VIDEO: NY Philharmonic Performs Julius Eastman's Symphony No. II

This is a story about love lost. During Black History Month we highlight Julius Eastman, who wrote his last known large-scale work, Symphony No. II - "The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend's Love for the Beloved," during the process of a breakup. After he finished the piece, he presented the handwritten score to his beloved, who tucked it away in a drawer for decades.

The inscription on the score reads:

"On Tuesday, Main and Chestnut at 19 o'clock, The Faithful Friend and his Beloved Friend decided to meet. On Monday the day before, Christ came, just as it was foretold.
Some went up on the right, and some went down on the left. Trumpets did sound (a little sharp), and electric violins did play (a little flat). A most terrible sound. And in the twinkling of an eye the Earth vanished and was no more. But on Tuesday, the day after on Main and Chestnut at 19 o'clock, there stood the Lover Friend and his Beloved Friend, just as they had planned, embracing one another."