| Description | I wrote this piece in response to a request for an original woodwind work. The original intention was for it to be played by a group of varying woodwind instruments, listed above as the alternative instrumentation. However, the original scoring was for a clarinet ensemble, since that is a more common group. "Celestial Evening" is based on the story of an Anime (Japanese Animation) called "Trigun". Here is a brief synopsis of Trigun from Wikipedia:
The story, known for its Science fiction Western theme, follows the life of "The Humanoid Typhoon" and two insurance company employees who are ordered to follow him to minimize the damage caused by his activities. Much of the damage attributed to "Vash" is caused by the activities of bounty hunters who are after the "60,000,000,000$$" (sixty billion "double dollars") reward on Vash's head for the destruction of a city called July. Vash does not clearly remember the destruction of July, and only wants "love and peace", as he puts it; though he is a gunfighter of inhuman skill, he uses his weapons only to save lives wherever he can.
As the series progresses, more is gradually learned about Vash's mysterious history and the history of the human civilization on Gunsmoke, the desert planet the series is set on. The series is often humorous in tone, but at the same time it involves very serious character development and especially in later episodes it becomes quite emotionally intense. Vash is occasionally joined by a priest, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who is almost as good a gunfighter as Vash himself, and later is targeted by a band of assassins known as the Gung-Ho Guns for reasons which are mysterious at first.
Trigun evolves into a very serious discussion of the nature of morality, posing questions such as: What is the nature of morality? Can we judge different moral codes? If a person is forced to betray their moral code, does that betrayal invalidate that moral code, and can the person still try to live up to that moral code? Can the person find redemption from their wrongs, and if so, how?
In the story Vash, who is a skilled gunslinger, also values life greatly and has vowed never to take another life. During the course of the story Vash is placed in a situation where he is literally forced to choose to either kill a man or to allow that man to kill two women. After killing Vash retreats into himself, changing his identity and effectively going into hiding. He is found later by the two women that he saved and is in state of great depression and emotional turmoil. He is not able to forgive himself for violating his own convictions, believing that there had to be another way. At the apex of Vash's emotional struggle, he begins to sadly sing a song which was sung to by a woman named Rem Saverem when he was younger. She is the influence that led Vash to have the beliefs that he does. This song is referred to as Celestial Evening, Rem's Song, or most accurately, "Sound Life". This is the English translation of the song:
So... On the first night,
a pebble falls to the earth from somewhere.
So... On the second night,
The pebble's children hold hands and sketch a waltz.
Sound life
So... On the third night,
The children of the waltz cause ripples on the
face of the world
So... On the fourth night,
the children of the wave spray the shore.
Sound life
So... On the fifth night,
those shards strike the face of the earth over and over.
So... On the sixth night,
those signals bring travellers together.
Sound life
So... On the seventh night,
a weightless ship races to the sky.
So... On the eighth morning,
a song from somewhere reaches my ears.
Sound life
Well then... A song that has recorded everything
echoes to the new sky.
Sound life
Sound life
The phrase night is sometimes translated as "Celestial Evening" which gives this piece it's name. The main theme of the piece is the same melody from "Sound Life". This piece draws from several elements of the story. The pulsing polyrhthyms and almost dance-like syncopation in the introduction are inspired by the futuristic old western style of the show and it's music. As the piece progresses it moves into a more somber feel, which reflects a period where Vash is struggling to come to terms with his own ethics, commitments, and transgressions. This struggle leads into dissonance that culminates with the triumphant restating of the main theme, representing Vash's conviction to carry on with his idealistic ways, despite his mistakes.
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