Mysterious Butterflies
Wind Ensemble
10'
10'
|
Premiere
University of Texas Wind Symphony Cheldon Williams, conductor April 5, 2019 Purchase Score & Parts Awards Winner, Wind Bands Association of Singapore Composition Contest 2019 Selection, Ball State University 50th Annual New Music Festival |
About
Mysterious Butterflies was commissioned by the Big 12 Band Directors Association. Mysterious Butterflies takes its title from Recollections of My Life by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1852-1934), a Nobel Prize-winning scientist who is widely considered the founder of neuroscience. Recalling the joy and exhilaration he felt while discovering brain cells under his microscope, he wrote: Like the entomologist hunting for brightly colored butterflies, my attention hunted in the flower garden of grey matter for cells of delicate and elegant forms: the mysterious butterflies of the soul, whose flapping wings may someday—who knows?—clarify the secret of mental life. When I first read this text, I immediately knew I wanted to set it for singers, which I did—for small choir with chamber ensemble—in the winter of 2017-18. I also loved the idea of using the same musical material in a purely instrumental piece for band by taking Cajal’s imagery and emotion and translating them into instrumental color and expression. Ultimately, I was deeply inspired by the idea that the human quest for understanding the mysteries of life can—even should—be beautiful and elegant, like a flower garden filled with butterflies. |