The Music of Stuart Jones

Fragments

In 2005 Jim Barkovic, the organist at our church, asked me to write a piece in memory of our mutual friend and colleague, Sarah Gray Megan. Sarah was a fine pianist, violinist and teacher, and I was fortunate enough to get to know her towards the end of her life when she played at our church in West Concord. After mulling over Jim’s idea for a while, I decided to write a work for violin and piano since these are the instruments that Sarah loved most. The pitches and intervals for the entire piece derive from the opening violin line, which was composed based on the five letters of Sarah’s first name (Eb-A-D-A-Bb). The title of the piece, Fragments, relates to the presentation of the musical ideas, which as the piece progresses break down into smaller and smaller fragments that finally dissipate towards the end of this brief work. The title also refers to the fragmented nature of life and in particular, Sarah’s life, which ended all too soon.

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