Hallucinations, for solo viola, was composed in 1997 while residing at the American Academy in Rome, Italy. The work’s four movements explore an unfolding relationship to the title, from the frenzied, almost violent character of the opening two movements, to the third movement’s dreamlike, distorted vision of a Bach dance, to the final movement’s internalized hallucination of memory: an elegy to the late violist Walter Trampler. The work as a whole also was conceived as a kind of etude for the bow arm- inspired by Trampler’s own physical mastery of the bow and technical skill I often witnessed at his concert performances. Hallucinations was composed for violist David Quiggle (one of Trampler’s last students) and premiered by him in 1998 at the American Academy in Rome.