Four Love Sonnets for baritone, strings and harpsichord to words by William Shakespeare (1969)
The first version of the Four Sonnets comes from 1956 and is scored for baritone and symphony orchestra. Baird dedicated the second version to his friend Jerzy Artysz.
The difference between the two versions is in their instrumentation, which, thanks to its scaling-down (harpsichord, 6 first violins, 5 second violins, 4 violas, 3 cellos, double bass), is a more evocative reference to the musical past. The remaining elements of the musical composition were retained.
The work represents an archaising strand in Tadeusz Baird’s output. Cf. Analysis of Four Love Sonnets (1).