“Mondnacht”, as Recited to Me By the Frogs of Watt Pond (2023)

flute, clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, and piano; duration ca. 9’30”

When I began working on this piece, I turned to Joseph von Eichendorff’s 1837 poem “Mondnacht” as inspiration, hoping to jumpstart my process. The poem’s depiction of a peaceful, moonlit night is beautiful, but I soon began to wonder what I, as an American teenager nearly two hundred years later, would have to contribute to it. I find the poem inspiring, but how does my own background as a composer relate to it? And does that matter?

What resulted was a piece only vaguely inspired by Eichendorff’s words, with the “Mondnacht” in question recast as a night spent listening to choruses of frogs and crickets in Putney, VT. Meanwhile, the piece contemplates its own musical “Americanness”, as nostalgic echoes of folk and bluegrass peek through more ambiguous soundscapes.

This was the second of two pieces I wrote for Yellow Barn’s Young Artist Program this year. The piece was premiered on June 29, 2023 in Putney, Vermont by Sydney Feldman, Alice McDonald, AJ Hudson, Anaïs Feller, Natasha Brofsky, and Alex Nam.

Hear More