Bray: Black Rainbow

Charlotte Bray (b. 1982)

Black Rainbow


A moonbow or “black rainbow” is a rarely-observed phenomenon. It occurs when moonlight is refracted through moisture in the air. It is not only rarely-occurring, but rarely seen. When one does appear the low light levels and muted colours produced make it difficult to see.


The close, humid atmosphere of New Hampshire in summer provides good conditions for a black rainbow to appear. It was there that Charlotte Bray found the inspiration for her orchestral work Black Rainbow, when she spent time at the MacDowell Colony in 2013. The Colony was established in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, wife of the composer Edward MacDowell. Many composers have been awarded fellowships to stay there, including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein and Ruth Crawford-Seeger. In the 1920s an amphitheatre was constructed. This remarkable structure is a recreation of the similar spaces found in Greece where the works of Ancient Greek dramatists were performed.


Black Rainbow was commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra for their Youth Orchestra and first performed in 2014, continuing a connection with the city that stretches back to Bray’s student days. In it Bray imagines scenes played out at the amphitheatre. The black rainbow of the title is “a metaphor for something sought after but impossible to attain, an alluring ongoing search.” The piece is in two parts: “The first movement is dark and ritualistic. It’s mid summer and the air is tight, uncomfortable. The light grey, purple almost. The second is fleeting, sensual; time is suspended, a dream-like state.”