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What is Home?

for piccolo, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and violoncello

Eric Nathan 2026

What is Home?

for piccolo, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, and violoncello

Eric Nathan

Commissioned by Collage New Music

With the support of the Frank B. Epstein Commissioning Fund and Korean Cultural Society of Boston

Commissioned by Eighth Blackbird by Ann and Harry Santen

Commissioned by Left Coast Chamber Ensemble with the generous support of Susan Shalit and Mary Logger

The Frank B. Epstein Commissioning Fund is possible by the generous support of the Founding Sponsors:

Nick Anagnostis* **

Dianne & Michael Blau

Birgit Blyth

Ferdinando Buonnano

Paul and Katie Buttenwieser**

John Carey**

Karen Carmean

Mary Allmon Epstein, DMA

Nomi Rozanna Epstein, DMA

Rebecca Alec Epstein

Ronan Lefkowitz in memory of Murray Lefkowitz

Elsa Krasner Miller & Marvin Miller

*via Collage’s endowed fund

**via Collage’s 50th Anniversary Commission Fund

Joel Moerschel & Bridget P. Carr

Amy and Carl Nathan

Eric Nathan

David Oswald**

Ruth & Ken Scheer

Stephen D. Senturia

Abraham Benjamin Tolkoff

Clara Margit Tolkoff

Emmanuel Walker Tolkoff

Joshua Lev Tolkoff

Dedicated to my parents, Amy and Carl Nathan, and my wife, Luyuan Nathan

Transposed Score

INSTRUMENTATION :

Piccolo

Bass Clarinet in B-flat

Violin

Violoncello

Percussion*

Piano

*Percussion requirements:

Crotales (lower octave), Vibraphone (motor off), Bass Drum, Triangle (large), Suspended Cymbal

DURATION:

8 minutes

COMPOSER’SNOTE:

SoonafterIwasappointedArtisticDirectorofCollageNewMusicinBoston,Ienvisioneda commissioningprojectthatwouldspeaktowhat“home”meanstousintheUnitedStates today.IapproachedChicago’sEighthBlackbirdandSanFrancisco’sLeftCoastChamber Ensembletoco-commissionwithCollageasuiteofsixnewworks,WhatisHome?,invitingsix composersfromacrossAmerica JaRonBrown,ErinGee,AprilDawnGuthrie,Angélica Negrón,JuriSeoandmyself toeachrespondtothequestion,Whatdoeshomemeantoyou?

AsIbegantorespondmusicallytothisprompt,Isoonfoundhowcomplexandmultifaceted thenotionofhomeisforme.ThemusicalresponseIhavecreatedissearchingandquestioning, inacyclicstructurethatisultimatelyitselfbothansweringandquestioning,simultaneously rhetoricallyandearnestly:WhatisHome?

WhileIhavelivedinnumerousplaces,Ihavefeltthestrongestsenseofhomeinthreelocations: Larchmont,NY(myhometown),Providence,RI(mycurrenthome),andRome,Italy(my homeforayearcoming-of-age,andwhichIreturntooften).Unitingmyexperiencesinthese citiesinunexpectedwaysarethesoundsofbells.

Below,Ipresentvariouspointsofinspiration,unconnected.Myworkaimstopiecethese togetherformyself

● AfaintlymisrememberedquotationofthemelodyoftheSundaymorningbells soundingfromthechurchacrossthestreetfrommychildhoodhome.Ihavemy warmestmemoriesof“home”wakingtothebellswithsunlightstreaminginthrough mywindow

● ExperiencingfrommyProvidencehomethehorroroftheunfoldingBrownUniversity schoolshootingonDecember13,2025,whichtookplacetwomilesdownmystreetat theschoolwhereIteach.

● ReadingplaywrightSarahRuhl’seditorialintheGuardian,“Mydaughterwasinthe BrownUniversitylibrary,hidingunderthedesk”(December23,2025).Ruhlisa BrownUniversityalumandparentofacurrentBrownstudent.Theselinesofher poemhauntedme:

“Soundthequietbell Meltallthegunsintobells–we’dhavesuchsongsofpeace”

• Reading the New York Times article, “The Nazi Plunder of Church Bells Changed the Sound of Europe” (December 27, 2025), which describes how the Nazis removed 150,000 bells from churches across Europe, silencing the acoustic landscapes in many towns during the war and removing the time-keeping apparatus many relied on in daily life. Many of these bells were melted for metals to create weapons.

• A quotation of the song, America (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee), a melody that I performed often in my youth and have re-fashioned in my music in two previous works, in different contexts.

• The “lament bass,” a descending four-chord harmonic progression found in musical lamentations from the Renaissance to the present.

What is Home? was Commissioned by Collage New Music with the support of the Frank B. Epstein Commissioning Fund and Korean Cultural Society of Boston; commissioned by Eighth Blackbird; commissioned by Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. It was composed in Larchmont, Providence and at Civitella Ranieri Foundation in Umbertide, Italy in December 2025 and January 2026. It is dedicated to my parents, Amy and Carl Nathan, and my wife, Luyuan.

- Eric Nathan

Clamorously q = 92

What is Home?

2 yarn mallets f 2 brass mallets l.v. sempre motor off con ped. (ad lib., resonant)

Clamorously q = 92

(do not lift pedal; accumulate resonance)

41 Flowing, with a sense of magic q = 112

& & & ? & & ?

41 Flowing, with a sense of magic q = 112

like distant bells, a distant memory, faintly recollected. emerging from rubble

& & & ? & & ?

74 Pastoral; singing; like Renaissance music q = 80 f solo tolling, a lament

Quotation: "America" (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)

Vibraphone con

& & & ? & & ?

Pno.

152 Joyously h. = 76

Vibraphone

resonantly, like church bells

ped. ad lib., do not lift if possible goal is a church-bell like accumulaing resonance

152 Joyously h. = 76

ƒ resonantly, like church bells

& & & ? & &

& & & ? & & ?

(change pedal / flutter ad lib. to allow for dim) (Vibr.)

& & & ? & & ?

Epilogue: A Song; like clockwork; with a groove q = 114 193 ( h = q ) p

Epilogue: A Song; like clockwork; with a groove q = 114 193 ( h = q )

& & ? & &

Quotation:

& & & B & &

gliss/bend. melting,

gliss.

gliss/bend.