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Sepluchre by the Sea was written for Joeli Schilling in the summer of 2022. The piece is loosely based on Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe and La Dispute’s Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again. Sepluchre by the Sea was composed to show off Joeli’s artistry, our friendship, and as an encapsulation of this time in our lives. The summer of 2022 was a time of great transition in both of our lives- a season of personal discoveries and musical growth after our four years together at Texas Tech on a backdrop of political upheaval. We shared an underlying dread and anger as we watched the rights of many Amercians be stripped by religious extremists in power. The first two movements of Sepluchre by the Sea form a recit and aria. The bells of an old church are heard as ‘waves crash contempt on the land’. The waves bring a dreamy yet delusional song that wanders farther out into the dark waters than anticipated. The third movement is in a beaten and broken sonata form. The themes develop into a grave dancing craze until the recapitulation deconstructs the sonic landscape. The fourth and fifth movements are attacca, bridged by a boiling over of emotions, crying, screaming and shouting.