Beth Anderson

Eighth Ancestor

Year: 1979

Duration (in minutes): 14'39;

Difficulty: Medium (college/community)

Category: mixed instrument ensemble, mixed instrument quartet, small chamber ensembles - 2 to 4 players

Instruments: alto, any female voice, any low voice, any male voice, any medium voice, any string, any voice, any woodwind, baritone voice, cello, flute, harp, harpsichord, piano, recorder, violin

Publisher: Self-Produced

Description: Performed at the ISCM World Music Days, Brussells. May be performed Fl or Vln, Cl or Ob, with cello and either piano or harpsichord.
The Eighth Ancestor is a character that I read about in a Zen book entitled SELLING WATER BY THE RIVER. This ancestor's message is that it does no good to be angry. The music, in an attempt to reflect this message, is not angry music. It resembles a lullaby and a hora. There are cut-ups of newly composed music and the general feeling is mixolydian- a white-key scale beginning on G. Composed later in 1980, it was my first giant step away from the decoding and magic squares of the avant-guarde aesthetic that had permeated my earlier work. I considered it melodic minimalism because the material was cut-up and rearranged and I called myself an avant-guarde romantic. The first performance was by the Del Barton Baroque Ensemble. It was also performed by The International Society of Contemporary Music in Brussels, Belgium. Brooklyn Baroque has recorded it for an MSR CD entitled "The Praying Mantis and the Bluebird" to be released 2013.