Joseph Stillwell
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Music for a Forgotten City
2010 | orchestra | Op. 12

Picture
duration: 11:30
​

winner of the 2010 James Highsmith Composition Competition


Program Note
I began writing Music for a Forgotten City in January of 2010. My aim was to compose a piece rich in color and atmosphere but still true to my interest in motivic and formal integrity. Part of the challenge I gave myself was to see how much I could simplify my musical materials. The result is a piece built almost entirely on a single, distinctive seven-note scale. The melodic materials share the same simplicity and unity. 

As for the title, I wanted to portray the sense of an ancient or mythical presence awakening from deep below a modern skyline, echoing through the streets and reflecting off the buildings; the timeless nature of a place coming alive, interacting with and informing its own modern incarnation.  The piece is indebted to a dear friend and fellow composer, Jeffery Parola, whose music pointed me toward an aesthetic I long had been searching for.

premiered 1 May 2010 by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra


Instrumentation
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
English Horn
2 Clarinets in B-flat
Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
Contrabasson

4 Horns in F
3 Trumpets in C
2 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba

Timpani

Percussion 1: Crotales and Xylophone
Percussion 2: Vibraphone and Suspended Cymbal
Percussion 3: Marimba and Triangle

Harp
Piano

Strings

  • Home
  • Performances
  • Bio
  • Works
    • by Chronology
    • by Genre >
      • Band
      • Chamber
      • Choral
      • Orchestral
      • Piano
      • Vocal
    • by Title >
      • Apologue
      • Ave Maria
      • Clarinet Quartet
      • Fantasy Pieces
      • Interlude
      • Lyric Music
      • Morning Hike
      • Music for a Forgotten City
      • Nocturne No. 1
      • Pete's Petite Suite
      • Sonata notturna
      • Saxophone Quartet
      • Songs of Love and Solace
      • Soprano Sax Sonata
      • String Quartet No. 1
      • Terra tremuit
      • Triptych
      • Two Motets >
        • Ave Regina coelorum
        • O nata lux
      • Two Overtures >
        • Harbinger
        • Jaunt
      • Two Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
  • Media
    • Audio
    • Video
  • Contact