Before I Sleep

Viola.   2018.  Duration 6:20.  

Written for my colleague Ames Asbell of the Texas State music faculty and Pleasant Street Players, an outstanding artist and player of one of my favorite instruments.

The title, Before I Sleep, is a quote from the last lines of Robert Frost’s famous poem “Stopping by Woods,” a contemplation of death on a nocturnal sleigh ride in the snow. The lead motive is a quote from Mahler’s Symphony No. 4, which open with flutes and sleigh bells jingling what is called the “bell theme.”