Charles H Ruggiero

Now Welcome, Somer, with Thy Sunne Softe, for chorus and percussion, 1978
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Instrumentation: Chorus consisting of S (I-IV, 14 singers), A (I-II, 9 singers), T (4 to 6 singers), B (6 to 10 singers), Perc (8 Chrotale parts that may be performed by percussionists or non-singing members of the chorus), Pn (2 players), cond
Duration: ca. 10:00 min.

Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Softe - for Chorus, 8 Crotales, and Piano (1979)

Now Welcome, Somer, With Thy Sunne Soft is a composition for chorus, percussion, and piano, based on a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer. "Roundel" is a Middle English word which identifies the poetic form often called "rondeau," one of the formes fixes.

The composition is constructed in two large sections. In both of these sections, the first 17 members of the harmonic series on G unfold.

The work is based on two medieval musical ideas: "music of the spheres" and isorhythm. The former, a philosophical concept developed by ancient Greek philosophers and promulgated by medieval musical authorities, links musical harmony, as reflected in the proper tuning of musical intervals, with the harmony of the universe (i.e., the proper organization and workings of the planets, stars, days, seasons, etc.). The latter, isorhythm, is a compositional technique which was used during Chaucer's lifetime. In isorhythmic structure, a repeating rhythmic pattern, the talea, is applied to a repeating pitch pattern, the color. Generally, the talea is shorter than the color.

Chaucer's roundel welcomes the return of summer and reminds us of the eternal rotation of the seasons. Early in my creative process, the poem stimulated thoughts that led to the establishment of the following goal: to express musically the unity in such seeming opposities as timelessness and flowing time, permanence and flux, and eternity and temporality. This aesthetic goal accounts for the treatment of materials in the composition. Textural, dynamic, and rhythmic changes throughout create constantly fluctuating tension levels, but tonally, the composition is completely static.

The text of Chaucer's poem provides the main timbral resources of this work. Eleven vowels and 21 consonants have been isolated from the roundel and arranged into two ordered sets; these sets, comparable to the talea and color respectively, are linked in a manner analogous to isorhythm. Furthermore, the movement of the soprano and alto melodic lines is governed by a contour set. This set limits the directions in which a melodic line may move from one vowel to the next. For example, in the highest soprano part, the pitch of the vowel "e" always must be approached from below.

The length of the composition is determined by the isorhythmic plan. After 21 statements of the vowel set, the work ends.

This composition is dedicated to H. Owen Reed. (1979)

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