Stargazer

When I wish upon a star Ever since we were children we dreamed of the stars. We gazed at the moon, found constellations, and searched for astral phenomena. In 1986 I had the unique opportunity to see Hayleys Comet in an observatory telescope. Since it returns to earth every 75 years or so, it is possible that I may be one the few human beings to see it twice in a lifetime. Since then I have always drawn my eyes skyward and marvelled at the heavens. In 2021, choral conductor and amateur astronomer Dr. Thomas Wininger, invited me out for an evening of stargazing. We travelled an hour outside the city to get to a position with no light pollution. We travelled down an old dirt road in the middle of nowhere and set up a large telescope. The views were breath taking! We saw the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and the Pleiades. Even without the telescope, the stream of the stars was incredible to behold. As a composer, I was inspired. The result was the following work for SATB choir. The opening chromatic piano motif paints Saturns mystery, while the main melody spans the interval of a major 7th giving us an expansive feel of endless worlds. A polyphonic section shows the texture of the heavens while chromatic mediant chords remind us how epic space is and how insignificant we may be. Are the stars just pinholes in the curtain of night? Keep dreaming my friends.