says the almanac (2024)
string quartet
c. 6 minutes
Commissioned by The Walden School Faculty Commissioning Project for performance by Friction Quartet
Premiered by Friction Quartet
Louise Shonk Kelly Recital Hall, Dublin, NH, 12 July 2024
says the almanac (2024) is a reference to Elizabeth Bishop’s 1956 poem “Sestina,” a style of poem that consists of six six-line stanzas plus a three-line envoi. [Read Bishop's poem here!] The last words of each line are the same, but they are rotated within each stanza according to a set pattern. All six final words return in the envoi.
I used this format as a starting point for my own piece, composing six melodic fragments that I rearranged based on Bishop’s pattern, each time at a different pitch level to create a different “stanza.” While not all the results of this process made it into the final version of the piece, several melodic wisps still return multiple times in different orders and contexts.
Moreso than my fascination with the cyclical format of Bishop’s poem, I was especially attracted to her use of language. Her words are simultaneously simple and evocative, straightforward and mysterious. The six last words—house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, tears—gradually change meaning over time as their placement within the stanza changes. We are placed in the kitchen of the house with the grandmother and child and are present as they each experience grief and resilience in their own ways. Many of Bishop’s word choices appear in says the almanac as character texts at the start of each new section.
c. 6 minutes
Commissioned by The Walden School Faculty Commissioning Project for performance by Friction Quartet
Premiered by Friction Quartet
Louise Shonk Kelly Recital Hall, Dublin, NH, 12 July 2024
says the almanac (2024) is a reference to Elizabeth Bishop’s 1956 poem “Sestina,” a style of poem that consists of six six-line stanzas plus a three-line envoi. [Read Bishop's poem here!] The last words of each line are the same, but they are rotated within each stanza according to a set pattern. All six final words return in the envoi.
I used this format as a starting point for my own piece, composing six melodic fragments that I rearranged based on Bishop’s pattern, each time at a different pitch level to create a different “stanza.” While not all the results of this process made it into the final version of the piece, several melodic wisps still return multiple times in different orders and contexts.
Moreso than my fascination with the cyclical format of Bishop’s poem, I was especially attracted to her use of language. Her words are simultaneously simple and evocative, straightforward and mysterious. The six last words—house, grandmother, child, stove, almanac, tears—gradually change meaning over time as their placement within the stanza changes. We are placed in the kitchen of the house with the grandmother and child and are present as they each experience grief and resilience in their own ways. Many of Bishop’s word choices appear in says the almanac as character texts at the start of each new section.