The Lament of the Wind
David A.
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My piece, "The Lament of the Wind," opens by vividly depicting a decrepit landscape, ravaged by the wind. The monotonous rhythm of the piano part combined with the dynamic swells evokes feelings of sorrow and grief, while occasionally, there are hints of hope like within the phrase starting at measure 9 when the C dominant7 chord occurs, before heading back to the dolefulness of D minor. At measure 25, the second theme is introduced and while the harmony oscillates between C major and F major, two very tender chords, the melody flows freely portraying a tranquility, a small break in the wind's mourning. This second theme also is slightly faster which causes everything to sound brighter, further perpetuating the idea of placidity. The drastic contrast between the first theme in D minor and the second one in C major encapsulates the idea of the difference between the beauty of the wind and the savagery of wind and how either can be present at any given time. The phrase starting at measure 35 contains an even larger swell than the previous measures and represents the wind's final breath of calmness before plummeting even deeper into the minor realm with the first theme repeated in C minor. Measure 49 is the start of the development which contains fragments of the first theme and the accompaniment starts playing more energetically while still remaining despairing. This represents a more chaotic stage of the wind's grief in which the wind's actions are invigorated purely by anger. Then, for a brief moment, the second theme comes back and the mood changes entirely. However this only lasts several measures because on the fourth measure of the syncopated melody, measure 66, tension starts to build again and the mood darkens again due to the presence of the B flat in measure 65 and the C natural in measure 67 which add an eerie feel to the character of this section. After this, in measure 72, the tempo becomes slightly faster which brings urgency and agitation to this section as the wind frenziedly grasps the reasons for its lamentation. This section is the second theme except oscillating between A minor and D minor which are both very melancholy chords. In measure 81, G# minor is introduced in brevity, which shocks the listener for a moment before quickly coming down to the cadence in D minor. To end, the first theme repeats exactly, but it seems much more mellow than before due to the intensity of the sections within the development and the new, relaxed tempo marking. "The Lament of the Wind" ends solely in D minor with a large crescendo to fortissimo before crashing down onto big sounding octaves, low in register, bringing a closure to the wind's anguish.
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Exploring creativity gives me a break from the monotony of everyday life. Composition is special because I can choose whether or not to share my compositions. I generally like sharing them and when I get positive feedback, my confidence gets boosted, but when I don’t, I know what to improve upon.
