"A composer recounts a dream from his youth that inspired the slow movement of his first string quartet, Prayer of the Sea. The dream, depicting a peaceful dissolution into the sea and wind, symbolized his future death. Decades later, rediscovering a drawing from the quartet's premiere - perfectly capturing the dream’s essence - revived its emotions. Now older, he reflects on the dream’s message: a serene acceptance of life’s inevitable end.

Prayer of the Sea is an audiovisual elegy offering a calm perspective on the universal experience of passing."

As a music composer, I occasionally dream of complete compositions. When I wake up, I simply write them down. When I was about 20 years old, I dreamt of such a piece for a string quartet. In the dream, I was standing in the surf of a cold sea, facing north. Then, I dissolved into the wind and the sea. It was clear that the dream symbolized my own death in the future. Yet, there was nothing sad about it; it felt good and liberating. It was like a vision, a gentle prophecy.

The entire dream was accompanied by calm string sounds, which I wrote down upon waking. I called it Prayer of the Sea. The music became the slow movement of my first string quartet.

At the premiere of the string quartet, a man in the audience made a small drawing during the performance. I didn’t know him, but after the performance, he gave me the drawing. To my surprise, he had captured the essence of my dream in his art.
Now, many years later, I stumbled upon that drawing again by chance. The feelings from the dream came flooding back. I am much older now – more than 30 years have passed. I feel as though I am getting closer to understanding the message of the dream.

This led me to reflect: on one hand, I wanted to bring closure to the dream’s experience and sensation for myself; on the other, I hoped to make it emotionally tangible for others – a calm perspective on what lies ahead for us all. The calmness of a gentle passing, something we can only hope to experience one day.

Prayer of the Sea is an audiovisual elegy offering a calm perspective on the universal experience of passing.