Symphony of Cities
John Fitz Rogers
About this work:
In three movements: I. Structures, II. Circuses, III. Voices. Recent performances by Louisville Orchestra and Charleston Symphony; winner Heckscher Foundation Composition Prize. In writing "Symphony of Cities" I had in mind neither specific cities nor a kind of muscular, propulsive "city music." Rather, I was interested in exploring both a larger, metaphorical sense of cities, and the somewhat cliched notion of an orchestra as a musical community. The first movement, titled "Structures," is a large arch form built upon blocks of harmony that change or evolve very slowly. Long, soloistic lines either interrupt the evolution of these blocks or play against them. A melodic fragment first heard in the clarinets and bassoons serves as a thematic starting point for many of the ideas in the work. This fragment returns towards the end of the third movement to frame the entire piece. "Circuses" is a reference to Juvenal's famous indictment that his fellow Roman citizens cared only for two things--bread and circuses (public spectacles). The main theme of this movement is taken from an earlier work of mine, and bits of this theme are set on top of a quasi-blues progression that constantly changes key. If the first movement evokes the impersonal structures of cities, and the second movement the somewhat more personal crowds of people within those cities, the final movement gives utterance to individual voices. The concluding section is titled "The City of God," a reference to St. Augustine's dichotomy between the realms of God and Man. In this section, the individual voices of the orchestra eventually unite, each voice distinct yet part of a larger whole.
Year composed: 1996
Duration: 00:24:30
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Chamber Orchestra
Instrumentation: 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 2 Horn in F, 1 Trumpet, 1 Trombone, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Celesta, 24 Strings (General), 1 Harp
Instrumentation notes: Percussion requirements: Glockenspiel, Tubular Bells, Vibraphone, Xylophone, Triangle, Ratchet, Graduated Metal Bar Chimes, Small and Medium Suspended Cymbals, Tam-Tam, Crotales.