For chamber ensemble and bass-baritone
Music composed by Anthony L. Sanchez (b. 1988)
Copyright © 2024 by ZEKE SPILLED INK MUSIC (ASCAP), Savannah, GA
Features musical quotation from "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Public Domain)
Poem Text by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918, Public Domain)
Photo by British Library on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-o...
Audiovisuals edited using Audacity and YouCut.
Performers:
Victoria Bethel and Geoffery Wood, B-flat trumpets
Jacob Reeves, trombone
Christopher William Gurtcheff, tuba
John Cooper and Nicholas Lindell, violins
Christopher Williams, viola
Jacob Hood, cello
Washington Isaac Holmes, bass-baritone
Stephen Medlar, drum set
Joshua Todd Manuel, conductor
Recorded March 17, 2015 in Dancz Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA
Tracks:
0:00-2:17 I. Fanfare of Premonition
2:18-4:19 II. Conflict
4:19-9:29 III. An Honorable Death (?)
9:30-13:03 IV. Resolution and Armistice
Program Notes:
I composed this cyclical four-movement work in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Although the piece alludes to key events and developments (the assassinations of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the evolution in combat through machine guns and poison gas, etc.), I did not intend for The Great War to serve as a historically accurate interpretation. Instead, I chose to create a reflection on the artistic reactions to World War I through music and poetry. Following this path, I drew inspiration from the Classical pieces of the time period (The Rite of Spring from 1911 by Igor Stravinsky [1882-1971] and the opera Wozzeck from 1917 to 1921 by Alban Berg [1885-1935]. I also included a musical quotation of the United States national anthem and elements from early jazz via the "Twelve-Bar Blues," which became popular by 1917.
The instrumentation in this piece changes by movement. The brass quartet represents the Axis Powers (mainly Germany), while the strings represent the Allied Powers. Throughout The Great War, the chamber ensemble gradually expands in instrumentation and sound (more like the last movement of the Haydn "Farewell" Symphony, only backwards). The drum set represents the combat used in World War I (bombs, machine guns, and poison gas).
The Great War also includes a musical setting of the poem “Dulce et decorum est ” (1917-1918[?]) by British poet and soldier Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) in the third movement entitled "An Honorable Death (?)" The text, scored for bass-baritone, depicts an unspecified account of a poison gas attack on a troop of Allied Infantry soldiers. The poem graphically describes the physical and mental effects of fighting after the unspecified speaker/singer recalls the death of one soldier (portrayed by the viola) by poison gas. He also comes to reject the Romanticized notion about combat. I find this poem bitterly ironic because Owen was killed in combat one month before the Armistice.
Music composed by Anthony L. Sanchez (b. 1988)
Copyright © 2024 by ZEKE SPILLED INK MUSIC (ASCAP), Savannah, GA
Features musical quotation from "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Public Domain)
Poem Text by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918, Public Domain)
Photo by British Library on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-group-o...
Audiovisuals edited using Audacity and YouCut.
Performers:
Victoria Bethel and Geoffery Wood, B-flat trumpets
Jacob Reeves, trombone
Christopher William Gurtcheff, tuba
John Cooper and Nicholas Lindell, violins
Christopher Williams, viola
Jacob Hood, cello
Washington Isaac Holmes, bass-baritone
Stephen Medlar, drum set
Joshua Todd Manuel, conductor
Recorded March 17, 2015 in Dancz Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA
Tracks:
0:00-2:17 I. Fanfare of Premonition
2:18-4:19 II. Conflict
4:19-9:29 III. An Honorable Death (?)
9:30-13:03 IV. Resolution and Armistice
Program Notes:
I composed this cyclical four-movement work in 2014 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. Although the piece alludes to key events and developments (the assassinations of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, the evolution in combat through machine guns and poison gas, etc.), I did not intend for The Great War to serve as a historically accurate interpretation. Instead, I chose to create a reflection on the artistic reactions to World War I through music and poetry. Following this path, I drew inspiration from the Classical pieces of the time period (The Rite of Spring from 1911 by Igor Stravinsky [1882-1971] and the opera Wozzeck from 1917 to 1921 by Alban Berg [1885-1935]. I also included a musical quotation of the United States national anthem and elements from early jazz via the "Twelve-Bar Blues," which became popular by 1917.
The instrumentation in this piece changes by movement. The brass quartet represents the Axis Powers (mainly Germany), while the strings represent the Allied Powers. Throughout The Great War, the chamber ensemble gradually expands in instrumentation and sound (more like the last movement of the Haydn "Farewell" Symphony, only backwards). The drum set represents the combat used in World War I (bombs, machine guns, and poison gas).
The Great War also includes a musical setting of the poem “Dulce et decorum est ” (1917-1918[?]) by British poet and soldier Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) in the third movement entitled "An Honorable Death (?)" The text, scored for bass-baritone, depicts an unspecified account of a poison gas attack on a troop of Allied Infantry soldiers. The poem graphically describes the physical and mental effects of fighting after the unspecified speaker/singer recalls the death of one soldier (portrayed by the viola) by poison gas. He also comes to reject the Romanticized notion about combat. I find this poem bitterly ironic because Owen was killed in combat one month before the Armistice.
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