Slow Tears for alto flute and piano by Rhonda Larson

Slow Tears was inspired by Orlando Gibbons (15th cent.) choral setting of “Drop, Drop, Slow Tears.” Usually sung during Lent, it tells the story of remorse due to our blindness as humans. We “see” what we lack as human beings, the knowledge of which compels our truest tears which drop slowly onto “the feet of Jesus”. I felt that the Gibbons musical setting was a bit too cheery for the words, so I set out to rectify that in writing a new version, which subsequently became an entirely different piece of music.