Story Behind The Song

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's masterpiece from Sonnets from the Portuguese #43, "How Do I Love Thee?" was part of a series of poems she wrote in secret while developing a friendship and romance, which led to her engagement to Robert Browning. Prior to publication, due to her private nature, she didn't want the public to know the letters were written by her, so she tried to disguise it, hence the title, "from the Portuguese." This sonnet expresses the highest form of love, one that has been tried, tested and developed over time. It also emphasizes being in love as a deeply spiritual experience, something that can tear the soul apart to the point of physical agony, or send it to levels of ecstasy never experienced before. "I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints," sets up the comparison of revering him for his saintly qualities, and at the same time, there is a sense of profound loss and longing with his absence. Elizabeth married Robert Browning in 1846. Due to her poor health and her father's disapproval of their engagement, they eloped to Italy to reside there. She passed away fifteen years later in 1861. "And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death," implies that their love will continue to increase throughout eternity.

Song Description

Browning expresses her love in epic proportions, with unbridled romantic idealism, surely one of the reasons this sonnet has remained so popular in literature. I knew from the beginning that the style of the music for this sonnet should enter into the modern jazz realm, due to its timeless essence, modern language and because of the inherent emphasis of important key words, which easily allow for a bossa nova rhythm.

Lyrics

How do I love thee?/ Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth/and breadth and height/
My soul can reach,
when feeling out of sight,
For the ends of being and ideal grace./
I love thee/ to the level/ of every day's
Most quiet need/
by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely/ as men strive for right--
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise--
I love thee with the passion put to use--
In my old griefs/
and with my childhood's faith,
I love thee with a love /I seemed to lose
With my lost saints./
I love thee with the breath/
Smiles/ tears/ of all/ my/ life . . .

I love thee freely/ as men strive for right--
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise--
I love thee with the passion put to use--
In my old griefs,
and with my childhood's faith
I love thee/ with a love/ I seemed to lose
With my lost saints./
I love thee with the breath/
Smiles/ tears/ of all/ my/ life . . .

And if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.