John La Montaine

Come Into My Garden from The Song of Solomon

In 1959, John La Montaine's composed a song cycle for soprano and orchestra titled 'Fragments from the 'Song of Songs'' based on the biblical text, 'The Song of Solomon.' From this work, he derived two works for flute and piano, 'Come Into My Garden' and 'My Beloved, Let Us Go Forth,' both of which are dedicated to Doriot Anthony Dwyer, the former principal flutist of the Boston Symphony. These two adaptations received their premiere at the 1980 National Flute Association convention in Boston. 'Come Into My Garden' is a free-flowing piece, largely based on the interval of a fourth. Though it seems like an improvisation at first, there is a structure behind it, with many recurring motives throughout.