Program Notes
[A Man, A Plan, A Canal - Panama] [Adrian's Dream] [An Exaltation of Larks] [An Often Fatal Malady] [Band Piece (Chromatic Fantasy)] [Bassed On] [Double Exposure] [Extremities (Quintet III)] [Extremities II (Quintet V)] [Fat Piece] [Final Days] [Fragile Lady] [Impacted Crystal Cries] [In That Cold Place] [In the Light of Present Reality] [The Jewish Cemetery At Newport] [Jumbled Mirrors] [Lady Mondegreen's Dances] [Lady Mondegreen Sings the Blues] [Lady Mondegreen Bangs the Can!] ["...the limit of the flame..."] [Of the Wing of Madness] [Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction or The Fatal Gazogene] [Preludes] [Reflections] [Serenade and Capriccio] [Sonata for Solo Viola]
A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL - PANAMA
by
Bruce J. Taub
A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL - PANAMA is a series of four North/South Palindromes written for Max Lifchitz and his ensemble, North/South Consonance. Like the title, each piece is a musical palindrome that has a chromatic ostinato as an accompaniment (keyboards and/or harps). Panama, of course, is the country on the isthmus that separates the North and South American continents. Nos. I and II are being premiered this evening. Nos. III and IV are for string and wind ensembles respectively. I am grateful to Max and North/South Consonance for having premiered a number of my pieces over the years - FRAGILE LADY and TOCCATA, and now, A MAN, A PLAN, A CANAL - PANAMA.
by
Bruce J. Taub
ADRIAN’S DREAM (diabolus in musica) was written in 1996 and commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University for the New York New Music Ensemble. The title comes from the book, Doctor Faustus (The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as told by a Friend) by Thomas Mann which I had just finished reading. The interval of the tritone (diablous in musica) is particularly important in this work, especially B-natural (the "offending" pitch) to F (as well as G-sharp to D, completing the diminished seventh chord). In fact, the entire piece revolves around the pitch B and the number 12 (rhythm and duration as well as pitch and techniques taken from the twelve-tone method of Schoenberg). The piece is in three sections A, B, A' with a repeat of A' followed by a brief Coda.
The following "Author’s Note" appears at the end of Doctor Faustus:
It does not seem supererogatory to inform the reader that the form of musical composition delineated in Chapter XXII, known as the twelve-tone or row system, is in truth the intellectual property of a contemporary composer and theoretician, Arnold Schönberg. I have transferred this technique in a certain ideational context to the fictitious figure of a musician, the tragic hero of my novel. In fact, the passages of this book that deal with musical theory are indebted in numerous details to Schönberg’s Harmonielehre.
Schoenberg was reportedly upset about this, but I actually found Mann’s "layman’s" explanation of the twelve-tone system or style of strict composition to be quite wonderful in many ways. Perhaps, Schoenberg simply didn’t want to be associated with the devil.
AN EXALTATION OF LARKS is a "term of venery." Examples of other such terms are: a school of fish, an ostentation of peacocks, a rascal of boys, a bon ton of French women, a no-no of nannies, a Calcutta of panhandlers, a pouf of hairdressers, a phalanx of flashers, a falsetto of transvestites, a wince of dentists, a bored of trustees, a syzygy of stars, a tumble of gymnasts, a peel of sunbathers, a spite of prima donnas, a queue of actors, "a malapropism of mondegreens" (my own), etc. It is also the title of a book by James Lipton.
Exaltation: A feeling of great or excessive joy, pride, power, etc.; elation; rapture.
Lark: A small songbird that rises high in the air and sings with a very clear note.
Thanks to Edward Gallardo and Fernwood tonight.
by
Bruce J. Taub
AN OFTEN FATAL MALADY is dedicated to Edwin London and was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, conductor. This piece is a sequel to my composition OF THE WING OF MADNESS which was premiered by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony on April 14, 1986. The title of this piece (AN OFTEN FATAL MALADY) is the same as the title of a play by Edward Gallardo, but it is not related to the play in any other way. I felt that the title was particularly evocative and appropriate since musical decisions are often determined by fate.
Composing,
Can Sometimes be
an often fatal Malady.
The piece consists of four symmetrical sections of equal length followed by a very brief coda. Each section is a developmental variation of the preceding section (including some literal repetition). The first section slowly builds to a climax by adding more and more contrapuntal voices to the texture beginning in the lowest register and expanding to include the highest. The second section begins at the climax and slowly dissipates by subtracting voices as the register contracts to only the highest. The third section, like the first, builds to a climax in the same way, but begins in the highest register and expands to include the lowest. Similarly, the fourth section dissipates (like the second) and the register contracts to only the lowest. The percussion (2 players) and the piano which is used as a percussion instrument almost entirely in this piece play rhythmic ostinatos that fade in and out at irregular intervals.
AN OFTEN FATAL MALADY was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony with funds provided by the Ohio Board of Regents Academic Challenge III program and by the Margaret Fairbank Jory Copying Assistance Program of the American Music Center, made possible through grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Jerome Foundation, and the Pew-Charitable Trusts.
Band Piece (Chromatic Fantasy)
by
Bruce J. Taub
Band Piece (Chromatic Fantasy) was written in 1981 and dedicated to composer Ross Lee Finney on his seventy-fifth birthday. It was 'inspired' by his band piece, Skating on the Sheyenne (although there are no 'musical' relationships between the two pieces). The first performance took place on February 23, 1983 at Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) by the LSU Wind Ensemble, Frank Wickes, Conductor, as part of the 18th Annual Conference of the American Society of University Composers. This performance will be the West Coast premiere.
The piece is in three sections played without pause (fast-slow-fast) and lasts about 11½ minutes. Although the language of the work is basically atonal, it does center around the pitch G-sharp. It is intended as a virtuoso piece for wind ensemble that particularly exploits large, often reiterated sonorities and 'wave-like' textures that slowly reach greater and greater climaxes. Band Piece is published by C.F. Peters Corporation, New York.
BASSED ON was written in 1998 for my friend and colleague, bassist Lisa Stokes Chin. It is based on the bass part of a piece I wrote in 1980 titled Fragile Lady for Soprano, Contrabass, Piano and Jazz Drum Set (ad libitum) to a poem by Edward Gallardo. The piece was dedicated to another bassist friend, Miss Julie Bernardo who was also a jazz singer and leader of the Julie Bernardo Trio. The poem had been written about her years earlier and when I met Mr. Gallardo we discovered that Julie was a mutual friend. The music was not meant for her to perform, however since she was a completely intuitive musician who, in fact did not even read music. Julie passed away soon after I was able to present her with a copy of the finished manuscript. Max Lifchitz and North/South Consonance premiered the piece in 1984 so it is only fitting that this version for contrabass solo is to be prmiered on this program. I had thought about writing a solo piece for quite some time and when Lisa asked me to write a piece for her I had the idea of basing it on the earlier Fragile Lady which I have always been particularly fond of for both musical and emotional reasons. The piece is meant to be very free and improvisatory in nature.
by
Bruce J. Taub
DOUBLE EXPOSURE for Viola and Violoncello was written in 1994 for my friend Karen Elaine and her sister Ellen Sanders. Although we still have not had the opportunity of meeting, I became acquainted with Karen through her wonderful performances of my SONATA FOR SOLO VIOLA. The music was given to her by a mutual friend, Marshall Bialosky. Karen then asked me to write a duet for her and Ellen who often perform together.
The piece is in three movements: fast, slow, very fast and lasts for 11-12 minutes. The first movement begins quietly with long note values and very gradually builds up by getting louder, using note values of shorter duration, expanding the register, etc. until the climax at the very end. The second movement works in the same way until it reaches its climax which, however, occurs at its structural midpoint where the process begins to reverse itself. What also differentiates it from the first movement is that the actual tempo increases and decreases. The third movement has a steady sixteenth-note pulse, but makes use of many cross-rhythms and syncopations. Unlike the first two movements, it begins very strongly and gradually winds down to its structural midpoint where it then builds to the climax of the entire work.
EXTREMITIES (Quintet III) is my second work composed for the Da Capo Chamber Players. In 1972, they premiered Quintet I (1971) at Carnegie Recital Hall. The title Extremities refers to the "extreme" contrast that exists in the composition within most of its musical Parameters (register, dynamics, timbre, etc.). Although the composition is only about twelve minutes long, its structure is "extremely" complex and contains a great deal of musical information. This is one of the reasons that certain sections (the ones that are the most dense) are repeated. The form of the composition is ABABAB. The return of each section (A and B) is varied a great deal; all of the B sections are repeated. I consider this piece to be "in F" because of the important ways in which the pitch class F is articulated and the important places where it occurs. The piece opens with octaves, four F's, which have a duration of six sixteenth-notes. In fact, this signals the start of all the A sections. The A sections are characterized by sustained notes in the winds and strings and piano arpeggios followed by octaves played in "extreme" registers. The B sections are rhythmically more disjunct because of a compositional method which alternates groups of pitches with two different but related structures. One group does not use octaves and is presented in close registral positions with its durations "stretched out," and the other uses octaves in open registral positions with its durations "condensed."
by
Bruce J. Taub
EXTREMITIES II (Quintet V) was written in 1982 and first performed at the Charles Ives Center for Contemporary Music by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, David Stock, Conductor. In 1987 it was one of the winners of the Kucyna International Composition Contest and performed at Boston University by Alea III conducted by Theodore Antoniou to whom the piece is dedicated. The piece begins with a slow introduction (piano solo) that is also used as an interlude between the two main sections of the piece and as a coda. The texture is quite dense and contrapuntal and often sets off the two winds (flute and clarinet) against the two strings (violin and cello). The piano is used for its percussive qualities in many sections where it plays reiterated chords.
by
Bruce J. Taub
FAT PIECE was written in 1975, It is in three movements and lasts about 12 minutes. It has been performed many times by various universities around the country and in Canada and is published by Music for Percussion, Inc. in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I am especially happy to have this performance at OSU since it will be the first time that I have been able to attend a performance.
The rhythms and durations are determined by a numerical sequence that is derived from the pitch material. The number seven and the pitches F-sharp and C-natural are important factors in the organization of the piece. The title is suggestive of the shape of the instruments, not necessarily the shape of the performers.
by
Bruce J. Taub
FINAL DAYS (String Quartet No. 3) was completed in February of 1988 and is dedicated to the memory of my mother, Anne Halitcher Taub, who passed away in January of that year during the time that I was writing it. There are two movements, fast and slow ("Before" and "After"), that are symmetrical and approximately the same length. The first section (or part) of the first movement slowly builds to a climax by adding the four instruments one by one beginning with the lowest register (cello solo) and expanding to include the highest (first violin). The second section begins at the climax (half-way point; extended 'pizzicato' section) and slowly dissipates by subtracting instruments one by one as the register contracts to only the highest. The second movement does the same thing, but begins with the highest register (first violin solo) and ends with the lowest (cello solo). In all of the sections, as the register expands and/or contracts, so do other musical elements or parameters such as density, rhythmic activity, etc.
by
Bruce J. Taub
FRAGILE LADY was written to a poem by Edward F. Gallardo in 1980. The poem, written years earlier, was dedicated to Miss Julie Bernardo, a brilliant jazz bass player and singer, who we discovered was a very special and close mutual friend. I was quite impressed with the poem and the ways in which it described the beautiful qualities of her extraordinary personality and the great love she showed for people-especially her friends. It was, therefore, set to music for a jazz trio with soprano (with some improvisation) and dedicated to her. Unfortunately, Julie died soon after I was able to present her with a copy of the finished manuscript.
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FRAGILE LADY
by Edward Gallardo
The dark discordant A.M. waves Pounding deafeningly against The almost non-existent shore Play defiantly upon My willfully unlistening ears.
Her white cries can be heard Loud, pained, torturous cries As she advances and is crushed Slashing at the ever yielding shore Trying to prove, Trying to save her foamy existence But retreating nevertheless, Battle weary and empty into nothingness.
For like an exiled king Who tries in one last anguished attack To retrieve his usurped crown And too, like the hollow waves Has been deposed By my fragile lady. By my queen Who cannot retreat towards the moon, Towards any semblance of salvation, So stands there tall And sings her torture with a smile.
For though she hurts And inwardly cries God help her soul if she ever Thought she hurt another.
How little life means to the dead. How much it means to the dying. How forgotten it is by the living. How much it means to me For my pained fragile lady You are my friend. |
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© 1980 by Edward F. Gallardo Used by permission of the author |
by
Bruce J. Taub
Impacted Crystal Cries (1996) was commissioned by Ensemble 21 for this concert in honor of their fifth anniversary. The title is taken from, the sixth line of a passage in Dante's Inferno that refers to the Ninth Circle:
"Tears in that cold place
prevent their weeping; grief lies
frozen on each face
in balls behind eyes:
tightening mask, ice agony,
impacted crystal cries."
In many ways this piece is a sequel to my earlier piece for violin and piano entitled In That Cold Place (the first line of the same passage) and another piece, a sextet entitled Adrian's Dream (diabolus in musica) which is also "devilish!" - the title comes from the book Doctor Faustus (The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkühn, as told by a friend) by Thomas Mann. The actual composer he had in mind was, of course, Arnold Schoenberg. All three pieces emphasize the interval of a tritone (diabolus in musica), especially B-natural (the "offending" pitch) to F (as well as G-sharp to D, completing the diminished seventh chord) and the number 12 (rhythm, durations, etc.). The piece is in four sections (a, b, a', b') followed by a brief coda. As an instrument, the violin has often been associated with the devil in music.
by
Bruce J. Taub
IN THAT COLD PLACE was written in 1993 and is dedicated to violinist, Roger Zahab. The title is taken from a passage in Dante's Inferno that refers to the Ninth Circle:
"Tears in that cold place
prevent their weeping; grief lies
frozen on each face
in balls behind eyes:
tightening mask, ice agony,
impacted crystal cries."
The piece (like the "inferno") is in the shape of a spiral in a very abstract sense, but musically can be listened to as a series of four variations in which many passages return in different contexts (literal repetitions by the violin with new accompaniment by the piano and the reverse). As an instrument, the violin has often been associated with the devil in music.
IN THE LIGHT OF PRESENT REALITY
IN THE LIGHT OF PRESENT REALITY was written for the Trio Maurice Duruflé (Magali Goimard, Piano; Rudolph Sulzenbacher, Viola; Jérome van Wynsberge, Flute)
I first met pianist, Magali Goimard in 1996 when she and composer, Simon Bertrand visited the offices of C.F. Peters Corporation (Music Publishers) in New York where I am Editor in Chief. They were looking for some contemporary American music that the Trio Maurice Duruflé could perform on upcoming concerts; music by John Cage, Milton Babbitt and Louise Talma (who, incidentally was born in Arcachon, France and studied with Boulanger at Fontainebleau where she later taught). We seemed to become friends almost immediately and I gave her a copy of my Preludes (12) for piano. I soon learned that the trio was planning a New York debut recital at the Renee Weiler Concert Hall (Greenwich House Music School) and that Magali would be performing two of my preludes. I was, of course delighted by the news and later met the other members of the trio, Rudolph and Jérome. After the performance, they asked me to write something new for the trio that they might premiere in Paris. I was equally delighted by this prospect having heard their exceptional performances of new music at that concert. I began planning a piece for them and finished writing In the Light of Present Reality in 1998.
This new piece is very closely related on a deep structural level to a piece written just before it, commissioned by the Empyrean Ensemble (University of California, Davis; Ross Bauer, Music Director) entitled "…the limit of the flame…" (Piano Quartet)(1997) which also has a French connection. The title of that piece was taken from what Gaston Bachelard in his book, The Psychoanalysis of Fire describes as an "intuition" by Auguste Rodin that was brought to my attention by my dear friend, Stephen Fisher former President of C.F. Peters Corporation and great admirer of French art and philosophy: "Each thing is merely the limit of the flame to which it owes its existence." The actual music is only abstractly related to this idea in the sense of (what I find to be) its profound meaning with respect to the act of artistic creation and the meaning of art and the same could be said about this new piece
Strangely enough, the title of this new piece comes from a memo written by Stephen Fisher in which we were asked to question our tacit assumptions about music in the light of present reality. The piece is in three movements in a traditional fast - slow - fast(er) relationship although it is really divided into two parts since the first movement is the most substantial and is as long as the second two movements combined. Although the piece is non-tonal, it is quite pitch-centric (as are most of my pieces) and can be described as being "on" A. In addition, as in most of my pieces there is a direct correlation between certain important pitches and specific rhythms and/or duration.
C'est après avoir entendu et apprécié le trio Duruflé lors d'un concert à New York que je décidé de composer "in the light of present reality". Cette pièce est très proche par sa structure d'une pièce composée juste auparvant "...the limit of the flame...": quatuor avec piano commandé par The Empyrean Ensemble. La pièce est construite dans la forme traditionelle de trois mouvements (rapide-lent-plus rapide). Le premier mouvement le plus conséquent, est d'une durée égale aux deux mouvements réunis. Bien que la pièce soit atonale, elle est centrée autour d'une note polaire - comme la plupart de mes pièce - et peut-être définie comme étant (LA). De plus il existe une directe corrélation entre certaines notes, accents et durées.
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
by
Bruce J. Taub
This setting of The Jewish Cemetery at Newport by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was written in 1994 for soprano, Cheryl Marshall for use in her masterclass group (VOX NUVO, Contemporary American Voices) of which I was a participating composer. I began looking for a text to set in 1992 and finally came across this somewhat obscure poem by Longfellow. One of the reasons it took me so long to find an appropriate text was that I did not want to write a "song" for her, but rather something more dramatic in order to take advantage of all of her talents. Although many modern literary critics seem to find Longfellow "sentimental," this poem is certainly not. I was deeply affected by this poem about the plight of the Jewish people throughout history because of my ancestry and the use of the two words "never" and "again" in the last line of the poem. This piece is dedicated to the family I never met who were shot and buried in a mass grave when the Nazis invaded Husiyatin, Poland on July 6, 1941.
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
How strange it seems! These Hebrews in their graves,
Close by the street of this fair seaport town,
Silent beside the never-silent waves,
At rest in all this moving up and down!
The trees are white with dust, that o’er their sleep
Wave their broad curtains in the southwind’s breath,
While underneath these leafy tents they keep
The long, mysterious Exodus of Death.
And these sepulchral stones, so old and brown,
That pave with level flags their burial place,
Seem like the tablets of the Law, thrown down
And broken by Moses at the mountain’s base.
The very names recorded here are strange,
Of foreign accent, and of different climes;
Alvares and Rivera interchange
With Abraham and Jacob of old times.
"Blessed be God! for he created Death!"
The mourners said, "and Death is rest and peace;"
Then added, in the certainty of faith,
"And giveth Life that nevermore shall cease."
Closed are the portals of their Synagogue,
No Psalms of David now the silence break,
No Rabbi reads the ancient Decalogue
In the grand dialect the Prophets spake.
Gone are the living, but the dead remain,
And not neglected; for a hand unseen,
Scattering its bounty, like a summer rain,
Still keeps their graves and their remembrance green.
How came they here? What burst of Christian hate,
What persecution, merciless and blind,
Drove o’er the sea-that desert desolate-
These Ishmaels and Hagars of mankind?
They lived in narrow streets and lanes obscure,
Ghetto and Judenstrass, in mirk and mire;
Taught in the school of patience to endure
The life of anguish and the death of fire.
All their lives long, with the unleavened bread
And bitter herbs of exile and its fears,
The wasting famine of the heart they fed,
And slaked its thirst with marah of their tears.
Anathema maranatha! was the cry
That rang from town to town, from street to street;
At every gate the accursed Mordecai
Was mocked and jeered, and spurned by Christian feet.
Pride and humiliation hand in hand
Walked with them through the world where’er they went;
Trampled and beaten were they as the sand,
And yet unshaken as the continent.
For in the background figures vague and vast
Of patriarchs and of prophets rose sublime,
And all the great traditions of the Past
They saw reflected in the coming time.
And thus forever with reverted look
The mystic volume of the world they read,
Spelling it backward, like a Hebrew book,
Till life became a Legend of the Dead.
But ah! what once has been shall be no more!
The groaning earth in travail and in pain
Brings forth its races, but does not restore,
And the dead nations never rise again.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
by
Bruce J. Taub
JUMBLED MIRRORS for Saxophone Quartet was completed in the fall of 1992. The title is taken from a line in the novel "The House of the Spirits" by Isabel Allende who often uses images involving mirrors and kaleidoscopes (sometimes broken or 'jumbled') in her novels and stories. As the title suggests, the four saxophones often 'mirror' one another in many different ways during the course of the piece. Some of the musical material is related to my previous composition, REFLECTIONS which is for piano trio. JUMBLED MIRRORS is in two parts; an extended fast movement followed by a relatively short slow movement (played without pause) that acts as a kind of coda.
by
Bruce J. Taub
A mondegreen is a word that is construed as it is actually heard, not as the speaker intends it to be heard. Coined by Sylvia Wright in 1954 (Harper's), the word refers to the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray" and how she recited it as a child: "They hae slain the Earl Amurray,/And Lady Mondegreen." William Safire explains that the damsel bleeding loyally beside the slain Earl was in her romantic imagination and that the last line was written "and laid him on the Green."
I read about this just as I was beginning work on a piece that was to be a set of three dance-like movements for six instruments and thought that in music mondegreens occur almost naturally and much of the time. The three movements are played without pause (actually, they overlap) and the piece is symmetrical. The first and third movements are in the same meter and tempo, and also share musical material. The percussionist plays only the vibraphone in the middle movement; the drums are used in the first and third movements.
LADY MONDEGREEN SINGS THE BLUES
by
Bruce J. Taub
LADY MONDEGREEN SINGS THE BLUES was written during the spring and summer of 1995 and is dedicated to Edwin London who asked me to write a piece for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. I decided to compose a piece that would feature the wind players and percussion (including piano) and not include the strings. It is the third piece of mine that he has premiered and I am very grateful for his support of my work over the years. The first piece was ON THE WING OF MADNESS (1986) and the second, AN OFTEN FATAL MALADY (1991) which was also commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.
This new work shares a lot of similar musical material with a piece I wrote in 1994 entitled LADY MONDEGREEN'S DANCES (a sextet) and is, therefore, in some ways a sequel to it. My friend and colleague, Hayes Biggs said (intended as a joke), "Why don't you call it LADY MONDEGREEN SINGS THE BLUES? So, I did. At first, I thought that the title was too outrageous, but it began to make a lot of sense to me. Let me explain:
A mondegreen is a word that is construed as it is actually heard, not as the speaker intends it to be heard. Coined by Sylvia Wright in 1954 (Harper's), the word refers to the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray" and how she recited it as a child: "They hae slain the Earl Amurray,/And Lady Mondegreen." The damsel bleeding loyally beside the slain Earl was in her romantic imagination and the last line was actually written "and laid him on the Green." After reading an article about this by William Safire in the New York Times, it occurred to me that mondegreens happen quite naturally in music all of the time; that everyone hears a piece of music quite differently.
The title also made a lot of sense to me for a piece dedicated to Ed London because of his jazz background and especially because many of his own titles are mondegreens. The series PSALM OF THESE DAYS (I - V) came to mind immediately.
The piece is in three sections played without pause and is symmetrical. The first and third are in the same meter and tempo and also share musical material. The percussionists play mallet instruments only in the middle section using the drums only in the first and third. The percussion (with the piano) often play quite independently from the rest of the ensemble (actually in different meters) and you often get the feeling that they are playing at different speeds.
LADY MONDEGREEN BANGS THE CAN!
By
Bruce J. Taub
LADY MONDEGREEN BANGS THE CAN! was written during the spring and summer, of 1996. This new piece shares a lot of similar musical material with its two prequels: LADY MONDEGREEN'S DANCES which is a sextet for "pierrot" ensemble plus percussion, and LADY MONDEGREEN SINGS THE BLUES which is for Winds, Percussion and Piano and was commissioned by the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Edwin London, Conductor.
Lady Mondegreen does not exist. A mondegreen is a word or phrase that is construed as it is actually heard, not as the speaker intends it to be heard. Coined by Sylvia Wright in 1954 (Harper's), the word refers to the Scottish Ballad "The Bonny Earl of Murray" and how she recited it as a child: "They hae slain the Earl Amurray,/And Lady Mondegreen." The damsel bleeding loyally beside the slain Earl was in her romantic imagination and the last line was actually written "and laid him on the Green." After reading an article about this by William Safire in the New York Times, it occurred to me that mondegreens happen quite naturally in music all of the time; that everyone hears a piece of music quite differently. I intend for this piece to be last in the Lady Mondegreen series (although I said that about the second piece).
"...the limit of the flame..."
by
Bruce J. Taub
"...the limit of the flame..." (Piano Quartet) was written in 1997 and was commissioned by the Empyrean Ensemble, Ross Bauer, Conductor. The title is taken from what Gaston Bachelard in his book "The Psychoanalysis of Fire" describes as an "intuition" by Auguste Rodin that was brought to my attention by my dear friend Stephen Fisher: "Each thing is merely the limit of the flame to which it owes its existence." The actual music is only abstractly related to this idea in the sense of (what I find to be) its profound meaning with respect to the act of artistic creation and the meaning of art.
The piece is in three movements in a traditional fast-slow-fast(er) relationship, but in a sense, the piece is actually in four parts that are essentially variations (the first movement consisting a long statement and a variation of it; the second and third movements each consisting of another variation of the long opening statement). The first movement is, therefore as long as, if not longer than the other two movements combined. In the two halves of the first movement, the strings essentially play the same music twice to a different accompaniment by the piano (a technique that I have become fond of lately). You will also hear that the "coda" of the first movement is the same as the end of the piece. Although the piece is non-tonal, it is quite pitch-centric (as are most of my pieces) and can be described as being "on" A. In addition, as in most of my pieces, there is a direct relationship between certain pitches and specific rhythms and/or duration.
by
Bruce J. Taub
Of the Wing of Madness was written in 1985 for the 40th Anniversary of the Composers Conference (now at Wellesley College in Massachusetts) and is dedicated to its Director, Mario Davidovsky. The title is taken from the Intimate Journals of Charles Baudelaire: "I have felt the wind of the wing of madness pass over me." The work is in three sections (continuous) which reflect the three phrases of the quotation. This piece is concerned with the development of an extremely dense texture and a constant 'motor' rhythm. There are twelve distinct polyphonic voices which enter one at a time in the first section. The second section repeats the 'music' of the first, but with all twelve voices. The final section repeats the 'music' for a third time as the voices are eliminated one at a time. Pitch material centers around the note D.
PASSION, POISON, AND PETRIFACTION OR THE FATAL GAZOGENE
by
Bruce J. Taub
Passion, Poison, and Petrifaction or the Fatal Gazogene is "A Brief Tragedy for Barns and Booths" written in 1905 by George Bernard Shaw and first presented in "The Theatre Royal" (a "tent booth" theatre) at the Theatrical Garden Party, Regent's Park, London in aid of the Actors' Orphanage Fund. An attempt on the life of Lady Magnesia Fitztollemache is thwarted by a providential sneeze and she recognizes the would-be murderer as her husband, George. Adolphus (her lover) enters and George poisons him with soda water from the gazogene. Magnesia manages to convince her husband to reveal the antidote, however, which is lime (not the fruit, but calcium oxide). They cram pieces of plaster from the ceiling into Adolphus which make him half crazy and thirsty for the remaining soda water which then causes him to effervesce. After a great commotion involving the landlord, a policeman and finally a doctor, a thunderbolt enters the room killing all three. The maid sweeps them up and retires for the night. Lady Magnesia and George then prop up Adolphus who has now completely petrified while angels sing "Bill Bailey" and the "living statue" raises his hands towards heaven.
SYNOPSIS
At the opening of the opera, Lady Magnesia is preparing to go to bed. Once asleep, a man enters the room intent on murdering her. The attempt on her life is thwarted by a providential sneeze and upon her waking she recognizes the would-be murderer as her husband, George. After trying to make excuses for his presence there with a dagger, there is a knock on the door. It is Magnesia's lover, Adolphus, who has come to show her his new clothes. George decides to make them all a drink. He pours some whiskey into three tumblers adding soda water from the gazogene to Adolphus's drink only. They toast Magnesia and George announces that the soda water has been poisoned !
Through the use of some rather dubious logic, Magnesia manages to convince her husband that poisoning Adolphus was not a very good idea and that they would be better off if they could return to the "old arrangement". For, if Adolphus should die, what formerly belonged to her husband - "the devotion of a lifetime" - will have to be replaced by "the one supreme duty of duties: the duty of weeping at Adolphus's tomb". Due to his wife's entreaties, George reveals the antidote - lime. Frantically searching for anything that might contain lime, they cram pieces of the plaster ceiling into Adolphus's mouth. Lady Magnesia rings for the maid and instructs her to melt down a plaster bust of the Lady that is in the room, since they can no longer seem to be able to stuff Adolphus with solid pieces of plaster. Frantic, half crazy, and thirsty, Adolphus squirts the remaining soda water down his throat which causes him to effervesce! They feed him the liquid plaster that the maid has brought back. He falls asleep.
The Landlord bursts in to complain about the noise. Seeing Adolphus asleep and thinking him dead, he calls for a Police Constable who attempts to arrest the Landlord. Magnesia sends the maid to fetch a Doctor who can't seem to decide who the poisoned person is. As the Police Constable is about to round them all up and bring them to the station, a thunderbolt enters the room killing the Landlord, the Police Constable, and the Doctor. Phyllis (the maid) sweeps them up and retires for the night. Lady Magnesia and George prop up Adolphus who has now completely petrified and Angels sing as the "living statue" raises his hands towards heaven.
by
Bruce J. Taub
PRELUDES was written in 1987 and dedicated to my mother, Anne Halitcher Taub. Each prelude is self-contained, but the twelve are meant to be performed together (when time allows) and projected as one large-scale composition which goes through the "Circle of Fifths" (C G, D, A, etc.). The same musical material (melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, etc.) is used throughout and is constantly transformed in different contexts so that the piece can also be perceived as a theme and variations. The twelfth prelude (on F) segues into a return of the "theme" (or first prelude) completing the circle.
REFLECTIONS is a brief work for piano trio that was written as a 50th birthday greeting in honor of composer Richard Brooks. It was first performed at Weill Recital Hall at a concert celebrating his 50th birthday. The program included performances of his music and pieces by composer-friends commissioned for that occasion. The title refers to the contrapuntal, mirror-like imitation that occurs especially between the violin and the cello throughout the work.
by
Bruce J. Taub
SERENADE AND CAPRICCIO for Alto Saxophone and Piano was written in 1991 and is dedicated to my good friend and colleague M. William Karlins whose wonderful music for saxophone (s) was its chief inspiration. It was first performed by Joseph Murphy and Patrick Sinozich at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb In 1992. The titles of the 'two' movements do not suggest any specific musical structures or techniques, but, rather a general disposition towards the feelings that they evoke (at least to me) of serenity and whimsy. The harmony of both movements revolves around a very slow moving chromatic scale in the bass; ascending from C in the Serenade and descending in the Capriccio. In addition, successive sections dwelling on each note of the scale become progressively longer in the first movement, but remain relatively the same in the second.
by
Bruce J. Taub
SONATA FOR SOLO VIOLA was written in 1988 and is dedicated to my friend and colleague, William Holab. It consists of f6ur movements. The first movement, Variations, is slow and reminiscent of the slow section of a Baroque, French Overture (use of dotted rhythms). There is a theme and five undifferentiated variations. The second movement Scherzo, is fast with constant sixteenth notes changing meters and accentuation patterns. It is played all pizzicato. In addition, like all of the movements it is also in some respects a set of variations on the opening theme. The third movement, Elegy, is slow and rhapsodic with a cadenza towards the end. It is played with a mute throughout and emphasizes more of the upper register of the instrument than the previous two movements. The last movement, Gigue, Rondo, is based on thematic material of the first movement (the 'a' sections).
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