Daniel Elder - "Muse"

"Muse" by Daniel Elder

Music Copyright ©2020 by Walton Music
Recording Copyright ©2019 by Jacob Narverud

World premiere performance by Òran (Kokopelli Choir Association), Katy Luyk, conductor, at Choral Canada's Podium 2018.

Purchase sheet music here: https://www.giamusic.com/store/resource/muse-print-ww1808

Recorded by the Tallgrass Chamber Choir, Jacob Narverud, conductor.

Feminism, especially how we see it manifested in discussion about the arts, can all too often seem like nothing but a struggle, and painful to all. Female musicians everywhere fight for their voice. In a field whose historic figures are mostly male, we wonder how to fit today's hard-fought equality into perspective. One may worry that history isn't changing fast enough, or, in dark moments, that it hasn't changed at all. And as with any push, there is an inherent elasticity best described by the adage ‘two steps forward, one step back,’ not solely in a society’s resistance to change but also in a movement’s search for its own place. Sometimes we push too hard or at the wrong time, inspiring (even warranting) backlash. Other times we don’t push enough, enabling and preserving the status quo. What is too often left unexpressed in the heat of this intellectual battle, however, is celebration. Affirmation. An acknowledgement of the strides taken and the strides imminently promised—and not just by women in the arts but by the blind beauty of all artists seeking the same indiscriminate goals. In a new century that sees us dangerously flirting with the false dichotomy of ‘black and white,' it is encouraging to note the bold adventurers who seek the gray journey to reach across boundaries; not only the men who recognize and use their strengths to better the world for all, but also the women who fearlessly embrace their abilities and choose not to construct their own glass ceiling. Composers, I believe, are uniquely qualified to lead the charge.

The Muse has always existed, visiting the ancient and modern artist alike in moments of seemingly divine inspiration:

The Muse sees beyond age; we merely accumulate wisdom over a lifetime to place its voice in context.

The Muse sees beyond education; rather we teach ourselves over a lifetime to be able to best understand its voice.

The Muse sees beyond ethnicity; instead we learn to speak the same truths in our own diverse ancestral voices.

The Muse sees beyond gender; It heeds no policy, it does not discriminate, it does not silence.

There is no divide, no limit to whom the Muse may speak. And therefore I humbly have approached this subject to depict a certain hero—or specifically, a heroine—who has stumbled upon an encounter with this very Muse. It is the divine chase; the much-sought-after inspiration and the patient wait for the true, instant spark that determines when art is born. Silvestri’s original text is an epic narrative of the delicate courtship of this Muse, uniquely and powerfully informed by the historical burdens all women have carried on their shoulders: Silence. Fences. The search for a voice, and the uncertainty that anyone will hear it. She is the echo of her ancestor, the seamstress, weaving pure inspiration into the ‘warp and weft’ of her masterpiece. Yet she is also the future of her kind, seeking to speak for those who cannot, and to add her voice to the ‘chorus of the ages.’

This work describes, in its own composition, another composition being created; the search for inspiration, its exact moment of conception, and the magic that is created thereafter. Just as with feminism's struggle to find its perspective in music, the composer in this story is grappling with patience. At first this manifests as a silent pause; 'awaiting a cue' to begin. It seems as though the empty page conspires to silence her voice as she sees 'barbed-wire fences' in the blank staff lines. The music exists already, in another language, pounding in her ears, but crippling self-doubt encroaches. This uncertainty builds to the absolute breaking point, and it is at this moment that the Muse finally appears. 'And then the music flows again,' spilling out onto the silent paper at a feverish pace. There is no longer anything but the room in which she writes, hearing and dictating her own heart, free at last of doubt. What follows is a silence of a different sort; a contentment and a humbling view of the whole world of possibility. Perhaps the struggle is not over, not for all women in all places, but she has at least seen a sacred place without fences—for just a moment—in the glow of her own realized power. This epic battle of wills is represented by the rhythmic relationship of four against three. The entire work progresses from a soundscape entirely in three to one entirely in four as her voice rises from defeat to victory. The interaction in between is the essence of her journey.

Видео Daniel Elder - "Muse" канала Daniel Elder