“Moonrider” features a celestial-headed human figure riding a menacing creature reminiscent of a panther, its mouth defined by sharp shark-like teeth. Its body’s texture resembles a lunar landscape with craters, adding to its mystique. This sculpture’s creation was contemporaneous with Auerbach’s opera “Gogol,” where the moon is a character, imbuing “Moonrider” with additional layers of symbolic meaning.

In Auerbach’s life, “Moonrider” has taken on a role akin to a protective gargoyle. Positioned above her bed for many years, it served as a silent guardian, reflecting the themes of protection found in her children’s poem, which inspired her Symphony No. 3, “The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie”:

In the manner of the gargoyles adorning Gothic cathedrals, “Moonrider” emerges as a ferocious guardian, a vigilant sentinel at the entrance to the subconscious. It attests to Auerbach’s skill in blending visual art, literary motifs, and musical composition into a cohesive and evocative expression of creativity and imagination. It embodies the convergence of the mythical and the real, a creative quest that encourages us to probe our connection with the obscure, the mystical, and the unknown.

“Moon Rider” stands as a multifaceted symbol at the intersection of Auerbach’s creative pursuits, marking itself as more than a sculpture; it’s a complex narrative and a bridge between the seen and the unseen, the conscious and the subconscious.