Echoes of the Forgotten Americans

Dedicated to the memory of Norma and Donald Stone with deep affection and gratitude for their encouragement and support

‍Echoes of the Forgotten Americans is my contribution to Orchestra Lumos’s American Portraits. This is a wide-ranging portrait, not focusing on one specific person, but to those who have a legacy and a contribution in the building of the United States that has otherwise been forgotten or lost to history. As for the specific people represented, it can have multiple meanings at multiple times in history; there are countless examples to focus on just one. Therefore, this aspect can have open meaning. As for the music, a timpani ostinato sounds as though they were distant funeral drums. The general mood is reflective and pastoral, more like a remembrance than an elegy.

— Quinn Mason