"Now my charms are all o’erthrown,
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The second half of the piece is a variation of the first half, meant to convey the ultimate unification of Prospero’s passions as he succumbs to the audience’s mercy. The repetition of the first motif with a lower bass now gives it a firmer quality, which begins to associate Prospero’s magical nature with his human nature. The smooth transition into the repetition of the second motif by means of a key change from G minor to E♭ minor not only sheds light on the idea that, as divided as Prospero’s identity might be, he is still one character, but it also bolsters his human part, making it his final destination. As the piece heads toward finalization, we return to a softer tone and a nostalgic mood, which terminates in a melodic reminder that Prospero’s ending is not necessarily a satisfactory one given the loss of his powers and his practical enslavement to the audience: to the role of the artist. This idea is more clearly conveyed by the last chord, D♭ major, which is not the dominant and thus gives an uncomfortable yet happy resolution to the piece. That said, as much as the piece might capture Prospero’s character, through my experience behind composing this piece I realized certain features remain unknown about Prospero. The process of composing this piece was very intuitive, to the point where many parts came out naturally in an improvisational manner though without losing structure. This made me realize that there always exists a barrier between the reader and the text, between the author and their created characters, between the artist and the art; there is a certain unknowable mysticism in art that is based entirely on mere accidents, which makes art particularly enjoyable, as is the experience of reading The Tempest and trying to decode a world of fiction. I find this quality to be especially significant in music, where the interpretation of a piece largely relies on personal experience. In the end, by translating Prospero into music, he has acquired a special bond to the listener but lost literary definition…whether that’s an advantage or disadvantage is up to the reader to judge.