It was great to meet with Sam Gustavson to discuss the plan for our trumpet sonata consortium! For any trumpet players interested in being a part of the project, it is officially the last month to join (the deadline is August 31st).
We have decided that the piece is going to be about the Coronavirus, both on a global scale as well Sam’s personal experience working in a pharmacy during the pandemic and contracting the disease. Tentatively, the titles for the three movements of the sonata are going to be Chaos, Solitude, and Bloom.
Chaos will depict the sudden and extreme adjustments to the early stages of the virus, with schools and businesses shutting down, events being cancelled, and pretty much the whole world standing still and going into quarantine. The second movement, Solitude, will recount Sam’s experience with quarantining for two weeks after testing positive for the virus, but will also portray the general feeling of isolation and loneliness felt by many during this time. The final movement, entitled Bloom, will be an optimistic end to the piece, representing our society’s resilience as we more towards some level of normalcy (we’re not necessarily in this stage yet). Since these stages of coping with the virus didn’t always occur in a set order and often overlapped with one another, several motives and themes will recur throughout the three movement structure.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to meet up with Sam in person to establish a foundation and meaning for the sonata. I think it will be therapeutic to channel some of my thoughts and emotions from the past five months into this piece, and I hope those who work on and perform the piece will have a similar experience. I’m eager to start writing this piece soon!
Chris Evan Hass, Composer 