Work
Onomastic Gymnastics
for two or more voices, with optional instrumental accompaniment
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About
This song takes inspiration from (among other things) medieval French songs or chanson to explore both quirky counterpoint, as well as highly structured poetic forms (like the rondeau) which offer an opportunity to play with rhyme, repetition, and wordplay.
‘Onomastics’ is the field of study around the history and origin of proper names, especially personal names. Thus, the lyrics of this rondeau meditate on the history and politics around the naming of people and places, especially as an agent of colonisation. This piece, then, reflects my continuing interest in anachronistically adopting historical musical forms and styles associated with either socio-political critique (e.g. medieval chanson) and/or spiritual reflection (e.g. liturgical music) to explore contemporary questions of society, politics and faith.
This work can be performed by any number of singers and/or instrumentalists. For choral performances, see the version of the score optimized for SATB.
Commissioned note
Commissioned by Steven Schick for the Breckenridge Music Festival
Dedication note
for Nicolee Kuester
Text note
text by Celeste Oram
Performance history
07 Aug 2019: Performed by Nicolee Kuester and Miki Sasaki at Breckenridge, Colorado, USA
06 Nov 2019: Performed by Barbara Byers, Celeste Oram, and Alex Taylor at UC San Diego, La Jolla CA
17 Jul 2021: Performed by Voices New Zealand (Karen Grylls, cond.) at Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland NZ