Fanfare to the Eyes Reflecting the Celestial Bodies

Fanfare to the Eyes Reflecting the Celestial Bodies is a piece for unaccompanied horn that explores the concepts of sentiment, reflection, and development. Written as a sister piece to the final meditation of my undergraduate capstone recital (Ephemerality in Epilogue, for organ), the majority of the piece’s material is derived from several sources, including most predominantly isolated voices of Ephemerality in Epilogue’s final chorale in retrograde. After each iteration of this material, the music unfolds to reveal a contrasting motif that assembles more of itself with each repetition. This conversation of thematic material drives the piece to climax, at which point two final quotations conclude the piece. The first is of Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux étoiles..., VI. Appel interstellaire, which inspired the composition of this piece after I heard it performed by Isaac Ferrell, to whom this piece is dedicated. The second is of my own Summit View, the final piece I composed before attending Vanderbilt, which at the time stood as a monument to sentimentality and reminiscing on my life up to that point. In a sense, this brief fanfare for horn is meant to honor the notable landmarks and influential people of my education and development as a composer.