Inferno Edit Draft 2, 12/9/11

Composed by Sherman Irby

43mins

(Composing Notes)

Please have someone to translate these titles correctlyOverture: Prologue (instrumental) (Ab min and Db) (1:45)

Title: Lost Short, 2 minutes long

Dante stumbling in woods; lost and delusional

Slow, starts with drums with cymbal roll and bass drum. (Scary)

Saxes, trumpets, trombones enter with sounds of night screams and calls; knocking of tree limbs

Trilling low horns give feeling of Dantes vertigo and confusion

Introduce 3 beasts (Leopard, Lion, She-Wolf)

Dante runs scared through the woods. Then he falls.

Solo baritone sax enters as Dante

The trombones enter as the voice of Virgil, his rescuer.

Light waltz, with upper woodwinds (clarinets) to represent 3 women;

End with ominous chord to signify the entry into the Gate of Hell

Movement 1: Circle 1 Limbo (5:11) (G maj)

Title: Casa dei non credenti House of Unbelievers* Trumpet fanfares (announcing the arrival of dignitaries to a party)

Polite society music-like a cocktail party in standard song form.

Flute and clarinet solos represent the innocent. (Un-baptized children)

Trombone solo represents those heads of state, scientists, poets, etc., who were not baptized or believed in other religions, but did no wrong.

In the final section, the second half transforms into something darker. (Based on the material from earlier the trombone solo)

Movement 2: Circles 2 & 3 Lust/Gluttony (5:03) (E min)

Title: La fame insaziabile Insatiable Hunger*

Sensual but sick.

Tenor sax plays melodic statement.

Drums and Bass enter with consistent rhythm (groove). Tenor sax represents female; the Trombone male

Trumpets and high woodwinds (Flutes/clarinets), like ecstatic screams. Trombones represent moans of lust.

The combined melodies represent an Orgy.

Soprano sax solo represents the cries of the woman.

Trombone plays a solo in the lower register representing the man taking control.

Return to the orgy with more heaving and moaning, rhythm is exaggerated on the 2nd and 4th beats. (backbeat)

Dante and Virgil walk away

Movement 3: Circles 4 & 5 Greed/Anger (instrumental) (8:00) (Gmin)

Title: Attenzione il lupo e il serpente - Beware the wolf and the serpent Medium to brisk tempo, ancient modal sound.

Boulders roll up and down hill, crashing into each other. Dante, represented by the baritone sax, questions what he sees.

Band divides into 2 factions, both are very angry.

This movement is virtuosic. Both bands are arguing with each other.

Soloists interrupt each other. Solos: Alto sax, Trombone, Trumpet.

Big, bombastic ending

Movement 4: Circle 6 Heresy (5:48) (C min)

Title: La Citt di Dite The City of Dis* Start with a drum roll representing the crossing of The River Styx. Dante hears the cries of the damned as he approaches the City of Dis.

Drums then play a seductive Arabian rhythm. The band plays music that sounds like traditional Arabian music. This represents the Muslim faith, which was considered heretical.

This rhythm represents pleasure and those heretics who believed that the soul dies with the body, and pleasure is the highest form of the human condition.

Occasional cries and screams remind us that the residents of Circle 6 are burning in their tombs.

Solos: Oboe and Flute.

Short final statement. Based on the oboe melody.

But at the very end we return to original melody, ending as we began, with trumpet and trombone moans.

Movement 5: Circle 7 Violence (instrumental)(8:30) (D min)

Title: Le tre teste serpente The Three-Headed Serpent Starts out with an army marching to war (sort of like the movie Cleopatra)

Trombones represent Violence against God, blasphemy and sodomy

Alto saxophones play a difficult line to represent Violence against yourself, particularly suicide. Dante (baritone sax) talks to Virgil about this part of the circle.

Dante cries in despair

Drums play a boisterous solo; tenor sax joins in frantic duet. Tenor line cues the rest of the band. This whole section represents Violence against others (murder and usury)

Melody is a blues based statement.

Solos: Tenor and Alto sax (fighting), Trumpet, and Piano

Backgrounds enter on last 2 choruses of piano solo. Before the end of the last chorus, Dante mourns again for the damned.

A surprise, dramatic punch

Movement 6: Circles 8 & 9 Fraud/Treachery (9:06 combined with piano interlude and Finale)

Title: il Grande Seduttore The Great Deceiver* Begins with a brass fanfare

1st section represents fraud. Band plays a Spanish habanera style, with saxophone leads; representing the story of Mohammad and Ali. Not a fuly developed form, as if dropping in on an ongoing conversation.

The buildup leads to the presentation of the lie. Saxes play a heart-wrenching melody, while the trumpets represent the underlying truth.

Bass and drums represent the 3 monsters guarding the gate to the 9th circle.

Very slow. Like walking in a blizzard. High woodwinds and brass illustrates the varied harsh conditions in the 9th circle. (Cold, windy, etc.)

High woodwinds pain; low brass sorrow; pauses represent the sharp intake when in pain.

Fast trumpet passages represent the damned answering Dantes questions.

Tempo doubles.

Dante encounters Lucifer. He is punishing Brutus, Cassius, and Judas.

The groove represents Lucifer chewing the 3 traitors. He enjoys the pain he is afflicting.

Tempo doubles again.

Dante and Virgil are running towards Lucifer. They run up his front, then down his back (Joes descending line). When they reach his waist, their perception changes. It looks like they are going up to his feet. The piano interlude ascends.

They arrive at the shores of Purgatory.

Finale: Arrival to Purgatory (Db)

Title: Le coste del Purgatorio Monte The Shores of Mount Purgatory** Dante and Virgil arrive at the shores of Purgatory.

This movement is a short baritone sax feature, based on the theme from the end of the Overture.

Dante is hopeful.

* With dancers

** Possibly with dancers