String Quartet No. 2: Flight
Lawrence Dillon
About this work:
String Quartet No. 2: Flight conflates two definitions of the word fugue: the musical composition and the idea of flight itself. Each of the six movements uses fugal procedures; each also focuses on a specific aspect of flying.
flight \ n 1: an act of passing through the air by the use of wings 2: an unrestrained exercise or display of imagination
fugue \ n [fr. Latin: fuga flight] a polyphonic composition in which one or two subjects are imitated by successively entering voices in a continuously interweaving contrapuntal texture
FUGUE 1: Birds
Although many compositions throughout the ages have imitated bird song, the flight of birds has seldom been captured in music. To launch themselves into the air, birds use their leg muscles in conjunction with flapping their wings. On each downstroke, the tips of the wings twist forward while the rest of the wing remains level. Once airborne, most birds alternate the flapping of their wings with soaring, or riding the prevailing air currents.
Creating a musical equivalent to bird flight required a novel approach to fugue-writing. The subject, rather than being played by a single instrument, is a gesture that results from the blending of all four instruments. As the subject passes through different key centers, "countersubjects" are added in the form of solo figures stated by individual instruments.
The natural kinship between a wing and a bow arm finds expression in the coda, in which each instrument relaxes into a gentle swaying motion between two double-stops.
FUGUE 2: Insects and paper airplanes (scherzo)
The darting, buzzing flight of insects is the subject of this scherzo, which is marked "Very fast and a little obnoxious." By contrast, the trio section is a whimsical enactment of paper airplane flight: lazy, chaotic, and ultimately doomed. The insects return with renewed fervor, only to be summarily dispatched by the cellist.
FUGUE 3: Stars
Stars don't fly in any literal sense of the word, but their gradual emergence and distant traversal of the night sky never fails to promote quiet introspection.
FUGUE 4: Langley (scherzo)
In 1903, the US Army gave Samuel Pierpont Langley an enormous sum of money to build a steam-powered aerodrome. Huge crowds of onlookers and reporters gathered at the launching site: a tall scaffolding mounted on a houseboat. The engine gradually built up tremendous power, creating an increasingly deafening sound -- before the aerodrome dropped off its perch and fell straight down into the Potomac River.
A few days later, the Wright brothers made their first successful flight on the North Carolina coast -- and nobody noticed.
After a hundred years have gone by, it's comforting to know that the mismanagement of government funds and the obtuseness of the media are not inventions of our own time.
FUGUE 5: Children
Many people have recurring dreams of flying -- effortlessly soaring over groups of amazed, admiring spectators. Psychologists attribute these dreams to the memory of being carried as an infant.
This fifth fugue is a tribute to flights of fancy, especially the peacefully unselfconscious dreams of children.
FUGUE 6: Flight
The quartet concludes with an extended double-fugue with contrasting subjects. The first subject is a dreamy, peaceful line with a countersubject that is lighter than air. The second subject is vigorous, angular and aggressive. The movement culminates in a coda inspired by Orville Wright's tragically uncomprehending words after he first solved the mystery of flight: "This is an invention which will make further wars practically impossible!"
ORDER STRING QUARTET NO. 2: FLIGHT:
* score and parts: info@composers.com
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:24:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello