Passionate Melody of Life (Part I)
On May 2, 2017, I received an email that would significantly affect my life in the years that followed. The email was from a retired local pediatrician, Dr. Glenn Deibert, who was also an excellent amateur clarinetist active in chamber groups here in the Phoenix area. I did not know Glenn then, but subsequently we became good friends and occasionally performed together. He wanted to commission a new piano work from me in honor of two ladies, both excellent pianists who had long been active in the local music community, and both of whom were battling cancer. In a subsequent email, Glenn told me more about the kind of piece he had in mind, suggesting that it might be similar in character to an earlier Nocturne for Piano I had written in 1983. The new piece, he advised, should also embody the positive sense of life of the two ladies who were being honored by it. Neither of the honorees knew about the work that was being commissioned for them.
I completed the work in mid-June. It was about five and a half minutes in length. Hoping to provide its two dedicatees with spiritual inspiration in their struggle for their lives, I sought to capture in the piece the boundless beauty of life and the awe it invokes in us. Normally, I use generic titles for my instrumental works, but in this case I thought some descriptive words would be appropriate to the piece’s purpose, so I included a subtitle: Nocturne No. 2 for Piano: Passionate Melody of Life.
Sadly, one of the two ladies, Ruth Costa, passed away on June 1, while I was putting the finishing touches on the new piece. I had barely known Ruth Costa, but I had met the other lady, Sue Lawson, through the Paradise Valley Chamber Music Collective (PVCMC). She had heard some of my chamber compositions performed there, and I later learned that she had spoken highly of them to Glenn. I had enjoyed some pleasant chats with Sue and her husband Jim Lawson. Sue’s personality seemed positive and life-loving, and she was kind and generous by nature. I was told that she was an accomplished pianist, but at the time I knew nothing specific about her musical background.
Glenn and I planned to surprise Sue with the new work at a large chamber-music concert, where I would present its premiere performance. The event would be the Gala Closing Concert of the Arizona Chamber Music Experience (ACME), held on Sunday, July 23. Sue was a highly respected longtime contributor to the local music community and would be well known to most of the audience, and we arranged with Jim Lawson to make sure that she would be present, her health permitting.
The concert was held in a large church in downtown Phoenix and featured a large number of chamber-music ensembles. We were delighted to see that Sue was well enough to attend. The new Nocturne No. 2 was the only solo piece in the concert, at the top the program. Glenn introduced the composition that he had commissioned, without yet mentioning in whose honor it had been written, and I performed it on a fine Baldwin grand piano.
After the piece was concluded, Glenn stood up again and made the surprise announcement that the work had been commissioned in honor of Sue and Ruth. We both walked over and with great ceremony presented the score to an astonished Sue, as everyone present applauded in delight.