Alfred Music

Apparitions Alfred Music

The concept of APPARITIONS was inspired by Walt Whitman' brief poem of the same name. The composition deals with both appearances (or apparitions) and true nature of an abstract idea. The three basic musical shapes which appear in APPARITIONS all share the pitch pattern of a falling fifth and a rising sixth. They are, in order of appearance: first, a sweeping wave of accumulating notes - a cold wind on a dark night - borrowed from the composer's first orchestra symphony; second, a musical quote from Schubert's song, THE ERLKING, in which a child pleads with his father to see an apparition which the father cannot see but which is terrifyingly real to the little boy; and third, a quote from a Luther/Bach chorale tune that outlines the falling fifth and rising sixth of the child's melody in Schubert's song. APPARITIONS may be performed by a symphonic band or wind ensemble. The wind ensemble will require two Bb clarinets per part and three flutes per part to comply with the divisi orchestration.