“Text as the Basis for Text-less Music: 11th Century Poetry Meets a 21st Century Composer,” a symposium sponsored by Elon University's Department of Music with contributions from the Department of English, takes place Sept. 13-15 to address the way in which instrumental music evokes, interprets and represents poetic texts, and the process by which composers craft “abstract” sounds from written sources.
A new work for solo piano by composer Christopher Dietz served as the primary impetus for the event. Titled “Five Reflections on the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam,” Dietz chose five verses from Khayyam’s celebrated collection and wrote music that evokes the poems’ spirit, images and emotions.
Text printed on the music score is projected or recited during a live performance. The symposium will feature the following events:
Faculty recital: Omri Shimron, piano
Features a world premiere performance of Five Reflections on the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam.
Other works on the program include sonatas by Scarlatti and Haydn, Schumann’s Arabeske, and Chopin’s Ballade in F minor, op. 52.
When: Monday, Sept. 13, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Where: Whitley Auditorium
Free Admission
Lecture Demonstration: Omri Shimron, with guest composer Christopher Dietz
An introductory overview on the work’s materials, style and reflections on the connections between text and music.
When: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010
Time: 9:20 – 10:20 a.m.
Where: Yeager Recital Hall (Center for the Arts)
Panel Discussion with Music Department Students and Faculty
Guest panelists: Kevin Boyle, English Department Chair, Christopher Dietz, composer.
When: Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010
Time: 4:15 – 5:15 p.m.
Where: Whitley Auditorium
Christopher Dietz holds a Ph.D. in music composition and music theory from the University of Michigan. He has previously taught at Hillsdale College and Oberlin College and is currently on faculty at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. In addition to the events listed above, Dietz will lecture in a Form and Analysis class and meet with Music Technology majors involved and interested in music composition.
The poems on which this piece is based (by Omar Khayyam, translated from Persian to English by Richard Le Gallienne):
I. Daylight
Wake! for the sun, the shepherd of the sky,
Has penned the stars within their fold on high,
And, shaking darkness from his mighty limbs,
Scatters the daylight from his burning eye.
II. The Coldest Lover
While still thy body’s breath is warm and sweet,
Follow thy pleasures with determined feet,
Ere death, the coldest lover in the world,
Catches thee up with footsteps still more fleet.
III. Nothing in the World
If in this shadowland of life thou hast
Found one true heart to love thee, hold it fast;
Love it again, give all to keep it thine,
For love like nothing in the world can last.
IV. Cradle Song
The grave of beauty is its cradle too.
And new is old, and old is ever new,
Little grows great, and great grows small again,
And I to-day — perchance to-morrow You!
V. When the Stars Come
How wonderfully has the day gone by!
If only when the stars come we could die,
And morning find us gathered to our dreams, —
Two happy solemn faces, and the sky.