The Age of Man was written for Humboldt's 2014 Brass Chamber Music Workshop competition and has a number of similarities to the piece submitted for the 2013 competition (Of Kings and Queens). Though they differ in concept and musical ideas, they are very similar in style, the instrumentation is only slightly different, and both pieces were written very quickly, this one in just two weeks. With the deadline rapidly approaching there was little time to "soak up" the music, something sometimes needed to help refine and smooth a piece. If I continue submitting to BCMW I will need to take more time to produce something that really has a good chance. Nevertheless, this has turned out to be some fun music.

The work is in three movements and roughly describes Christian Thomsen's archeological system of early human history. "The Stone Age" presents a somewhat hardened and irregular way of life with all its dangers and uncertainties. In "The Bronze Age" we see a vision of the artistic side of man in its early stages, still not highly refined, but with the promise of the future a reality. "The Iron Age" is almost mechanical in its rhythmic foundation, with the elements of both warfare and material progress engaged in the development of civilization.