Stellarium (2021) by Michael Rosin published on 2022-10-18T12:23:54Z My fascination with astronomy is as old as my fascination with music. I have been a stargazer most of my life, however, finding a large area without light pollution for extended periods of time always proves to be difficult. My wife and I finally bought a house on the southern shores of New Jersey at the end of 2020. On a quiet half-acre, the night sky illuminates beautifully every time it’s clear; never before have I had so much freedom to explore my other passion. I composed this orchestral work last summer that is not only about stargazing, but the philosophies and thought processes that come from it—the initial awe and fascination that never ceases, the gradual appearances of new stars as our eyes adjust to the dark, the classic “why are we here?” and finally, the exhilarating and intimidating realization that we are staring at infinity, yet totally absorbed in a quiet, self-contained moment. What first starts as an exploration of objects millions of light years away, concludes with the discovery that the universe is as much inside of us as it is outside of us. May that realm of Spacetime be relayed in this piece; this is how I hear the music of the stars. Stellarium is also the name of a fantastic computer program for viewing the night sky. Although inspiring, to be sure, this is not what inspired the title of my piece. Stellarium refers to the stars, the word deriving from Latin, like planetarium. Genre Classical