Abstract
A single-movement 30-minute work for chamber orchestra. First performances in Strathpeffer Pavilion, Inverness. Recorded on CD (with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll) by the Mahler Players, conducted by Tomas Leakey
Wagner's recorded ideas about symphonic composition in his final years suggest that he wanted to develop the genre in the direction of single-movement composition. This piece (connected to Matthew King's ongoing research into composition with sonata form) involved rigorous examination of Wagner’s late symphonic sketches (originally published in John Deathridge’s paper Richard Wagner’s Unfinished Symphonies (2006)) and piecing together a viable work, inventing appropriately rich and intricate harmony and orchestral texture in Wagner’s late polyphonic compositional idiom, and creating a complex motivic structure, using Siegfried Idyll as a model. The work represents a specific form of compositional/musicological research: a kind of speculative archaeology into Wagner’s late style and (fragmentary) ideas.
RESEARCH AREAS: Composition as stylistic adventure; reconstruction through stylistic elaboration and original composition; compositional archaeology; authorship and authenticity; originality and homage; Wagnerian sonata form; compositional modelling on Siegfried Idyll; constructing a viable artwork from fragmentary sketches; new creative perspectives on Wagnerian polyphony and orchestral technique; creative engagement with undiscovered aspects of Wagner’s late style.
Wagner's recorded ideas about symphonic composition in his final years suggest that he wanted to develop the genre in the direction of single-movement composition. This piece (connected to Matthew King's ongoing research into composition with sonata form) involved rigorous examination of Wagner’s late symphonic sketches (originally published in John Deathridge’s paper Richard Wagner’s Unfinished Symphonies (2006)) and piecing together a viable work, inventing appropriately rich and intricate harmony and orchestral texture in Wagner’s late polyphonic compositional idiom, and creating a complex motivic structure, using Siegfried Idyll as a model. The work represents a specific form of compositional/musicological research: a kind of speculative archaeology into Wagner’s late style and (fragmentary) ideas.
RESEARCH AREAS: Composition as stylistic adventure; reconstruction through stylistic elaboration and original composition; compositional archaeology; authorship and authenticity; originality and homage; Wagnerian sonata form; compositional modelling on Siegfried Idyll; constructing a viable artwork from fragmentary sketches; new creative perspectives on Wagnerian polyphony and orchestral technique; creative engagement with undiscovered aspects of Wagner’s late style.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |