Extrana Devocion (Strange Devotion)

for piano solo 2010 ca 6'

One of the artist Francisco de Goya's most enigmatic etchings in his famous series "Caprichos Enfaticos" or "Emphatic Caprices" is entitled "Extrana Devocion". The etching depicts a group of ordinary Spanish people as they kneel on the roadside to pray while a donkey pulls a bier with a corpse in a strangely see-through coffin through the street. The donkey's mute yet somehow knowing expression seems to reveal both the sincerity and futility of the people's unquestioning faith.

This image was my inspiration.

The work is dedicated to Robert Blocker, Dean of the Yale School of Music.