Paul Sanho Kim

Three Poems by Christina Rossetti

for viola, cello, and optional narrator (2014)

Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, 2024. Rebecca Sinclair Kim, viola. Stephen Coxe, piano.

Duration: 13′

Movements (may be performed individually or in any combination and order):
Paradise: In a Symbol (3.5′)
Uphill (5′)
Echo (4.5′)

Premiere: The Boston Conservatory, Boston, Massachusetts, March 2014. Rebecca Sinclair Kim, viola.

Christina Rossetti was a renowned nineteenth-century English poet whose works largely reflected Romantic themes of love, death, and spirituality. Rossetti remained a devout Christian throughout her life despite suffering multiple bouts of illness and growing up under financial strain due to her father’s failing health and forced early retirement. Her poems reflect her enduring faith even as she portrays frank, human feelings of suffering and longing.

In setting Rossetti’s poems to music, composer Paul Sanho Kim was inspired by Rossetti’s seemingly effortless lyricism and her ability to express deep emotion through deceptively simple means. The poems “Paradise: In a Symbol,” “Up-Hill,” and “Echo” were particularly chosen for their vivid imagery and wide emotional contrast. The three movements may be performed individually or in any combination and order (at the performer’s discretion), and they are designed to be performable with or without a narrator. The composition was written between December 2013 and February 2014 and is dedicated to Rebecca, the composer’s wife.