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Noting a Golden Silence

How one composer makes music on Seneca Lake.

"There’s a kind of silence out there that’s just golden," says Nicholas D’Angelo, professor of music. "I think that opens up something that makes creativity flow." D’Angelo, a composer who was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1985, is an avid sailor for whom Seneca Lake is part of his creative process — a deep, dynamic reflecting pool.

His inspiration, he says, is "definitely not literal. With Some Summer Sun [a solo flute piece] you’re on a beautiful lake, so, ergo, you expect to hear this flutist playing very light, beautiful tunes, and there’s some of that, but that’s not the whole experience." Inspiration often defies words. "I don’t know what it is, but I know the lake has inspired a number of my compositions." D’Angelo enjoys taking work with him when he sails. With no phones or other distractions, he finds himself focusing on essentials and opening up to possibilities. "It moves me to think, and not always in ways that are obvious or easy. It’s aided me in all kinds of other things I’ve done." — P.R.

The Seneca Lake series was researched and written by Dana Cooke and Peter Rolph '85 — writer/editors in the Office of College Relations. Portions of the series also appear in the Fall '97 issue of The Pulteney St. Survey. To request a copy, e-mail Susan Murad at murad@hws.edu.