Dear Bear: This sounds like a great work; it is good you are tackling it. There are enough good horn players right here in Tucson; we ought to be able to give it a reading when you are ready.
Loren \@() [EMAIL PROTECTED] +011 (520) 403-6897 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bear Woodson Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 2:25 AM To: Horn List Subject: [Hornlist] symphony update (Memphis Horn List) Hello, Everyone. First I'd like to thank Mr. Steven Slaff, Chris Tedesco, Ms. Nancy Robitaille, and my old friend Dr. Karen McGale Fiehler, who wrote to me privately, and others of you, who answered on the Horn Lists, for the advice you gave in regards to Low Horn Trills and 6-Horn Scoring. Especially when Ms. Ms. Robitaille mentioned the word "brassy", as that was the word I was groping to remember to use in that passage of LOUD, rowdy Trills in All 6 Horns individually (each on a different pitch) and in the Euphonium and Tuba! Here is an update on the new symphony that I am writing in the last 2 months. I'm already several pages beyond that Brass Trill Passage. I hope to make this huge symphony to be over an hour long. Most of the Main Themes from the First Movement have been "in my ears" for 25 years, or longer, but I am combining some of the New Fugal Techniques that I've Invented in the last 2 years. Here is the scoring: Woodwinds in 3's 6 Horns 3 Trumpets Euphonium Tuba 1 Timpanist (4 Timpani) 3 Percussionists Harp and Strings planned movements and timings: I Moderato (20 to 25 minutes) (21 1/2 min. done by April 8, 2006) II fast and jaunty (10 min.) III slow (15 to 20 min.) IV fast (15 min.) (planning at least an hour in length) A few composers have been writing melodies in "Retrograde" ("backwards"), in "Inversion" ("upside-down"), and in "Retrograde-Inversion" (both "backwards and upside-down"), since the Renaissance. Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-1497) was the Renaissance Master who invented the "Cancrizans Canon", which is when you "overlap the Backwards Version of a melody with its own Original form, at the same time". Nowadays we'd call a "Cancrizans Canon" as a "Retrograde Canon", but I'd be hard pressed to name any other famous composer who has done this in Non-12-Tone Harmony. However I've written several, and all in Chromatic Modal Harmony. In like fashion it is possible to write "Inversion Canons" for which Bach and Mozart wrote a few, and I've written many. I never did like, nor use "12- Tone Formulae", and have used Chromatic Modal Harmony for ALL of my music, including these kinds of Canons. I've also written many "Retrograde-Inversion Canons", and even 6 of my "Quadruple Directional Stretto Fugues" (all 4 Directions of the Melody overlapping and harmonizing with itself, all at the same time) in various works. I did all of these Canons and 2 "QDS" Fugues in my "Josquin Fantasy" for Viola and Orchestra last year. Of the Main Themes in this First Movement, Two are introduced by one or more Horns! One is a "Horn Call Motive" that is usually 2 bars of 3/4, or one bar of 5/4. The other Main Theme is a "Horn Melody" in 8-bars of 3/4. Both melodies are ideas that I've had "in my ears" for over 25 years, and yet each harmonizes against its Original in Inversion, Retrograde and Retrograde- Inversion. Therefore in this Symphony I'm doing all of these kinds of Canons again and 2 more "QDS" Fugues in the end of this First Movement. I'm also trying to make it a type of "Concerto for Orchestra", by giving Long Solos to EACH Wind Instrument, String Section and First Chair String Soloist in the 4 planned movements. I've already done most of these Soles in the First Movement, including passages for: Horns 1, 3 & 5 individually and together, Horns 2, 4 & 6 together, and all 6 Horns together, (plus all 6 Horns also have passages playing individual trills) I plan to give Solo Passages to Horns 2, 4 and 6, individually in the other movements, if not also by the end of this First Movement. (Every good player should have their moment in the spotlight!) Also, in defiance of the Classical Era Tradition of letting the First Violins HOG the Melody most of the time, I, like many composers since the Early 20th Century, AVOID giving the Lead Melody to the First Violins. The Lead Melody is more evenly divided throughout the orchestra, although I do let the First Violins usually remain as the Highest Voice in the String Choir, when the Strings are accompanying some other instrument. I hope people will like this symphony, when it's done. It's full of lyrical, noble, heroic Horn melodies that bring images of adventure and exploration to mind. The Horn is an instrument that I deeply admire. The tone ennobles and inspires me, and hopefully also the audience, when they hear this symphony some day. This is why I've already written so many sonatas and a full Concerto for the Horn. . . . But I still have a lot of work ahead of me, so I'd better get back to it. Bear Woodson Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA "After all my years of study of Modern Harmony, Counterpoint and Form in Music, my actual composing is really just a matter of Taking Dictation from a higher power. When left to my own strengths, I am worthless, except as a musical scribe." - Bear Woodson, (2005) _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/loren%40mayhews.us _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
