CARILLON
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Cloths of Heaven • 3' • 1 carillonist
VIDEO
Joey Brink, carillonneur
Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago
YEAR COMPOSED
A cappella choral version in 2016; arranged for carillon in 2020
COMMISSIONER
The original a cappella choral version was commissioned by Boston Choral Ensemble, Boston Massachusetts, Andrew Shenton, Artistic Director.
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$6 digital download
Click here to contact Inkjar for payment instructions and invoice.
PROGRAM NOTES
Cloths of Heaven is a poem written by W.B. Yeats in which he tells his love that he wished he possessed the richness of the heavens to give to her:
Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
In 2016, I set the text for a cappella choir as part of my work Celestial Canticles. During the pandemic of 2020, I reworked the music for Cloths of Heaven for carillon.
-S.G. -
Dissipo Ventos • 5'55" • 2 carillonists
AUDIO
Performers: Jim Fackenthal and Kim Schafer
LIVE RECORDING made at the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America's 2022 Congress, hosted by the University of Chicago (recording engineer: Christopher Willis CW Media)
Performed on the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon on June 15, 2022
YEAR COMPOSED
2021
COMMISSIONER
Commissioned by the University of Chicago for the 90th Anniversary of the Rockefeller Memorial Carillon.
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$10 digital download
Click here to contact Inkjar for payment instructions and invoice.
PROGRAM NOTES
Bronze bells have a long and rich history, beginning with their invention during the Bronze Age (around 3000 BCE). By the Middle Ages, bells were regularly commissioned and employed by churches. Bells served many purposes; for instance, they were used as calls to prayer, in religious services and celebrations, in commemoration for the dead, to warn of danger, and to mark the hours of the day.
In my research into carillon bells, I was intrigued to discover that in the Middle Ages, bells were imbued with human qualities: they underwent baptisms after being cast; they were given names; and when they rang, the bells were “speaking." Often, bells bore inscriptions on its surface that defined their function.
In Dissipo Ventos (which translates to "I scatter the winds"), an evil wind is represented as a fast-moving line in the high treble bells. As the piece begins, the wind sweeps towards an unsuspecting town. The church bells sense danger and repel the winds with powerful, joyous ringing. After a moment of calm, a new evil wind wends its way towards the town. The church bells again sense danger and commence their powerful, joyous ringing once more. As the piece concludes, we hear yet another new evil wind gathering on the horizon, while the bells remain ever vigilant in their duty.
-S.G. -
Vivos Voco • 5'45" • 1 carillonists
YEAR COMPOSED
2021
COMMISSIONER
Clemson University for carillonneur Linda Dzuris
ORDERING SCORES
Inkjar Publishing Company
$8 digital download
Click here to contact Inkjar for payment instructions and invoice.
PROGRAM NOTES
Bronze bells have a long and rich history, beginning with their invention during the Bronze Age (around 3000 BCE). By the Middle Ages, bells were regularly commissioned and employed by churches. Bells served many purposes; for instance, they were used as calls to prayer, in religious services and celebrations, in commemoration for the dead, to warn of danger, and to mark the hours of the day.
In my research into carillon bells, I was intrigued to discover that in the Middle Ages, bells were imbued with human qualities: they underwent baptisms after being cast; they were given names; and when they rang, the bells were “speaking." Often, bells bore inscriptions on its surface that defined their function. One such inscription is the Latin phrase Vivos voco, mortuos plango, fulgura frango which translates to I call the living, I mourn the dead, I repel lightning. This phrase was memorialized by German poet Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), who found the inscription on a large bell that had been cast in 1486 and placed in a cathedral in Schaffhausen, Switzerland; he used the phrase as the motto for his poem "Das Lied von der Glocke" ("The Song of the Bell").
In Vivos Voco, I pay tribute to these bells, which are the carillon’s direct predecessors. My piece consists of three sections: first, we hear celebratory music, followed by a contemplative call to prayer, and a third section in which the bells solemnly toll for the deceased. The funeral music is followed by a return to the call to prayer, and the piece ends with the celebratory music once more. In essence, I constructed the piece to represent the symmetrical shape of a bell (A-B-C-B-A), with the outermost sections containing the most exciting music, where the clappers strike the bell’s edge and sets the bell ringing.
-S.G.
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HELIOS • 4’30” • 2 tpts/flugelhorns, hn, tbn, tba
PROGRAM NOTES
In Greek mythology, Helios was the god of the sun. His head wreathed in light, he daily drove a chariot drawn by four horses (in some tales, the horses are winged; in others, they are made of fire) across the sky. At the end of each day’s journey, he slept in a golden boat that carried him on the Okeanos River (a fresh water stream that encircled the flat earth) back to his rising place. The cyclic journey of Helios is depicted in this short work for brass quintet. The first half is fast-paced and very energetic, while the second half is slow and serene, representing day and night.
-S.G.