Commissioned by the BBC Singers for mixed voices a cappella. It is a mocking self-deprecatory portrait written in 1981. In this piece a distraught composer moans as he sits in front of a blank page with an empty head. A flybuzzes around and he calls out to his neighbors and his dog for comfort. Gian-Carlo Menotti's piece effectively conveyed the feeling you get when doing something extremely difficult like writing a law school application essay or trying to compose the perfect piece of music.
