In July of 2020, Earth was visited by C/2020 F3 NEOWISE, a comet. Though its closest approach to Earth had it at over one hundred million kilometres away, that orb of ice and rock could still be seen by the naked eye or, at least, binoculars. It won’t return for another six thousand eight hundred years. Appropriately, this occurred during the Covid-19 global pandemic, where millions of people around the world are facing personal isolation issues due to their quarantines. This piece is dedicated to all those who are faced with said loneliness, existential angst, and uncertainty. Yet, this work was also published on the cusp of a bright full moon, our natural torch to lighten the load of midnight.
A nocturne is a composition evocative of the night and its mysteries. Frédéric Chopin wrote many famous nocturnes, as did the Irish composer John Fielding. However, this piece is built around a repeating harmonic progression from the opening bars of Beethoven’s celebrated Moonlight Sonata (Piano Sonata No. 14 in C♯ minor Quasi una fantasia). I sought to evoke the gradual unveiling of the Neowise comet by representing it as the main theme from that sonata, before its lonely return beyond our solar system. In addition, this composition, being part of my Beethoven Episodes, was intended to be paired with his Symphony No. 7 in A Major, in honour of his two hundred and fiftieth birthday.
