The melody “Kalenda Maya” (The Month of May) is the earliest known example of an “estampie," an instrumental form of the 13th and 14th centuries. Troubadour poet Raimbaut de Vaqueiras put words to this wildly popular tune to create the song which remains with us 800 years later. This is a song of courtly love—desire held captive by courtly convention. Its melody captures the insistence and persistence of desire. I was 32 when I composed the Sonata, and it was May in Minnesota. What could be a better inspiration than this to compose a work for organ on the melody “Kalenda Maya."