Notes on my Symphony

About the Composer

I graduated Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ in January, 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. I struggled most of my college career not academically, but in finding a balance between my two passions, literature and music. I constantly took leaves of absence from school in order to participate in recording sessions and musical performances. In the course of obtaining my degree, I toured and recorded with a folk-rock band playing harmonica, recorded a jazz album, and composed countless jazz compositions, songs and orchestral works. I believe I have finally found a way to indulge both of my passions. I am a high school English teacher, which allows me to transmit my passion for literature on to a younger generation. This job also allows me summers “off” to pursue my musical ambitions. My next few projects are a parody of Charles Ives’ Orchestral Set No. 1 (“Three Places in New England”) entitled “Three Places in Jersey” and a symphony inspired by the poetry of Jimi Hendrix from his song “Bold as Love.”

I originally had the idea to write this music in or around 1995. I do not mean that I knew what this music was going to sound like back then, but I did know that I wanted to tell this story musically. I read Willa Cather’s short story around this time for a college English class I was taking. It immediately spoke to me and the experiences I had, which set something off in my mind, my heart and my soul. It is a very well constructed story with a number of themes and images repeated in such a way that I felt it could be recreated in music. I had some very basic ideas back then—the finale for instance—but only in very theoretic terms without too much thought to instrumentation, tempo, or even notes. Unfortunately, I did not have the time, the ability or the desire to undertake composing it at that moment. So, the basic idea that it should be composed existed for the last eight or so years. In that time, I reread the story a number of times and confirmed to myself, at least, that it was musical in its construction and in its communication of emotions. So, I suppose my mind may have passively worked on its composition more on a very rudimentary level.

It was not until I completed college in January, 2003 that I had the time, the audacity or the worldly experience to really undertake composing this piece. I set to work in January 2003 working chronologically composing each movement. I did not complete orchestrating this work until March, 2004.

Overview

What is the price of conformity?

For the artist, it is a bland existence with no progress, no inspiration and no soul. For Paul, it is death.

Paul's demise was the inspiration for my first symphony. The story comes from Willa Cather's short story "Paul's Case" written in 1905. While nearly 100 years old, this story could have been written today, as the themes are relevant to American society at any time in the past, present or future.

After 15 months of composing, the symphony, "Paul's Demise" is ready for performance. Borrowing its structure from literature more so than music history and theory, it not only takes the listener on Paul's journey towards self-destruction, but it deals with the elements that lead him down that track. "Paul's Demise" is one young man's struggle against a bland and restrictive world.

In the story, Paul lives with his father in Pittsburg on Cordelia Street. He is under pressure to start taking his life seriously and to forget about his love of music. Willa Cather balances scenes of agony and despair of a young man being forced into a lifestyle he can’t bear to imagine with his one escape, going to the theater to see live musical performances which lifts his spirits and sets him free. Finally, he decides he must escape in order to lead the life he wants to live. He steals money from a job he holds and takes a train to New York City where he lives out his fantasies of a more exciting life for a short while. Nursing a horrible hang-over and with rumors of his father coming to find him, he realizes he cannot escape his fate of going back to Cordelia Street and answering for his crime. He takes the train westward but gets off before Pittsburg. He ends his life by jumping in front of a train.

The piece is divided into eight movements, each entitled after phrases from the story itself. The music follows the action of the story very closely and tries to capture the mood of each section. A basic story about a wayward boy hides themes of the individual versus society, about progress, about dreams, about insanity, about life and death and about survival and suicide. I attempted to get inside Paul's head in order to compose music that doesn't just tell what happened but why it happened. It should also capture some of the joy of reading such a great story with all the twists and turns it takes the reader on. In order to tell the story, there are a number of musical themes repeated throughout the piece that act as a type of vocabulary meshing mood, meaning and music.

Musical Synopsis


Mvt. 1-Baptism of Fire

The first movement is an introduction to the struggle of the individual overcoming the mores of society—the group mind. In this movement, the downward, minor “Baptism Theme” is performed by the strings. It is contrasted with “Paul’s Defiant Theme” played by wind instruments and mallets. This theme is a bright, playful theme, which represents not only Paul’s defiance, but also his red carnation and his childlike mindset. At the end of the piece, these two themes are contrasted against each other and it will sound like two different bands combating each other. This piece sets the orchestra on different sides of the struggle with the strings and timpani representing society and the wind instruments and mallets representing the individual.


Mvt. 2-Orgy of Living

The second movement is one of unlimited joy, in sharp contrast to the first movement. It should be light and playful. Smaller instrumental groups have been created for the different themes, giving the sense of activity and sensory overload this piece deserves.


Mvt. 3-Cordelia Street

The third movement is a contrast to the action and excitement in the second movement. There is sadness and a repetitiveness to it which should mirror the life wasted on this street in the story. There are a number of important themes in this movement that will appear in later movements in varying forms.

Mvt. 4-Perpetual Sunshine

The fourth movement offers relief from the sadness and monotony of the previous movement. It is full of excitement, moves quickly, and sounds bright. It should all build up to the final “Perpetual Sunshine Theme” (starting in measure 33) at which time there should be the sense of an orgasmic release.

Mvt. 5-East-Bound Train

This movement is a transitional one in many ways. It moves the action of the story from Cordelia Street to New York City. It also reflects a transition in mindset from the confines of Paul’s home to the freedom the city offers. The movement moves from the melancholy of leaving to the jubilation of triumph. There are three important themes separated by train motifs of varying sorts. There is the “Departure Theme” in the beginning written for solo trombone. Then, there is the “East-Bound Theme” which first appears in measure 43. Finally, there is the arrival in New York City marked by the return of “Paul’s Defiant Theme” re-orchestrated and harmonized. It is bigger and brasher than its original appearance in the first movement since Paul’s internal strength is seemingly much greater at this point. The train whistle sound in this piece is achieved by an interval of a third however the notes become lower as the piece progresses which is supposed to represent the Doppler Effect and the train getting farther from its starting point. They rise again toward the end of the piece representing it getting closer to its destination. As the notes get lower, they should also be played softer. As they get higher, they should be played louder. This effect comes into use again in the last movement. This entire piece is in homage to Duke Ellington and his many compositions based on train themes.

Mvt. 6-The Omnipotence of Wealth

This movement represents the scene Paul is faced with in New York. The waltz-time piece represents the affluence, the power and the manic energy of the city. There is a slight detachedness to it and even melancholy of witnessing the excitement but not necessarily being a part of it. This may be the most structured movement of the piece, which is almost a palindrome of the segments presented. This piece will incorporate the entire ensemble and do so with great bombast utilizing the percussion section prominently. The piece starts with a mock classical theme, followed by the “Omnipotence of Wealth Theme”. It works through a number of themes afterwards until it reaches the center theme with all of its triplets. It then works its way back to the mock classical theme in reverse of the themes it took to get to this point. What should result is an initial sense of splendor, as if being amazed by a skyline, followed by a greater and greater realization that the city is not just the skyline but a maze of streets and a mass of people.


Mvt. 7-The Dark Corner

This movement represents the hangover from Paul’s adventures in New York City. It has that sense of continued inebriation mixed with sickness. It can be viewed, too, as fantasy meeting reality. This is where Paul realizes he cannot escape “Cordelia Street” and all it represents. Hence, the ending theme from that movement appears. This is also when Paul realizes that he must leave, hence, the “Departure Theme” from the 5th movement. This movement is orchestrated to make it sound as alien as possible. The dissonance utilized here is very deliberate and quite logical.

Mvt. 8-Into the Immense Design of Things

This movement is obviously the culmination of the entire piece. There is an overall feel of incompletion throughout this movement where ideas generally cannot be formulated without interruption from other ideas. Important themes from throughout the extended piece come back in warped forms—backwards, interspliced, reworked in minor keys or different tempos. There should be a sense of struggle between the two forces introduced in the first movement. The themes representing society sound more powerful and focused, while the themes representing Paul sound weaker as they progress. The “Westward Theme” (the “East-Bound Theme” in reverse) that begins the piece, and is repeated throughout, should be hummed by as many people in the ensemble as possible to give it the feel of a work song or chain gang song. After the screeching climax, the piece ends with a depiction of death in musical terms and in terms of the “vocabulary” created within this symphony. Conceptual clues can be found from a close investigation of the score.

Conclusion

What you have before you is a very rough sketch of what the symphony sounds like. The recording was created from the notational software used to write the score and has more limitations than are worth discussing. I will point out that the software limited me to only 8 staves. While some composers would consider this a huge hindrance, I accepted the challenge of focusing on what was absolutely essential to the piece and did not allow myself to become over-indulgent. While the notes are all correct, the dynamics, the tone and the texture of the piece are limited by the software. This piece needs musicians to perform it and breathe life into the story it tells. I envision a small orchestra, perhaps a high school orchestra, performing it with a discussion of the story and the music.