String Quartet No. 2, Intimations and Incarnations
Theodore Wiprud
About this work:
Intimations: a sensation of the infinite; symbols pointing but not revealing.
Incarnations: direct experience of the infinite; the spirit in the flesh. The reredos at the Church of the Ascension, with its haunting mural by John LaFarge, stunning framing by Stanford White, and sculptural angels by Saint-Gaudens, inspires the two-movement Intimations and Incarnations. The lower half of the reredos underlies the first movement: the tracery in the mosaic around the altar is in the opening violin vocalise; the rapt reverence of the angels is in the ascending hymn of yearning. The upper half of the reredos, the mural itself, inspires the second movement. Christ’s bodily Ascension underlines his Incarnation, the unity of flesh and spirit. Alan Watts writes in Behold the Spirit, “the Incarnation occurs not only at a distance of two thousand years in Palestine, but within all human beings, past, present, and future. Whenever and wherever men have known or glimpsed the gift of union with God, the power of the incarnation has been at work.” The experience can terrify as much as it can transform.
Year composed: 2000
Duration: 00:15:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 2 Cello