In 1973 Daniel J Hay (1957- ) asked Debra Ridge, a childhood friend and Oboist, for an Oboe theme to be used as the voice of a hermit against a string orchestra representing society. Ms. Ridge provided a 12-tone melody that Mr. Hay used to write "The Hermit" as a commentary that is both liltingly gay and darkly somber. Once the draft score was completed Mr. Hay sent the handwritten score to Ms. Ridge and then it got misplaced. Several years later Daniel got the score back, but then the score got buried by life in general where it remained for the remainder of 35 years.

Having moved a dozen times in the interim, and having lost most belongings in the Katrina flooding Daniel was surprised to find the score safely tucked away. He immediately compiled the score in Finale Allegro 2007 and was able to hear the program music played back for the first time. "It is as near to my recall as being what I intended. For playability, several new measures were added, and a few corrections to note durations were made."

Daniel states that the piece is almost pristine as is the refound original handwritten score. Daniel J Hay is a composer for Recorder music, other solo orchestral instruments, and chamber music arrangements. Mr. Hay also performs his compositions on recorders most notably on Soprano and G-Alto "Ganassi" Recorders made by Bodil Diesen of Norway. (www.bodildiesen.no[/i})

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