In conceiving this quartet for clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, I found myself returning to August 21, 2017, when much of the United States paused to witness a total solar eclipse crossing the country. It was a rare moment of shared attention and wonder, unfolding against a period of deep political and social division. In thinking about that contrast, I was drawn to an ancient account by Herodotus that seemed to resonate with the present.

Herodotus writes that in 585 BCE, after years of war between the Medians and the Lydians, the two armies met near the River Halys in what is now Turkey. During the battle, day suddenly turned to night. Both sides interpreted the eclipse as a warning from the divine and laid down their weapons. For a brief moment, the scale and mystery of the natural world overwhelmed human conflict, and the war came to an end.

The piece unfolds in a single movement divided into three broad sections: conflict, eclipse, and resolution. The central section is timed to approximate the duration of totality during the eclipse of May 28, 585 BCE. Within that suspended span, motion gives way to stillness and confrontation to awe. The work reflects on the possibility that a shared encounter with something larger than ourselves might interrupt discord, however briefly, and make another course imaginable.

—SC