Come What May

Come what May

May 29, 2020

Version for french horn and flute commissioned by Bonny J. Schmidt-Fish
Version for french horn and guitar commissioned by Sarah Schouten and Tom Cody

From “Maytudes” – a french horn etude project in consultation with Gail Williams, with one etude created every day during the month of May, 2020

from composer Jim Stephenson (from original Maytudes etude book):

I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but sometimes it’s ok just to write a pretty tune, right?
And not try to save the world with an etude? Just checked – yep, I said something similar on May 14th, “Feign More Teeth.”
Besides, I need to save up my energy for the epic finale to all of this, which comes in just a couple of days.
This one started with the title and immediately I imagined a tune that might appear in a musical. After some crazy sequence on stage (like one might expect in a musical), the female lead ends up alone on stage, and starts singing about the unpredictable nature of love and how to come to terms with managing expectations with her lover. These are the first line of the etude: “I’m happy alone,” [shrugs her shoulders] come what may. To face the unknown, [shrugs again] come what may.”
Etc.
You can all make up your own story from there.
Hopefully yours will be better than mine.

I’ll just sit by MY phone now and wait for Broadway to call. (Might be a while…)