“Solastalgia” is named after a word meaning grief for a life that you do not have. “Solastalgia” is a series of three haikus describing the poet's experiences with navigating grief. Drawing inspiration from nature, each haiku describes a different aspect of the writer's grieving process.
With each movement aiming to reflect a different stage of grief, “Solastalgia” begins with the depression and longing of "Rain Falls," describing loss as a storm hitting them. The music aims to evoke imagery of standing alone in the rain, looking up towards the sky. The movement begins with Ocean Drum and Vibraphone, and slowly builds, similar to how rainfall would start slowly and quickly build. Thunder frequently hits in the ocean drums, and at the height of the storm, the Vibraphone and flute converse in aleatory, symbolizing the variability of nature. The movement ends how it started, allowing the audience to sense the poet's depression, which they believe is never-ending.
The poet later describes the anger and frustration of grief in "I Still Hear," describing the "song" (which is a representation of memory) as suffocating, and themself as drowning in the water of the storm from the previous poem. The music is meant to be a contrast to the other movements, as anger is typically seen as a highly intense emotion.
The third movement of the trilogy, “I Sleep”, is bittersweet, acknowledging and accepting the pain of the moment and hoping -waiting- for better days. The piano begins in the hunting upper octaves and slowly comes down as the audience joins in on the narrator’s journey of acceptance. The song ends with a sigh in the vocal line, after the narrator has finally allowed themselves rest.
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