Op. 6 – AFTERLIGHT, PIANO SONATA No. 1 (2026) — ca. 9′
Composed for the contemporary music concert MusiCircus – giovani compositori a confronto; dedicated to Lili Ferrari
Programme note:
Afterlight is a single-movement piano sonata which unfolds along a strikingly original arc—structural, symbolic, and autobiographical. Its form recalls the fast–slow–fast trajectory of classical multi-movement sonatas, but this journey takes place within a continuous, unbroken span. The piece begins with restless urgency, slows into a central section of near stillness, and returns with even greater energy—an expressive parabola charting collapse and recovery, twilight and dawn.
The work consists almost entirely of an uninterrupted flow of sixteenth-note figurations in irregular groupings. With few metrical landmarks, the texture feels breathless and unstable—a musical expression of nervous vitality. The composer describes this energy as reflective of a state of existential acceleration, as though a protagonist senses an approaching end and lives with increasing urgency before an inevitable pause. That pause arrives in the sonata’s core: a dark, static middle section where harmonic density and low-register sonorities evoke night, illness, and emotional suspension. It is a passage that acknowledges darkness—not as finality, but as necessary transformation. The return of motion in the closing section suggests that life reasserts itself—not unchanged, but renewed. Threading through the piece is a simple, symbolic three-note motive: a descent, then a rise above both previous tones. This gesture, at once modest and profound, encapsulates the sonata’s entire narrative ethos. It is a musical emblem of both decline and rebirth—a leitmotiv in the truest Romantic sense.
Afterlight is a deeply personal work, but it also carries a broader message. Beneath its abstraction lies a quiet, compassionate hope—for the sick, the grieving, and all those who pass through darkness in search of light, with an unwavering belief in renewal.
Composition: Milan, Nov 2023–Jan 2024 (v. 1); Oct–Nov 2026 (v. 2); final authorial text completed 09 Nov 2026
Form/structure: single-movement
Performing-medium series: PIANO SONATA No. 1
Instrumentation: SOLO PIANO
Textual history:
– v. 1, s. 1 (Dec 2023): autograph manuscript, first-reading state; working title Twilight/Dawn; manuscript destroyed by the composer – lost.
Note. Closed-concert performance corresponding to this textual state: MusiCircus – giovani compositori a confronto, tavola rotonda e concerto, 22 Dec 2023, Bazzini Hall, “L. Marenzio” Conservatory, Brescia; Alexandre Casaccia, piano. [Institution] [Programme] [Poster]
– v. 1, s. 2 (Jan 2024): digital autograph prepared from s. 1, with numerous post-performance corrections; uploaded to IMSLP (07 May 2024; reupload 07 Jul 2025) – lost.
– v. 2 (Nov 2026): revised digital autograph; substantial recomposition; retitled Afterlight, piano sonata No. 1; final authorial text.
Publications:
– Casaccia, Alexandre. Afterlight, piano sonata No. 1, Op. 6. Score. Self-published edition, 09 Nov 2026. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17833569; also available on IMSLP (internal ref. number IAC 12) → Reflects v. 2
Rights: © 2026 Alexandre Casaccia. All rights reserved.
Score preview: