I have always had a fascination with the short story medium as a vehicle for horror, and no author on the topic was nearly as influential as Edgar Allan Poe. Poe lived his whole life in the United States through the first half of the 19th century, with his life becoming shrouded in legend. Numerous stories swirl around the man, trying to ascertain whether his stories were purely his creation or a wretched account of his experiences. Either way, Poe’s ability to convey such grotesque and horrifying tales is unmatched. I sought to capture the mood of five Poe stories in varying degrees of detail throughout this piece.

Each movement is dedicated to one story (with the exception of movements 2 and 6, which tell two halves of the same story), and conveys the general mood of the story as well as a specific scene from each. The intense and foreboding language of the stories are reflected through an equally intense and overwhelming musical language, fraught with sharp dissonances, harsh articulations, and crushing dynamics, all employed to emulate the horror genre. I also write this piece as a love letter of sorts to the short story as an art form, as musical miniatures can be just as compelling of a narrative.