Your dear beauty lovelier still

Hi all,

My entry for the "From Nothing, to Something" Summer 2026 Composition Competition is a short mixed quintet called "Your dear beauty lovelier still".

This was definitely the most challenging piece I have made: making something from nothing was by far the hardest thing I have done so far here.

I couldn't find anything that would represent summer apart from giving this song the lyrics of the poem this competition is based on (Donc, ce sera par un clair jour d'été).

Btw, since Musescore doesn't have any soundfonts that can sing lyrics, you won't be able to hear the lyrics in the audio.

Here is the pdf

I hope you enjoy 😁

Edited Monday at 07:15 PM2 days by Musicman_3254

Entry: "Your Daer Beauty lovelier"

total; 55.5/80

Average Score:6.9

Review:

Melodic material: Cello line, which carries the melody, is even balanced. It introduces the main theme of the piece that is sung in baritone voice. However, we can't hear baritone signing the melody for the other instruments are overshadowing it. It would nice if instruments would drop out when the male voice is signing. Or giving a lighter texture. or only have one or two playing. This is paramount when writing for voice and orchestra.

Score prep, instrumentation, playability. : There are several issues with the score. The hairpins are not readable with in the harp part; the bliss is not connected; solo indicators when you only instrument per player. Solo is used in strings where there is more than one player per part, and the composers wants only player to play. Holst did this in Venus. When he wanted to signal a solo player in the string section, he marked "solo". For the areas, where the solo is marked, it is preferred not to have the other instruments playing. This is applicable for oboe part, too. The held note in the reeds is not ideal. When you are writing for wood instruments, you have to remember, that need to breathe. Because there is no phrase markings in the cello part, the bowing will change on every note. I feel you can add more depth here. The triple stop at the end is incredible hard to play. You have wrote out the range of the Oboe'd natural range. In fact, that instrument is no longer in use. It is not in balance with the rest of the ensemble.

Execution: Yes, this piece has met the core requirements for this competition. However, the over all mood just seems off.

Creativity: this is indeed and creative and orginal piece.

Form and time: It was difficult to what the proper formal structure of the composition was, and the timing was slow.

Harmony and textures; Overall, the piece is mainly diatonic. There are moments of other modes with in the piece. The piece has colorful textures.

Side note: Cantai can be used with Musescore.