Landscape with Ladyslipper was commissioned by Maine’s Sebago-Long Lake Region Chamber Music Festival in celebration of its 25th anniversary. Its first performances were on August 5, 1997, in Harrison, Maine, and August 6 in Farmington. The title pays homage to a single lady’s slipper I found blooming in the woods up above our house in Readfield, Maine. In a sense, the flower has nothing to do with the music—I had to provide a title for the festival brochure while still finishing up a previous commission. On the other hand, “lady’s slipper” suggested images of dancing, and “landscape” hinted at the serenity of the Maine woods, and the complete title, sounding like the alliterative name of a painting rather than a musical composition, had a kind of absurd whimsy—each of these factors was an inspiring presence as I wrote the piece. The prevailing good humor of Landscape with Ladyslipper is evident in the convivial interactions of the players through imitation and doublings, the recurrent hints of tonality, the syncopations and dancy rhythms, the lyricism, and such features as an oblique reference to Tristan and Isolde, a sweet little “Danish” march led by the oboe, and markings in the score such as “exuberantly,” “ponderous,” “scurrying,” and, for the final page, “serene.”