Lacrymosa was commissioned by and written for MirrorImage, Lisa Bontrager and Michelle Stebleton, with support from the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at the Pennsylvania State University. The work is characterized by an overall sense of profound sorrow and draws some of its inspiration from the Poulenc Elegie for horn and piano. Lacrymosa was written between February 3rd and March 26th, 2002 in Gainesville, Florida and Nairobi, Kenya.
Paul Basler (b. 1963, Milwaukee), 1993–94 Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Music at Kenyatta University (Nairobi, Kenya), 1995–96 University of Florida Teacher of the Year and the 2001–03 College of Fine Arts University of Florida Research Foundation Professor is currently an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Florida. He taught at Western Carolina University for four years and, prior to coming to WCU, was the North Carolina Visiting Artist in Residence at Caldwell Community College. He received his BM degree magna cum laude from the Florida State University, MM, MA, and DMA degrees from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and has received teaching awards and citations from the University of Florida College of Fine Arts, SUNY-Stony Brook, Western Carolina University, Kenyatta University and the Kenya Office of the President/Permanent Music Commission.
Basler is resident hornist for the annual Composers Conference in Boston and has performed as guest artist at numerous International Horn Society Workshops and the St. Petersburg International Chamber Music Festival in Russia. Basler has been a member of the Charleston, Greenville, Asheville, Tallahassee and Gainesville Symphonies, and continues to maintain a busy performing schedule throughout the United States and abroad, having premiered over 120 works written for him in the past seven years. He also has received two American Cultural Affairs Specialist Grants from the U.S. Department of State and is currently a Visiting Artist in Residence with the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Culture and the National Conservatory of Music. Basler’s horn teachers have included William Purvis, William Capps and Barry Benjamin and his composition teachers have been John Boda, John Downey, Bülent Arel, John Lessard and Billy Jim Layton.