Love is Beautiful Indeed

Written for a wedding in 2006, Love is beautiful indeed sets an extraordinary poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61), part of the tenth sonnet in Sonnets from the Portuguese. It begins unaccompanied with warm harmony but quickly moves to reflect the words ‘Fire is bright…and love is fire’, at which point the organ enters strongly to accompany the deeply impassioned central section before the mood relaxes and the piece returns to the quiet reflection of the opening. Suitable for intermediate choirs, this setting of a secular text is an exciting and welcome addition to the repertoire of music taking love as its theme.