L'alma respira
Dan Coleman
About this work:
This work was performed by American Composers Orchestra and is included on NewMusicJukebox through a partnership between AMC and ACO.
"L’alma respira" was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra with the generous support of the Helen F. Whitaker Fund, and was also funded in part by the Composers Assistance Program of the American Music Center.
L’alma respira (“my soul breathes”) takes its title from one of Petrarch’s Sonnets to Laura. The speaker of the poem laments the unbridgeable distance between himself and his lover, but discovers that by meditating on his loss he can recover a connection to her.
My work may be heard as a song of unrequited love, echoing the sonnet, but the poem can also serve as a parable for the challenges of composing orchestral music in an age when the medium itself has been frozen in the past. I am distanced from the historical ideals of symphonic music, just as the poem’s speaker is distanced from his lover, but in the act of creation I attempt to close the gap. Within a contemporary frame, I endeavor to redeem and personalize certain traditional musical gestures.
The work begins with a long, quiet sigh in the strings: a chord that is only resolved in the final cadence of the piece. I explore lyrical, “breathing” melodies as well as strands of counterpoint that begin euphoniously intertwined, but which are pulled apart over time, revealing great musical distances.
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:15:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 1 Flute, 1 Alto Flute, 2 Oboe, 1 English Horn, 1 Eb Clarinet, 1 Clarinet, 1 Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 4 Horn in F, 3 Trumpet, 2 Trombone, 1 Bass Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani, 3 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Strings (General), 1 Harp
Instrumentation notes: Piccolo, Flute, Alto Flute, 2 Oboes, English Horn, Piccolo Clarinet, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, Piccolo Trumpet, 2 Trumpets, 2 Tenor Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, 3 Percussionists (playing Vibraphone, Cymbals, Glockenspiel, Crotales, Chimes, Snare Drum, Tam-Tams, Marimba, Xylophone, Sleighbells, Bass Drum, Anvil, and Thunder Sheet), Harp, Piano, Celesta, and Strings.