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Abbie and William's Spring Tour 2006
Website with materials needed by our presenters
Our Tour Itinerary
This tour is made possible, in part, through the generous support of C.G. Conn -- the maker of Conn trombones.
These are the dates of the concerts. Abbie usually gives a masterclass the day of or after the performance.
March
2 March
4 -- University of Maryland, Baltimore County March 7 -- Drew University March 9 -- University of New Hampshire March 13 -- University of Hartford March 20 -- SUNY Potsdam March 23 -- Edinboro University of Pennsylvania March 28 -- Kenyon College March 29 -- Miami University, Ohio* April 3 -- Western Michigan University April 5 -- Central Michigan University April 9 -- Illinois State University April 12 -- Southern Illinois University
*At Miami Universtiy we will only perform Music for the End. The pictures on this page are stills from Cybeline
Our Program
Cybeline
Cybeline is a music theater work about a cyborg trying to be a talk show host to prove she is human. It is about nature, virtual reality, biotechnology, and the mass media -- about finding the heart and poetry in technology as it also contemplates its horrors. We explore our notion that the creation of a cyborg does not depend on the metalization of the body, but on the programmability of the mind. We live in a wired together, prosthetic world of global “cyberbia“ where our minds are programmed by the mass media. Since our minds are programmed, we are all cyborgs.
(For trombone and quadraphonic tape based on the the Book of Revelation.)
by William Osborne
The electronic music of the
surround sound creates a sonic environment in which the trombone is the
central figure. The work explores all aspects of the trombone, ranging from
expressions of "divine wrath," to wild rhythmic unisons with the
Four Horsemen, to the gentlest, meditative lyricism.
For longer program notes click here.
Sound and Video Clips
For videos, stills, an essay about Cybeline click here. For sound files from Music for the End of Time click here.
Program Notes
“Music
for the End of Time” is
a 50-minute work for trombone and quadraphonic electronics based on the Book
of Revelation. We used our
experience with music theater to attempt a kind of dramatic tone poem for
trombone and computer. We
explore all aspects of the trombone, ranging from symphonic expressions of “divine
wrath,” to wild rhythmic unisons with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,
to the gentlest, meditative lyricism.
These are the movements and the verses they are based upon: I.
A Door Was Opened in Heaven,
After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice
which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up
hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
(Rev. 4:1.) II.
The Sea of Glass And
before the throne was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of
the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before
and behind. (Rev. 4.6) III.
The Four Horsemen And
thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having
breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the
horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and
smoke and brimstone. (Rev. 9:17) IV.
As It Were A Trumpet Talking After
this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice
which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up
hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
(Rev. 4:1.) V.
The White Beast And
I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and
Hell followed with him. And power
was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and
hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. (Rev. 6:8) VI.
A Woman Clothed With the Sun And
there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the
moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
(Rev. 12:1 We were drawn to the Book of Revelation more by its rich imagery and symbolism than any sort of doctrinaire religious belief. At times, St. John’s writing is quite transcendental, but at others, its imbittered visions are almost insanely horrific. In this sense, parts of “Music for the End of Time” follow in the traditions of “crazy” composers as exemplified by Moussorsgky’s “Night On Bald Mountain,” Berlioz’s “Symphony Fantastique,” and some of the deeply bi-polar melancholy/exhuberance of Schumann and Mahler. In some cases, it is exactly this form of “folly” that allows for transcendental experience. We often found that the cinematic bias of MIDI technology was more useful for creating the large dramatic arch of "Music for the End of Time" than more advanced instruments like MAX/MSP and C-Sound. When approaching apocalyptic visions, which are often very violent, it is important to carefully consider their implications. On one hand, these visions have helped humans appreciate the extreme limitation of our existential condition in relation to the boundless majesty of the universe. But apocalyptic visions can also lead to misappropriated notions of divine justice, or even divine wrath that are anything but transcendental. Such visions are often not divine at all, but rather very human expressions of contempt and hatred for those we ourselves deem unworthy. In a world that seems to increasingly reflect imperialistic hubris, and in a world with increasing beliefs about the divinity of murdering others, the dangers of misappropriated apocalyptic visions should not be under estimated. Patriarchal transcendentalism tends toward recurrent cycles of ecstasy, revolution, destruction and lament. These polarities inform the arrangement of the movements in Music for the End of Time, and shape their cycles of light/darkness, drama/reflection, ecstasy/remorse. This is especially notable in “The Four Horsemen,” where a sort of symphonic intensity and lamentive reflection alternate like repeated charges of horsemen.
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