Gettysburg Hospital (1994)
Soprano with Instrumental Ensemble
Soprano, String Quartet, Two (Three?) Percussion
Duration: 15 minutes
Program Note
The idea ofsetting prose to music came to me after I heard Samuel Barber's 'Knoxville: Summer of 1915',
in which he sets a portion of a ]ames Agee short story. During the Summer of 1994, I envisioned a series
of letters, civil war letters, set to music, "Gettysburg Hospital" being the first. Stumbling upon
a copy of "The Blue and the Grey', I found a letter from Cornelia Hancock. a twenty-three year old nurse,
to her sister, dated July 8, 1863, excerpts of which form the basis of the piece. I have tried to work
with sounds in both a harmonic, contrapuntal, and nontonal way, trying to incorporate these different
elements to create an inner and outer world for the character - the idea of reality, non-reality and
perceptions of reality.
- Bennington, Vermont, November 1994
Premiere:
Ensemble
Todd Tarantino, conductor
Kerry Towne, soprano
16 November 1994
Greenwall Music Workshop
Benninton, Vermont
Listen
Score
Score in Preparation
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