And Flights of Angels Sing Thee to Thy Rest
(2000) c. 8:00
Commissioned by the New England College Band Association, In Memoriam Stanley D. Hettinger Wind Band
This piece was written to honor the memory of Stanley D. Hettinger, Director of Bands, University of New Hampshire. The title comes from the famous lines in the Shakespeare tragedy, Hamlet, where Horatio, witnessing the death by poison of Hamlet, "Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to they rest! Why does the drum come hither?"
Stan Hettinger heard my piece, The Quiet Tear, 1983, and commented on how the ending was "weak" for a memorial piece. I have taken the bulk of that short piece and reworked it, and, in strengthening the ending, reflect the ascending trajectory of the angels that accompany that "sweet prince" to his rest.
