ANIMAL-THEMED VOCAL MUSIC

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BESTIARIUS
(The Book of Monsters and Creatures)

for alto / mezzo-soprano and ensemble

Duration:
11 minutes

Instrumentation:
alto / mezzo-soprano, flute/piccolo, clarinet,
bassoon, violin, percussion (2), harpsichord

Year Composed:
1995

Poems By:
Dan Pagis

Poems Included:
1. The Elephant
2. Armchairs
3. The Mosquito

Language:
Hebrew

Written For:
Ayelet Carmon

Premiere Performance:
7 July, 1996
Jerusalem, Israel
Ayelet Carmon, mezzo-soprano
Roni Shifrin, flute/piccolo
Roni Barak, clarinet
Eyal Street, bassoon
Michael Zuckerman, violin
Dafna Gan, harpsichord
Pamela Jones and Alex Nemirovsky, percussion
Lior Navok, conductor

ensemble music animals theme

THEMES:

Satire

Program Notes:

The Bestiarius (Bestiary) was a common book during the Middle Ages. It contained illustrations of animals, some real and some imaginary. For example, the phoenix was introduced through the Bestiaries. In his Bestiarius, Israeli poet Dan Pagis introduces six "animal" poems, from which I chose three. The text, filled with humor, gave me the opportunity to compose music that often creates a bold contrast to the written word.

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VIEW SCORE

Score of Bestiarious for alto and ensemble