One of my favorite quotes is generally attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, though the idea it conveys is probably much older. (Quote Investigator credits Charles Stewart with the 3-part concept found in his 1901 autobiography.) The quote — “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” — is generally assumed to be a slap against idle gossip, but the first in the list is what gets my attention. And in our “age of visibility” where celebrity and personal insults seem to completely dominate much of social and political discourse, the contrasts between each of the categories is very striking, and, in my thinking, important.

I decided an elegy (poetically, a “lament for the dead”) for the discussion of ideas might be a good programmatic concept for a composition. (You can see where the title comes from!) The result is an instrumental work for small ensemble in one movement. Although “elegy” implies membership in a long line of classical pieces (see “Musical Inspirations” for more detail), this piece doesn’t fully embrace any of the traditional Classical forms found there.

Elegies in music aren’t always death and sadness — many celebrate (sometimes playfully!) as much as they memorialize. This piece starts meditative and serious, but through thematic development gradually increases the positive and lively implications of the musical ideas.

Because of these ideas, I wrote this piece in a much different manner than is common to my other works — the programmatic idea of “dark to light” is the sole formal structure behind the piece. It is hoped that the emotional journey implied by the musical changes are the only important underlying formal idea.

Below is an excerpt from the current state of this work, an export from Sibelius. Be forewarned, it ends suddenly! This work is slated to have its premiere in April, so a live performance of this work will be linked in “Compositions” above after that.