Wild Nights!

Wild Nights! is a joyous, colorful seven-minute musical journey inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem:

Wild nights! Wild nights! Were I with thee, Wild nights should be Our luxury!

Futile the winds To a heart in port, Done with the compass, Done with the chart.

Rowing in Eden! Ah! the sea! Might I but moor To-night in thee!

Numerous composers have set the words of Wild Nights! to music (Lee Hoiby's song setting and John Adams' Harmonium come immediately to mind). However, to my knowledge, no one has used this wonderfully sensuous poem as the basis for a purely instrumental tone poem. This was my aim, and in so doing I focused most heavily on the lines “Done with the compass,/Done with the chart” and “Rowing in Eden!/Ah! the sea!” These words suggested the sense of freedom and ecstatic joy that I tried to express in my work.

Throughout the piece, even during its darker middle section, the music is mercurial, impetuous, optimistic. A jazzy syncopated rhythmic motive permeates the journey. Unexpected events come and go, lending spontaneity and a sense of freedom. The work is composed in five distinct sections, but contained within each section are numerous surprises and a devil-may-care swagger. Surprises are found at every turn, and continue right through the final cadence.

Wild Nights! was commissioned by the California Band Directors Association in celebration of their 50th anniversary.

Program Note by Frank Ticheli