/24 by guitarists Sam Schollenberger and Solis Goldsmith.