This piece has no action or lyrics, and is played and sung during total stage darkness. It is the longest single piece of music I have ever written, and it is intended that the audience simply sits back, reflects, and enjoys.

A chorus of angels wordlessly sings, as the spirit-woman did in the song “Grace”, their profound joy in this suite of various styles of song. It is their hymn of worship and thanksgiving to their Creator. “Home” in the title refers to Heaven.

Download “Home Suite” score

This scene takes place in the boyfriend’s parents’ living room. I chose a ‘Slow Rock’ style for this piece, which is played without any singing most of the way through. Musically based on her opening sung theme at the beginning of the opera, in “Advice”, this song is a tribute to the young woman after her death.

The boyfriend silently mimes a conversation he is having with his parents, who frequently respond by nodding in agreement. No words are needed, because we can plainly see what is occurring: He is reading from a Bible while they follow along, and then explaining the meanings behind certain verses to them.

We’ve witnessed his parents objecting strongly and openly to Christianity in the past, so we know that something has definitely changed in their thinking, since they now listen appreciatively.

At the end of this scene, the parents and their son bow their heads together in prayer. At the end of this prayer, two overhead spotlights shine down upon the parents — one upon each of them — symbolizing that, since they truly meant their prayers of repentance, they have now received God’s free gift of eternal Salvation, and will surely enter Heaven.

Download “Goodbye Good Girl, and Thanks” score

In this scene, our protagonist dies. The young woman is first seen on her hospital bed, barely clinging to life. Alone in her room, she soon stretches her hand up toward Heaven, and gives a weak-voiced, one-word prayer — all that she can manage — a plea for her boyfriend’s parents.

Simultaneously, but off to the side of the stage and in an otherworldly environment, her boyfriend’s parents are standing still and wearing blindfolds, demons surrounding them. Yet the parents don’t seem afraid. If anything, they look quite relaxed and contented, standing rather casually instead of rigidly, clearly not noticing.

On the opposite side of the stage, by himself, the boyfriend is on his knees, praying. As soon as he begins to pray, the demons cease their threatening advance toward his parents, look upward apprehensively, and then glare toward where the young woman is.

Both side-scenes are then darkened, and we once again can see only the young woman in her room. She now begins to have difficulty breathing. She turns her head toward the audience. Then, she is gone.

Download “A Prayer” score

The word which best describes this scene and its music is “ethereal”. More than any except for this opera’s ending scene, “Grace” is all about the visuals. We see a veiled figure, dressed in all white, and standing in the midst of half-lit, dusky but beautiful clouds, billowing and flowing all around her in pastel shades.

We cannot make out her face, due to the strange veil over it, but the voice is the most clear and beautiful we hear in the entire opera. She sings no words, but only vocalizes the notes. This is meant to represent the spiritual language of angels, since we do not know what that language sounds like.

The amazing voice we hear is provided by a special singer — a coloratura soprano — who is required for this song, and for this song alone.

This scene is an aside. It does not happen in time, or on Earth. It is metaphor, and exists for its beauty, which illustrates the character of the young woman.

Download “Grace” score

The scene is a college campus, outdoors. The boyfriend, sitting alone, has his head in a textbook. Along comes a flirtatious blonde female student — the very girl his parents mentioned in “Advice” as an alternative to his current girlfriend. The flirtatious student plops down next to her crush, startling him. She playfully asks what he’s doing, and after he tells her he’s studying for a science exam, she asks him out on a casual date.

He confesses that he already has a girlfriend, at which point she stands back up, still smiling, and hints that her offer remains open anyway. She then blithely skips away, leaving him shaking his head dismissively before resuming his studies.

The music during his initial studying is intentionally stiff and formal in style. I sought here to reflect my own impressions of school.

Download “School” score

This is a very joyous piece. A celebratory yet light-and-quick polyphonic coronation trumpets the entrance of the former prostitute into Heaven, at the gates of which she is greeted by the angel with the Book.

As she approaches the angel, the spotlight that shone down from directly over her in “Life For Ever After” follows her, symbolizing and celebrating her sanctification.

As he did twice before, the angel looks scrupulously inside the Book. He then smiles broadly at her, and brings both of the Book’s covers together at once, so that it closes vertically.

All the stage lights turn off the instant the Book is closed, and the opera is over.

Download “Finale” score

This blissful dance piece begins as a new scene with new characters: four friends of our protagonist. During a complex waltz, they sing about how wonderful their lives are, and about how having friends is the ultimate fulfillment in and meaning of life. The setting itself is unspecified, but should probably be a picturesque outdoor clearing on a beautiful summer’s day. This is a very elaborate and graceful piece which offers a sense of sublime victory, while at the same time subversively poking a little fun at their simplistic credo.

Download “The Friendship Waltz” score