Abstracts Category : Other

Before dark, how distant the past

by Jonathan Andrew Smith

Before dark, how distant the past is single-movementorchestral work lastingapproximately six minutes. Inspired byLeaving Aleppo from poet Peter Balakians Ozone Journal, thispiece reflects on historys influence on current events and theimportance of memory in times of strife.Cast in a through-composedform, Before dark is a programmatic work inspired bythe imagery inLeaving Aleppo with further meditation on Black Dog of Fate, Dr.Balakians memoirs about his discovery of the Armenian Genocide andhis grandmothers survival of the death marches that ended inAleppo, Syria. Modern-day Aleppo is plagued with civil war and hasreceived significant international attention for the destructionand displacement of its population. Before dark, how distant thepast contemplates these conflicts and the implications of theirrelationship in global history.The harmonic language of this pieceis derived from the spectral analysis of a church bell found inMaaloula, Syria. The bells most prominent overtones can bedistilled into the hexachord, 6-45[25789B] along with the twoquarter tones D quarter-flat and D quarter-sharp.These eightpitches comprise the entirety of the pieces first half. Thecompositions other sections employ the octachord 8-12[25789AB1].This set contains both 6-45 (the bell hexachord) and itsz-relation, 6-23 as subsets. Interleaved with the octachordalmaterial is aggressive descending material derived from a tone rowresulting from the combination of 6-45 and 6-23; this aggregateexpands with the addition of three quarter tones, D quarter-flat, Dquarter-sharp, and E quarter-flat, to form a fifteen-note chordthat marks the pieces climax before a shortdenouement.Structurally, Before dark, how distant the past drawsinspiration from the idea of descent; descending gestures featureprominently in the macro- and micro-scale. The macro-level featuresa large-scale registral descent; high register opening materialstated in the glockenspiel, harp, and piano evolves into theendings low marimba and contrabassoon sustains. Between thesepoints, solos in the English horn, bassoon, bass clarinet, andcontrabassoon trace a gradual descent into the lowest woodwindregisters. Finally, downward runs permeate almost every section,culminating in rapid, overlapping descending patterns in the windsand strings near the end.Advisors/Committee Members: Lillios, Elainie (Advisor).