HEAVEN AT NIGHT
OPUS
25
DURATION
10:00
YEAR
2019
GRADE LEVEL
5
ENSEMBLE
WIND BAND
NOTES
One day, I fell upon Sarah William’s poem, The Old Astronomer to His Pupil. Published posthumously in 1868, the poem is regarded as the best the author has written. In the poem, Williams writes:
Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light;
I have loved the stars too truly to be fearful of the night.
These two lines are the inspiration behind my tone poem, Heaven at Night.
The piece is centered around the idea of acceptance toward the unknown, the ability to not be in fear of what comes next. I want to share with the world that past the darkness of death, there will be a Heaven waiting for your peaceful arrival.
I would like to dedicate Heaven at Night to Ann Wilson- a soul that has carried me out of many of my own fears.