This composition is a character portrait that takes as its point of departure a psychological condition known as psychogenic fugue. It need not be construed as fugal in any musicological sense. It was composed in September 2004, though the themes were conceived some weeks earlier.
Like my Clavierübung (2003), the musical setting is expressly intended to be equally idiomatic to the piano, organ, and harpsichord. In form and spirit, however, this composition may best be perceived as a succession of "versets" in the manner of many 16th- and 17th-century organ collections. Here, each verset runs about 24 measures, and each represents a different example within the old major-minor key system of antique musical practice.
—Frank Morana
300.13 Psychogenic Fugue. The essential feature of this disorder is sudden, unexpected travel away from home or customary work locale with assumption of a new identity and an inability to recall one's previous identity. Perplexity and disorientation may occur. Following recovery, there is no recollection of events that took place during the fugue.
In some cases the disorder may be manifested by the assumption of a completely new identity during the fugue, usually marked by more gregarious and uninhibited traits than characterized the former personality, which typically is quiet and altogether ordinary. In such cases, the person may give himself or herself a new name, take up a new residence, and engage in complex social activities that are well integrated and do not suggest the presence of a mental disorder. In most cases, however, the fugue is less elaborate, and consists of little more than brief, apparently purposeful travel. Social contacts in these cases are minimal or even avoided; the new identity, although present, is incomplete. Occasionally there are outbursts of violence against property or another person. In all cases of fugue, however, the person's travel and behavior must appear more purposeful than the confused wandering that may be seen in Psychogenic Amnesia. (Diagnostic Statistics Manual, 3rd ed.)