Noctuae carmina
for viola and piano

This work, like most of my compositions, was inspired by a vague poetic idea: The Little Owl, alias Lilith, alias Noctua, is the bird sacred to Athene, goddess of wisdom and guardian deity of ancient Athens. The Noctuae stares at us across the centuries from the battered faces of Athenian coins - a faint echo of that city's past greatness. As Lilith she is the Devil's consort, haunting by night deserted places and preying upon feeble human souls. Indeed, the plaintive cooing of the Little Owl may be heard throughout summer nights in and around human dwellings, lamenting, as it were, the folly and suffering of Man. But the little bird, being very wise, knows that dawn is sure to come, so eventually she stops her cooing and falls asleep, while Man is startled from his bed by the shrill sound of the alarm clock. Of course, the music has nothing much to do with all this. The real incentive to compose another piece for viola came from Rivka Colani's art and from her husband, the great viola-maker Otto Erdesz, who had lent me one of his excellent instruments. Indeed, even those clumsy fingers of mine were able to elicit out of Otto's viola enough magic to get me started. Yehezkel Braun