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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000020.txt from 2006/04

From: herb fawcett <herbgosia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] symphony update (DoubleReed)
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 16:26:39 -0400

Isn't a "cancrizan" canon the previously dubbed "crab" canon, which even
Bach was unable to make convincing?
Herb

On 4/9/06 12:27 AM, "Bear Woodson" <bearwoodson@-----.net> wrote:

> Hello, Everyone.
>
> I thought you might be interested to know that
> in the last 2 months, I've been busy writing a huge
> symphony, that I hope to make over an hour long.
> Most of the Main Themes from the First Move-
> ment have been "in my ears" for 25 years, or
> longer, but I am combining some of the New
> Fugal Techniques that I've Invented in the last 2
> years. Here is the scoring:
>
> Woodwinds in 3's
> 6 Horns
> 3 Trumpets
> Euphonium
> Tuba
> 1 Timpanist (4 Timpani)
> 3 Percussionists
> Harp and
> Strings
>
> planned movements and timings:
> I Moderato (20 to 25 minutes)
> (21 1/2 min. done by April 8, 2006)
> II fast and jaunty (10 min.)
> III slow (15 to 20 min.)
> IV fast (15 min.)
> (planning at least an hour in length)
>
> A few composers have been writing melodies in
> "Retrograde" ("backwards"), in "Inversion"
> ("upside-down"), and in "Retrograde-Inversion"
> (both "backwards and upside-down"), since the
> Renaissance.
>
> Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-1497) was the
> Renaissance Master who invented the "Cancrizans
> Canon", which is when you "overlap the Backwards
> Version of a melody with its own Original form, at
> the same time". Nowadays we'd call a "Cancrizans
> Canon" as a "Retrograde Canon", but I'd be hard
> pressed to name any other famous composer who
> has done this in Non-12-Tone Harmony. However
> I've written several, and all in Chromatic Modal
> Harmony.
>
> In like fashion it is possible to write "Inversion
> Canons" for which Bach and Mozart wrote a few,
> and I've written many. I never did like, nor use "12-
> Tone Formulae", and have used Chromatic Modal
> Harmony for ALL of my music, including these
> kinds of Canons.
>
> I've also written many "Retrograde-Inversion
> Canons", and even 6 of my "Quadruple Directional
> Stretto Fugues" (all 4 Directions of the Melody
> overlapping and harmonizing with itself, all at the
> same time) in various works. I did all of these
> Canons and 2 "QDS" Fugues in my "Josquin
> Fantasy" for Viola and Orchestra last year.
>
> Now in this Symphony I'm again doing all of
> these kinds of Canons and 2 more "QDS" Fugues
> in the end of this First Movement. I'm also trying
> to make it a type of "Concerto for Orchestra", by
> giving Long Solos to EACH Wind Instrument,
> String Section and First Chair String Soloist in
> the 4 planned movements. I've already done most
> of these Soles in the First Movement, including a
> few nice Solo Passages each for the First Oboe,
> First Bassoon, English Horn, and I deliberately
> wrote a Long Solo for the Contra Bassoon, that
> too often gets ignored!
>
> (I love the Bassoon Duos in the Shostakovich
> 10th Symphony and his Second Cello Concerto,
> but he omitted giving similar good solos to the
> Contra Bassoon. In the Bartok Concerto for
> Orchestra, he had the Contra Bassoonist switch
> back to playing 3rd Bassoon in the famous
> Bassoon Passage in the Second Movement, so I
> specifically gave the Contra Bassoon a good long
> solo! And I keep my "Third Woodwind" Players
> respectively on Piccolo, English Horn, Bass
> Clarinet and Contra Bassoon full time, so they
> don't switch instruments during any of my large
> works.)
>
> Also, in defiance of the Classical Era Tradition
> of letting the First Violins HOG the Melody most
> of the time, I, like many composers since the Early
> 20th Century, AVOID giving the Lead Melody to
> the First Violins. The Lead Melody is more evenly
> divided throughout the orchestra, although I do let
> the First Violins usually remain as the Highest
> Voice in the String Choir, when the Strings are
> accompanying some other instrument.
>
> I hope people will like this symphony, when
> it's done. It's full of lyrical, noble, heroic melodies
> that bring images of adventure and exploration to
> mind. But I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
>
>
> Bear Woodson
> Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
>
> "After all my years of study of Modern
> Harmony, Counterpoint and Form in Music,
> my actual composing is really just a matter of
> Taking Dictation from a higher power. When
> left to my own strengths, I am worthless,
> except as a musical scribe."
> - Bear Woodson, (2005)
>
>
>
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