Nocturne, 2020

for solo marimba (5-octave)

Commissioned by: a consortium led by Nathan Elliot Siegel

Work completed: July 2020

Duration: 10'

Difficulty: Intermediate-Advanced

In general, a nocturne is a piece of music meant to evoke feelings related to, or imagery of, the nighttime. Many Romantic composers, most famously Chopin, developed a standard style for the genre - usually a slow 3/4 drifting away in reflective wonder.

Nocturne, 2020 grows out of this tradition, but abandons the typical form in favor of a more honest reflection on nighttime during the year of writing. Around the time I began drafting the piece, I was usually waking up at 2pm on any given day, then staying awake until the following dawn - around 7am. I found myself restless in the extreme late hours of the night, doing any host of things to calm my racing mind - playing games, writing poetry, consuming media, and so on. These evenings (and very early mornings) were not full of wonder and reflection like what the Romantics experienced; rather, they were rooted in uncertainty and worry amidst unforeseeable circumstances, both personally and globally.

All of these observations led me to a more truthful, modern perspective on nighttime: a time that can be full of buzzing energy, quiet anxiety, and blinding darkness.