In Darkest Night
Barry E. Kopetz

In Darkest Night was composed highlighting the dark, thick, rich quality of the key of C minor. In musical composition, different keys have long been associated with various states of emotion, and C minor has often been called the “key of darkness”. The slow introduction presents the primary theme in augmented fashion over a C pedal point, leading to the robust Allegro Ritmico. The theme now reveals its true character; aggressive, poignant, terse, and yes ….. dark! The piece ends in a series of rapid, pounding, off-beat C minor triads prior to the final chord.

Other Information …

In Darkest Night was written in a relatively short period of time. The earliest sketch (and the only sketch!) comes from my sketch book dated 7-21-02. This particular part of the sketch is virtually identical to the intro in the published piece along with the first theme. What follows this sketch is about two pages of scribbled ideas, none of which were actually used but may find a use in another piece.

The next page of the sketch book is dated 7-22-02, and basically continues the piece at the pick-up to rehearsal 36. From here to the end, all is exactly as the published piece shows, with the exception of the final two bars. The original sketch revealed a soft ending, fading into nothing.

The sketch that appears before the beginning of “In Darkest Night” is the third movement of my piece entitled “Games” and is called “Capture the Flag.” I suspect I needed a change of pace in my style of writing, hence, the move toward c minor and the sense of darkness that goes with this particular key center.

Other influences in my life at that time may be related to the book I am in the middle of writing. The sketch that appears before the start of “Games” is the earliest sketch to the piece “Dance at the Lake of Miramoor,” which will be published this spring by the FJH Music Company. The dance is the third piece I have written about the characters and events in the book, which is based in the fictitious land I have named, “Lochria.” The first piece was a grade 2 entitled “In the Land of the Lochrians,” and as you would guess, is in the lochrian mode. The second piece was called “The Journey to Aeolia,” and is based in the Aeolian mode (there is a method to my madness, but I cannot reveal the secret of the book)! Finally, once the “Dance at the Lake of Miramoor” was written, I started on “In Darkest Night” thinking that it would be a reflection of another scene from the book, a scene which I ultimately rejected. However, the piece seemed substantial enough not to pitch it out, so I submitted it for publication. It seems to have been well-received by the band world, but only time will tell. Who knows, maybe one day I will put the piece back into the chapter from which it was removed. Either way, images of darkness inspired the piece.