CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY
Transcript of CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY
![Page 1: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
i
CHAMBER SYMPHONY
BY
MICHAEL SWEENEY
Submitted to the faculty of theJacobs School of Music in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree,Doctor of Music,
Indiana UniversityMay, 2015
![Page 2: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
ii
![Page 3: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
iii
Accepted by the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Music.
________________________________________________________Sven-David Sandström, Chairman of the Research Committee & Director of Document
________________________________________________________W. Claude Baker
________________________________________________________Don Freund
![Page 4: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
iv
![Page 5: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
v
C hamber Symphony
- 2 0 1 4 -
M I K E S W E E N E Y
![Page 6: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
vi
Chamber Symphony was originally going to be a different piece, called Episode. Here was the idea. (and by telling you all this, I trust you to understand that most of this concept doesn’t exist in the piece anymore, except for a couple things I’ll talk about, so don’t go looking for it. Just don’t do it!)
I was going to take an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and use it as the form for the piece. Specifically, the episode “The Buzz Aldrin Show,” one of my favorites, and one of their all time best. The episode is chock full of all the good little interconnected bits you’d expect from Monty Python, and so I was confident that the piece would be suitably bizarre and full of short juxtapositions, but somehow still hold together cohesively.
So I began sketching. First, like every good composer who is short on actual melodic ideas, I decided to spell out “Monty Python” in note names, using a hodgepodge of note-to-letter techniques. M=mi, O=do, N=G (French System), T=ti, Y=D (Fr.), P=Bb (Fr. and I decided to add a flat), Y and T like before, H=B (in German), O and N as before too. So you get E C G B D Bb D B B C G. Turned out to be sort of a fun motive with lots of 3rds, so it went in.
Second, I started writing music for a couple of sketches from the episode. It begins with a cartoon showing a verdant morning scene, into which creeps a caterpillar that is actually a man in a trenchcoat and hat with a mustache (the man, not the hat). He bumbles along the leaf, muttering, enters his house, and goes to bed under some covers. Time elapses. Eventually his alarm clock goes off, and a resplendent butterfly that looks like Liberace emerges. The opening of the piece paints that scene, with morning
music and the contrabassoon playing little muttering lines.The other major part was based off of an image from
the “Architect Sketch,” where John Cleese explains to some investors his plan for an ultra-modern block of flats that would “carry the tenants in extreme comfort past murals depicting mediterranean scenes, toward the rotating knives.” The investors inquire if he’s planning to slaughter their tenants, to which he responds, “Does that not fit in with your plan?” The musical image in the piece is the conveyor belt, represented by the undulating bassline that starts after the morning music.
After that, other ideas didn’t take off, and I had a problem: the caterpillar, rather than morphing into Liberace, wanted to morph into the conveyor belt. So now I had to get from the morning music into the conveyor belt music. And I felt it needed more time to make that transition than the fast pace set by the short sketches. Long story short, it wasn’t working. That’s when I ditched the Episode idea, and suddenly the piece clicked. The rest of the piece just grew out of the pre-existing materials and where they wanted to go. So there you go.
Now, in every piece of music, there’s always compromise between a composer’s initial plan and the way the materials want things to go, but this time, the materials sort of hijacked the proceedings and forced me to toss my plan. Not that that’s a bad thing, but that kind of uncertainty can be scary. One of my favorite cartoonists, Lynda Barry, describes her creative process as “being able to stand ‘not knowing’ long enough for something alive to take shape.” In Chamber Symphony, I can safely say there was plenty of “not knowing” on my part.
P R O G R A M N O T E S
Mike Sweeney, April 2015
![Page 7: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
vii
I N S T R U M E N T A T I O N
Flute / PiccoloOboe / English HornClarinet in BbContrabassoon
Horn in FTrumpet in CTromboneTuba
HarpPiano / Celesta (one player)
Percussion 1 - 2 Suspended Cymbals (Small And Medium)*, Medium Bass Drum*, Medium Tam-Tam*, 5 Temple Blocks*, Vibraphone*, Marimba
Percussion 2 - Vibraphone*, 5 Temple Blocks*, 2 Tom-Toms, 2 Bongos, Medium Tam-Tam*, 2 Suspended Cymbals (Small And Medium)*, Medium Bass Drum*, Chimes, Glockenspiel
* may be shared
Violin 1Violin 2ViolaVioloncelloContrabass
CONCERT SCOREInstruments that sound at the octave or double octave are notated at their written pitch.
![Page 8: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
viii
![Page 9: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
![Page 11: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
![Page 12: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
![Page 13: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
![Page 14: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
![Page 15: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
![Page 16: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
![Page 17: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
![Page 18: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
![Page 19: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
![Page 20: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
![Page 21: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
![Page 22: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
![Page 23: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
![Page 24: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
![Page 25: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
![Page 26: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
![Page 27: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
![Page 28: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
![Page 29: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
![Page 30: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
![Page 31: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
![Page 32: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
![Page 33: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
![Page 34: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
![Page 35: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
![Page 36: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
![Page 37: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
![Page 38: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
![Page 39: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
![Page 40: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
![Page 41: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
![Page 42: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
![Page 43: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
![Page 44: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
![Page 45: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
![Page 46: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
![Page 47: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
![Page 48: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
![Page 49: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
![Page 50: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
![Page 51: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
![Page 52: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
![Page 53: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
![Page 54: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
![Page 55: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
![Page 56: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
![Page 57: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
![Page 58: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
![Page 59: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
![Page 60: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
![Page 61: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
![Page 62: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
![Page 63: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
![Page 64: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
![Page 65: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
![Page 66: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
![Page 67: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
![Page 68: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
![Page 69: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
![Page 70: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
![Page 71: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)
![Page 72: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/72.jpg)
![Page 73: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/73.jpg)
![Page 74: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/74.jpg)
![Page 75: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/75.jpg)
![Page 76: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/76.jpg)
![Page 77: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/77.jpg)
![Page 78: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/78.jpg)
![Page 79: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/79.jpg)
![Page 80: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/80.jpg)
![Page 81: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/81.jpg)
![Page 82: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/82.jpg)
![Page 83: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/83.jpg)
![Page 84: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/84.jpg)
![Page 85: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/85.jpg)
![Page 86: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/86.jpg)
![Page 87: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/87.jpg)
![Page 88: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/88.jpg)
![Page 89: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/89.jpg)
![Page 90: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/90.jpg)
![Page 91: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/91.jpg)
![Page 92: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/92.jpg)
![Page 93: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/93.jpg)
![Page 94: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/94.jpg)
![Page 95: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/95.jpg)
![Page 96: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/96.jpg)
![Page 97: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/97.jpg)
![Page 98: CHAMBER SYMPHONY BY](https://reader031.fdocuments.us/reader031/viewer/2022020706/61fc975e82475c5e7e72ae07/html5/thumbnails/98.jpg)