Andrew Mark Sauerwein

A third setting of Grace Andrews' poetry.  The speech-like melody reflects the conversational tone of the poem, while the harmonically dense accompaniment explores the character of its imagery.

My second setting of Grace Andrews' poetry.  This one is a zany acrostic poem entitled "ABC" that involves a visitor from the future, a banana, and world domination.  The action is presented in a recitative.  The harmony features a different chord for each of the 26 lines of text, including harmony based on all 24 major and minor triads.

A meditative setting of Psalm 126, composed during the COVID pandemic.

Line is both an aphoristic commentary on Grace Andrews’s lyrics and an embodiment of the creative process her poetry brings so vividly and intimately to life. For the technically-minded, the piece draws on a preoccupation with doubly-chromatic mediants and their intersection with symmetrical scales. The expressive aim of the piece, though, is a distilled evocation of artistic concentration, persistent effort, and surprised wonder.

A setting of verses from two hymn tunes by C. O. Hartsfield.

Five folksong lullabies in five languages, rendered as art songs. Composed for soprano Roberta Duhs, based on her Master's research into the charming and fearful ways mothers might sing their children to sleep. 

What if I wrote a song voicing my wife's perspective on our relationship? 

Commissioned by the North Carolina - Israel Project for a tour of Israel, which asked for an American composer to set a Hebrew text, and vice versa. Performed by the NCIP choir seven times in various locales.

The original setting was slightly expanded and sections in English were added to the Hebrew text.

Composed for my brother, the late Rev. Joel Sauerwein, for use in Advent services at his Lutheran church. Texts are based on Joel's rendering of traditional antiphons in modern English.

Commissioned by Greg Scheer and performed under his direction at Trinity Reformed Church (Orange City, IA).

Composed in collaboration with Dave Stuntz, music director at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (Durham, NC).  Premiered by the Blacknall choir during CFAMC's "Forging Links" conference in 2004.

The first (and, so far, the only) of seven settings of texts drawn from John Donne's seven-sonnet cycle of Holy Sonnets. 

Commissioned by the North Carolina - Israel Project for a tour of Israel during Summer 2000.  The Project asked for an American composer to set a Hebrew text, and vice versa.   I completed the Hebrew setting and Tsvi Avni set an English text.

Performances by the North Carolina/Israel Chorale, dir. Dave Stuntz:

Pre-tour choral concert, Durham NC, 6/26/00. 

Six performances during Israel tour, Summer 2000.

Text from Jeremiah 17:5-9, closing with the opening verse of the hymn, "If thou but suffer God to guide thee."

A Christmas carol, setting an original text.  Performed annually since 2007 by the Belhaven University Singing Christmas Tree, as well as in church services in various states (e.g. CO, NC, MI, MS).

Composed for soprano Angela Case.  Texts selected from Robert Louis Stevenson's charming A Child's Garden of Verses. 

Composed for a Pentecost Sunday service at Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church (Durham, NC). The text is from an old Lutheran hymn, but the music is a fiery adventure.

An atmospheric journey along an Oregon coast, setting a text by Jane Gibson.