An Unaware Cosmos

Complete Work Title: 

An Unaware Cosmos — modular cycle for multiple soloists and chamber ensembles


Performance Medium: 

various soloists and mixed chamber ensembles of two to six instruments (see below for details).


Movements: 
  • Que sçay-je?, for solo Eb clarinet
  • A Splendid Torch, for solo piccolo trumpet
  • ...e pur si muove, for solo violin
  • A Noble Ideal, for solo xylophone
  • Unweaving a Rainbow, for viola (or violin, or violoncello) and piano
  • The Illusion of Permanence, for violin and violoncello
  • Celestial Teapot, for percussion (vibraphone, crotales, tam-tams) and piano (or harp)
  • Blind Watchmaker, for contrabassoon and 2 percussion (4 woodblocks, 4 log drums)
  • A Fleeting Symmetry, for guitar, harp, and harpsichord
  • On the Perimeter of Ignorance, for piccolo, celesta, and flexatone
  • A Delicate Geometry, for voice (countertenor or mezzo-soprano), electric guitar, and accordion (or harmonium or positive organ)
  • La Contagion sacrée, for trumpet, horn, trombone, and percussion (optional, one player: afuche, sand blocks, or rattle)
  • Pascal's Fallacy, for saxophone quartet (SATB, ATTB, AAAA)
  • Glorious Accidents, for 4 woodwinds (double-reeds and/or saxophones)
  • Transient Dominion, for Flugelhorn (or trumpet), bass trombone, piano, and percussion (tom-toms, cymbals, tam-tam)
  • Shadows on the Horizon, for string quartet
  • The Indelible Stamp of Our Lowly Origin, for four contrabasses
  • La vanité des superstitions, for alto flute, English horn, bass clarinet, horn, and bassoon
  • Die Tyrannei der Mehrheit, for low brass (four parts, up to four players per part, drawn from bass trumpets, euphoniums, tubas) and percussion (2 to 4 players: chimes, tam-tams; gongs, bell plates, and almglocken, ad libitum)

Duration: 

variable (c.10:00-30:00+)


Dedication: 

A celebration of humankind’s quest for knowledge through skepticism and critical inquiry, and to those freethinkers who have devoted their lives to such noble pursuits.


Date Composed: 

2012-18


Performance Information: 
  • The individual modules in this cycle are mutable, allowing for the resulting music to be fragmented, dislocated, suspended, disrupted, and penetrated in often unpredictable ways, and exploring a variety of relationships—timbral, spatial, conceptual, structural—both within and between modules.
  • A performance of An Unaware Cosmos should include at least three modules; however, some modules may be performed independently (e.g., Unweaving a Rainbow, Que sçay-je?, The Illusion of Permanence).

Additional Information: 
  • This work was supported in part by a faculty fellowship from the University of North Texas Institute for the Advancement of the Arts.
  • Finalist, NYC Contemporary Music Symposium at Columbia University 2022 ("Unweaving a Rainbow").
  • Eight modules published in the January 2016 issue of ink&coda, an online journal of prose and music.

Performance/Broadcast History: 
  • 15 March 2024, Friday Morning Musicale (Tampa, FL) —CAMPGround24 Festival; realization with six modules: A Splendid Torch, A Noble Ideal, …e pur si muove, Unweaving a Rainbow, Celestial Teapot, The Illusion of Permanence.

    Contemporary Art Music Project — Arda Cabaoğlu, trumpet; Sini Virtanen, violin; Sebastian Stefanovic, viola; Laura Usiskin, cello; Kevin von Kampen, percussion; Eunmi Ko, piano.

  • 18 March 2022, Ball State University (Muncie, IN) — 21st Century Guitar Conference; realization with five modules: A Noble Ideal, …e pur si muove, Unweaving a Rainbow, Celestial Teapot, A Fleeting Symmetry.

    Ball State University New Music Ensemble; Brent Nichols, conductor.  

  • 13 May 2019, Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (Brno, Czech Republic); realization with four modules: Unweaving a RainbowA Delicate GeometryQue sçay-je?, A Noble Ideal.

    JAMU student and faculty performers, with guest artists Heidi Dietrich Klein (voice) and Richard Shuster (piano).

  • 11 May 2019, Liszt Academy of Music (Budapest, Hungary); Unweaving a Rainbow
  • 7 April 2019, FUGA Center of Architecture (Budapest, Hungary); Unweaving a Rainbow.

    Eszter Krulik, violin; Richard Shuster, piano.

  • 28 October 2018, Southern Methodist University, Caruth Auditorium (Dallas, TX); realization with six modules: A Fleeting Symmetry, Celestial Teapot...e pur su muove, A Noble Ideal, The Illusion of Permanence, Unweaving a Rainbow.
  • 27 October 2018, University of North Texas, Voertman Concert Hall (Denton, TX); realization with six modules: A Fleeting Symmetry, Celestial Teapot, ...e pur su muove, A Noble Ideal, The Illusion of Permanence, Unweaving a Rainbow.

    The International Contemporary Ensemble — Pala Garcia, violin; Katinka Kleijn, violoncello; Daniel Lippel, guitar; Nuiko Wadden, harp; Jacob Greenberg, piano/harpsichord;  Nathan Davis, percussion.

  • 26 October 2018, University of North Texas, Murchison Performing Arts Center WInspear Hall (Denton, TX) [premiere performance of complete cycle].

    The International Contemporary Ensemble, UNT faculty and student performers, and guests.

  • 28 November 2017, University of North Texas (Denton, TX); realization with five modules: Que sçay-je?Celestial TeapotOn the Perimeter of Ignorance, Blind WatchmakerThe Illusion of Permanence.

    Nova Ensemble.

  • 21 October 2015, Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (Brno, Czech Republic); realization with eight modules: Transient DominionUnweaving a RainbowThe Indelible Stamp of Our Lowly Origin, Celestial TeapotLa contagion sacrée, Blind WatchmakerThe Illusion of Permanence, Shadows on the Horizon.

    Joseph Klein, JAMU student ensembles.

  • 18 March 2014, University of North Texas (Denton, TX); realization with three modules: Transient DominionUnweaving a RainbowThe Indelible Stamp of Our Lowly Origin [premiere].

    Joseph Klein, UNT faculty and student ensembles.


Program Notes: 

The history of art, music, and literature through the ages is rife with works rooted in their respective cultural mythologies; in contrast, the influence of science and mathematics on the arts has been primarily theoretical in nature (e.g., the overtone series and musical temperament, the golden ratio in ancient Greek architecture, tessellations in Moorish tile work, or the introduction of perspective in Renaissance painting).  Only during the past half-century or so have such paradigms—as manifestations of objective reality—served as a basis for artistic expression. 

While my own work has regularly drawn upon models and metaphors from mathematics and the sciences as an expression of the natural world, I have become increasingly compelled in recent years—in part as a response to the preponderance of works that extol the pervasive mythologies of our present culture—to create a work that pays homage to those freethinkers who have devoted their lives to the pursuit of truth, many of whom suffered persecution and punishment by the authorities of their respective eras.  In that spirit, An Unaware Cosmos was conceived as a celebration of humankind’s quest for knowledge through skepticism and critical inquiry, as well as a rebuke of the tribalism, superstition, and sophistry that continue to characterize much of our society well into the 21st century.  Concepts relating to cosmology, evolutionary biology, and genetics—as well as aspects of materialism, existentialism, humanism, and other nontheistic philosophies—have informed this modular work for multiple soloists and mixed chamber ensembles.

The polyvalent and mutable arrangement of the nineteen modules that comprise this cycle are intended to explore a variety of relationships—timbral, spatial, conceptual, structural—both within and between modules. In performance, music from these distinct modules is combined, fragmented, dislocated, suspended, disrupted, and penetrated, often in unpredictable ways. This approach to form suggests an Eternalist model of time, whereby all possible events theoretically exist, while our ability to experience them is restricted to the present moment; thus, any given realization of An Unaware Cosmos is simply one of a potentially limitless number of ways the work may unfold.  Applying this concept to the listening experience challenges our teleological assumptions regarding musical form, which are themselves the result of centuries-old cultural biases.

An Unaware Cosmos was supported in part by a fellowship from the Institute for the Advancement of the Arts at the University of North Texas.  The complete cycle was premiered on 26 October 2018 at the University of North Texas Murchison Performing Arts Center.