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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Ring : for orchestra and antiphonal women’s choir Gerhold, John Alan
Abstract
Ring is a composition for orchestra (piccolo [doubling flute], two flutes, two oboes, English horn, two clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contra-bassoon, four horns, four trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, three percussion parts [including glockenspiel, vibraphone, tubular bells, snare drum, toms, bass drum, suspended cymbal, drum kit, triangle, and gong], timpani, harp, piano, and standard strings) and spatially separated women's choir (SA right, SA left). This arrangement of media is intended to "ring" the audience with performers. At the notated tempo of two quarter-notes per second, the duration of the piece is exactly 17'40". The title of Ring comes from a poem of the same name written by the composer which is the principal text sung by the choir in the piece. The text of the poem is as follows: Wendy is a ring / A beginning and an end / Connected / The finest gold / Melted by touch / Cooled by breath / She fits my every finger / Without constraint / But permanent / Priceless, Precious, Beautiful / Alone / She clothes me. The poem and composition were written for, and dedicated to, the composer's wife. The ring metaphor ("ring" meaning cyclical, unending, complete) underlies many of the compositional choices in the work. Much of the surface of the music and its deeper structural elements are palindromes, which, because they end as they begin, have a circular nature. Also, the pitch structure of the piece involves the climactic completion of the "cycle" of the twelve available equal-tempered pitch classes. A further organizational element is the Fibonacci series, a mathematical construct which is used to determine small-scale rhythms and the duration of the larger sections of the work. These components, taken together, have resulted in a composition filled with variety and contrasts, which, nonetheless, is quite organically cohesive.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Ring : for orchestra and antiphonal women’s choir
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
| Date Issued |
1997
|
| Description |
Ring is a composition for orchestra (piccolo [doubling flute], two flutes,
two oboes, English horn, two clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons,
contra-bassoon, four horns, four trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass trombone,
tuba, three percussion parts [including glockenspiel, vibraphone, tubular bells,
snare drum, toms, bass drum, suspended cymbal, drum kit, triangle, and gong],
timpani, harp, piano, and standard strings) and spatially separated women's
choir (SA right, SA left). This arrangement of media is intended to "ring" the
audience with performers. At the notated tempo of two quarter-notes per
second, the duration of the piece is exactly 17'40".
The title of Ring comes from a poem of the same name written by the
composer which is the principal text sung by the choir in the piece. The text of
the poem is as follows: Wendy is a ring / A beginning and an end / Connected /
The finest gold / Melted by touch / Cooled by breath / She fits my every finger /
Without constraint / But permanent / Priceless, Precious, Beautiful / Alone /
She clothes me. The poem and composition were written for, and dedicated to,
the composer's wife.
The ring metaphor ("ring" meaning cyclical, unending, complete)
underlies many of the compositional choices in the work. Much of the surface of
the music and its deeper structural elements are palindromes, which, because
they end as they begin, have a circular nature. Also, the pitch structure of the
piece involves the climactic completion of the "cycle" of the twelve available
equal-tempered pitch classes. A further organizational element is the Fibonacci
series, a mathematical construct which is used to determine small-scale rhythms
and the duration of the larger sections of the work.
These components, taken together, have resulted in a composition filled
with variety and contrasts, which, nonetheless, is quite organically cohesive.
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| Extent |
8527115 bytes
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| Genre | |
| Type | |
| File Format |
application/pdf
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| Language |
eng
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| Date Available |
2009-03-31
|
| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
| Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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| DOI |
10.14288/1.0088192
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| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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| Graduation Date |
1997-11
|
| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.