The Philosopher's Stone
(1995) 8:00
(Wind Band: pc2,2,eb 3 bcl,2, 2atb sx/4,4,3,euph,tb,6 perc.)
Commissioned by the South Shore Conservatory to Celebrate its' Twenty-fifth Anniversary
Level: Advanced high school/college
This composition sings the praises of the South Shore Conservatory on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, 1970-1995. The title refers to the medieval Philosopher's Stone, an imaginary substance sought for by alchemists in the belief that it would transform base metals into silver or gold. The compositional techniques used herein show great concern for the properties of numbers, symmetry and symbols, much in line with the concerns of the medieval alchemists. The specific compositional technique employed here is soggetto cavato (carved subject), the sixteenth century practice of carving a musical subject out of the vowels (and even consonants in this piece) of a title or sentence and transforming them into a melody by means of the solmization syllables of the Gui donian hexachord (or German/ Latin nomenclature). Using this technique and other number/ pitch equivalence formulas, the following secrets are contained in the music:
(1995) 8:00
(Wind Band: pc2,2,eb 3 bcl,2, 2atb sx/4,4,3,euph,tb,6 perc.)
Commissioned by the South Shore Conservatory to Celebrate its' Twenty-fifth Anniversary
Level: Advanced high school/college
This composition sings the praises of the South Shore Conservatory on the occasion of its twenty-fifth anniversary, 1970-1995. The title refers to the medieval Philosopher's Stone, an imaginary substance sought for by alchemists in the belief that it would transform base metals into silver or gold. The compositional techniques used herein show great concern for the properties of numbers, symmetry and symbols, much in line with the concerns of the medieval alchemists. The specific compositional technique employed here is soggetto cavato (carved subject), the sixteenth century practice of carving a musical subject out of the vowels (and even consonants in this piece) of a title or sentence and transforming them into a melody by means of the solmization syllables of the Gui donian hexachord (or German/ Latin nomenclature). Using this technique and other number/ pitch equivalence formulas, the following secrets are contained in the music:
|
Title
South Shore Conservatory 25 (years) 1970 1995 Silver Gold |
Anagram System
SSC 2 & 5 Chemical Symbol AG Chemical Symbol AU |
Pitch Equivalence
German Nomenclature- S=Eb Eb Eb C Scale Degrees fixed do; 2 and 5 D, G Scales degrees, fixed do;1,9,7,0 C, D, B, C Scales degrees, fixed do; 1, 9, 9, 5 C, D, D, G Periodic Table of Elements AG Periodic Table of Elements/ Latin Nomenclature - Ut=CAC |
In addition, the Silver Bells motive from the carol, Canticle of the Bells, is used in transposition to form the contrapuntal background to the other motives from mm. 17-40 and mm. 110-117.
The composition appears as a rough rounded binary form. The first section from mm. 1-41 serves to present all of the carved subject motives. This section is briefly recapitulated at the end, from mm. 110-119. Both the first and third section stand as tribute to the 25th-year anniversary.
The middle section reflects the state of the country when theConservatory was founded in 1970 (a year that saw the escalation of the Viet Nam war, the Kent State killings, and tremendous societal upheaval). Here again the composer relies on ancient compositional techniques. The simple melody presented by the woodwinds (mm. 48-56) is the ancient folk tune, L'Homme Armé, The Armed Man. The words that accompanied this simple tune translated from Medieval French as: The armed man is to be feared; everywhere it has been proclaimed that everyone should arm himself with a iron coat of mail. Its presence here represents the martial atmosphere of the United States in 1970. Mimicking the overall form of the entire composition, this middle section is in three parts the first two being instrumental settings of L'Homme Armé. The third part contains the setting of L'Homme Armé as the cantus firmus (tenor) sung by band members. Around this cantus firmus are three contrapuntal lines drawn from a Latin Mass by Guillaume Dufay - specifically the Agnus Dei. The original Latin words accompanying this section were: Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere (nobis) Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy (on us). Thus, the most popular war hymn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is transformed into the basis for a plea to God for mercy and peace. (The music is written so as to allow for four different combinations of instruments with the voice cantus firmus, which aligns with the Medieval practice of writing music for voices without specifying instruments other than by range or tessitura.)
The carved subjects identified above appear throughout the work; there is one in particular that has not been identified (a tribute to the conductor of the premiere performance, Malcolm Rowell). One might have fun trying to trace the metal motives throughout, SilverAG; GoldAU (AC), and those silvery sections where the silver and gold mallet instruments are used to produce an instrumental glitter.
Available from Ludwig Music
The composition appears as a rough rounded binary form. The first section from mm. 1-41 serves to present all of the carved subject motives. This section is briefly recapitulated at the end, from mm. 110-119. Both the first and third section stand as tribute to the 25th-year anniversary.
The middle section reflects the state of the country when theConservatory was founded in 1970 (a year that saw the escalation of the Viet Nam war, the Kent State killings, and tremendous societal upheaval). Here again the composer relies on ancient compositional techniques. The simple melody presented by the woodwinds (mm. 48-56) is the ancient folk tune, L'Homme Armé, The Armed Man. The words that accompanied this simple tune translated from Medieval French as: The armed man is to be feared; everywhere it has been proclaimed that everyone should arm himself with a iron coat of mail. Its presence here represents the martial atmosphere of the United States in 1970. Mimicking the overall form of the entire composition, this middle section is in three parts the first two being instrumental settings of L'Homme Armé. The third part contains the setting of L'Homme Armé as the cantus firmus (tenor) sung by band members. Around this cantus firmus are three contrapuntal lines drawn from a Latin Mass by Guillaume Dufay - specifically the Agnus Dei. The original Latin words accompanying this section were: Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere (nobis) Lamb of God that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy (on us). Thus, the most popular war hymn of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries is transformed into the basis for a plea to God for mercy and peace. (The music is written so as to allow for four different combinations of instruments with the voice cantus firmus, which aligns with the Medieval practice of writing music for voices without specifying instruments other than by range or tessitura.)
The carved subjects identified above appear throughout the work; there is one in particular that has not been identified (a tribute to the conductor of the premiere performance, Malcolm Rowell). One might have fun trying to trace the metal motives throughout, SilverAG; GoldAU (AC), and those silvery sections where the silver and gold mallet instruments are used to produce an instrumental glitter.
Available from Ludwig Music