Repeat three times a six note rush upwards from the depths of hell in the cellos and basses. Repeat three times church bells descending on octave. Repeat three times the “Dies Irae” (Day of Wrath) sacred chant. First time played by the sacrilegious tubas in slower, steady notes. Third time outrageously fast in the dancing, […]
Being a woman, I am concerned about publishing this work. Would that it lie safely under a golden oak tree and not be endangered by swords of slander which have already been drawn to battle against it. (Barbara Strozzi’s preface to her first book of madrigals) The painter’s idea for one exposed breast a rumor […]
A chromatic descending bass line. Repeated heavy, plodding steps. Continuous sighs as if carrying the cross or carrying the weight of death. The word Crucifixus repeated 12 times by individual voices. Each entrance dissonant, anguished, deliberate, reluctant, reverential. Three repeated notes, then a few notes descending towards earth. A few rising triads of extraordinary pain. […]
Narrator, men’s chorus, orchestra. A fanfare in the trumpets calls us to attention. The narrator’s life-in-death-in-life text set to Schoenberg’s dissonant music. Two later trumpet fanfares call the prisoners to attention each day. At random (it seems) we hear chaotic drum fills, sudden outbursts, plucked and struck strings, rapid repeated notes like verbal jabs. No […]