A Thousand Faces (2009)
This quartet for two violins and two cellos was written as my junior independent work. The title is a reference to Joseph Campbell's seminal work The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It was performed in May 2009. Click on the movements below for the scores and recordings from the performance.
By Movement (with scores):
I. For They Die Not, Poor Death
II. 'Tis Not in the Pages of Story
III. Tune Me, O Lord
I. For They Die Not, Poor Death
II. 'Tis Not in the Pages of Story
III. Tune Me, O Lord
Program Notes:
This piece was originally inspired by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, from which it derives its title. This book is a discussion of comparative mythology, originally published in 1949, in which Campbell presents his theories concerning the journey of the archetypical hero found in mythologies from various cultures. The quartet was originally intended to be a musical representation of this journey, but over time, the piece evolved into something far more general. The journey represented by this piece could be something as epic as the white knight rising up to defeat the enemy to something as seemingly trivial as a student's decision about his or her career path. However, the programmatic nature of this piece should not be taken too literally. Rather, they are my attempt to explain the general guidelines I sketched for myself when composing it.
Almost every journey is set into motion by some form of tragedy that fills the character with doubt. The first movement, "For they die not, poor Death," represents the emotional turmoil that occurs before the character is ready to take the first step. The opening section presents is an elegy of sorts, presenting a broken melody over an unstable drone. Parts of the melody reappear throughout the piece in many incarnations- dissonant chorales, fragmented pizzicato phrases, and violent parallel octaves. The middle section is best described as a musical "wash," depicting the ebbing and flowing of various emotions as the character attempts to make a decision. Beneath this "wash," the second cello repeats rhythm reminiscent of a funeral march. The title of this movement is adapted from a line of John Donne's sonnet "Death be not proud," which is about death's futility. In this piece death could refer to something literal such as the passing of a loved one or something abstract, such as the loss of hope. As the piece enters its second half, it seems to get increasingly confused until it finally builds up to a dark and dissonant chord progression. However, the melody is then repeated, with a brighter chord progression underneath, and the piece eventually flows out of darkness, until the melody is finally presented in its complete form. At this point, the character is ready to set out on the journey, grains of uncertainty still linger.
As the first movement was about things coming together, the second movement "'Tis not in the pages of story," is about them flying apart. The title is a line from Alice Cary's poem "Nobility," which reminds us that true virtue goes beyond superficial heroics. At this point, however, the character has yet to learn this lesson, and after a nervous beginning, hits the ground running. He or she attempts to do too much at once, and although he or she is initially able to hold it together, eventually events begin breaking down, as represented by the topsy-turvy eighth notes. Each of the following three sections represent an attempt to start over, but each one is more turbulent than the one before it. Eventually the piece descends into chaos, with none of the instruments lining up with each other, as the character is overwhelmed by his or her own actions.
The third movement, "Tune me, o Lord," is about acceptance. The title is that of a Christina Rossetti poem about faith. After the literal tuning of the instruments, the piece is able to regain stability after the insanity that ended the previous movement. The two cellos work together to create an underlying fabric on which the first violin is able to float along, with the second violin drifting in and out of both musical spaces. This movement depicts the tranquility at the end of the journey, when the character has come to terms with the reality of his or her existence.
This piece was originally inspired by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, from which it derives its title. This book is a discussion of comparative mythology, originally published in 1949, in which Campbell presents his theories concerning the journey of the archetypical hero found in mythologies from various cultures. The quartet was originally intended to be a musical representation of this journey, but over time, the piece evolved into something far more general. The journey represented by this piece could be something as epic as the white knight rising up to defeat the enemy to something as seemingly trivial as a student's decision about his or her career path. However, the programmatic nature of this piece should not be taken too literally. Rather, they are my attempt to explain the general guidelines I sketched for myself when composing it.
Almost every journey is set into motion by some form of tragedy that fills the character with doubt. The first movement, "For they die not, poor Death," represents the emotional turmoil that occurs before the character is ready to take the first step. The opening section presents is an elegy of sorts, presenting a broken melody over an unstable drone. Parts of the melody reappear throughout the piece in many incarnations- dissonant chorales, fragmented pizzicato phrases, and violent parallel octaves. The middle section is best described as a musical "wash," depicting the ebbing and flowing of various emotions as the character attempts to make a decision. Beneath this "wash," the second cello repeats rhythm reminiscent of a funeral march. The title of this movement is adapted from a line of John Donne's sonnet "Death be not proud," which is about death's futility. In this piece death could refer to something literal such as the passing of a loved one or something abstract, such as the loss of hope. As the piece enters its second half, it seems to get increasingly confused until it finally builds up to a dark and dissonant chord progression. However, the melody is then repeated, with a brighter chord progression underneath, and the piece eventually flows out of darkness, until the melody is finally presented in its complete form. At this point, the character is ready to set out on the journey, grains of uncertainty still linger.
As the first movement was about things coming together, the second movement "'Tis not in the pages of story," is about them flying apart. The title is a line from Alice Cary's poem "Nobility," which reminds us that true virtue goes beyond superficial heroics. At this point, however, the character has yet to learn this lesson, and after a nervous beginning, hits the ground running. He or she attempts to do too much at once, and although he or she is initially able to hold it together, eventually events begin breaking down, as represented by the topsy-turvy eighth notes. Each of the following three sections represent an attempt to start over, but each one is more turbulent than the one before it. Eventually the piece descends into chaos, with none of the instruments lining up with each other, as the character is overwhelmed by his or her own actions.
The third movement, "Tune me, o Lord," is about acceptance. The title is that of a Christina Rossetti poem about faith. After the literal tuning of the instruments, the piece is able to regain stability after the insanity that ended the previous movement. The two cellos work together to create an underlying fabric on which the first violin is able to float along, with the second violin drifting in and out of both musical spaces. This movement depicts the tranquility at the end of the journey, when the character has come to terms with the reality of his or her existence.