In Memory – H.H.L.
for string orchestra
by
Dan Locklair
In Memory – H.H.L., for string orchestra, was composed in late summer 2005 and bears the following dedication:
In loving memory of my mother, Hester Helms Locklair (1918-2005)
The primary musical material for this short, single movement elegiac composition comes from the plagal cadence (IV-I). Since this cadence is often associated with the close of hymns on the word “amen,” it has often been referred to as “the amen cadence.” The finality of the word “amen” (meaning “may it be so”) to a prayer or a hymn that is a prayer, seemed to me a most appropriate symbol of musical remembrance for the finality of my mother’s earthly life. Further, a church school teacher of two-year-old children for many years, Hester Locklair always taught her classes a simple pentatonic hymn, Jesus Loves Me. Paying tribute to that, a brief quote from that hymn (played pizzicato by the violas) is heard near the end of In Memory – H.H.L.
Dan Locklair
Winston-Salem, NC
September 2005
Duration: ca. 4’