Adrian's Dream (diabolus in musica)
Bruce J. Taub
About this work:
Adrian's Dream (diabolus in musica) was written in 1996 and commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University for the New York New Music Ensemble. The title comes from the book Doctor Faustus (The Life of the German Composer Adrian Leverkuehn, as told by a Friend) by Thomas Mann which I had just finished reading. The interval of the tritone (diabolus in musica) is particularly important in this work, especially B-natural (the "offending" pitch) to F (as well as G-sharp to D, completing the diminished seventh chord). In fact, the entire piece revolves around the pitch B and the number 12 (rhythm and duration as well as pitch and techniques taken from the twelve-tone method of Schoenberg). The piece is in three sections: A, B, A' with a repeat of A' followed by a brief Coda.
The following "Author's Note" appears at the end of Doctor Faustus:
It does not seem supererogatory to inform the reader that the form of musical composition in Chapter XXII, known as the twelve-tone or row system, is in truth the intellectual property of a contemporary composer and theoretician, Arnold Schoenberg. I have transferred this technique in a certain ideational context to the fictitious figure of a musician, the tragic hero of my novel. In fact, the passages of this book that deal with musical theory are indebted in numerous details to Schoenberg's Harmonielehre.
Schoenberg was reportedly upset about this, but I actually found that Mann's "layman's" explanation of the tweelve-tone sysem or style of strict composition to be quite wonderful in many ways. Perhaps, Schoenberg simply didn't want to be associated with the devil.
Adrian's Dream is published by C.F. Peters Corporation.
Year composed: 1996
Duration: 00:14:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 6-9 players
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Clarinet, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Violin, 1 Cello
Instrumentation notes: fl(=alto); cl(=bcl)