Abstracts

Floodgates

by Daniel J Knaggs




Institution: Rice University
Department:
Year: 2017
Keywords: composition; orchestra; mercy; Allegri; Miserere; King David; Psalm 151; quotation
Posted: 02/01/2018
Record ID: 2154548
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/1911/96057


Abstract

FloodgatesA composition for full orchestrabyDaniel Knaggs, D.M.A.Shepherd School of MusicRice University, 2017The present composition is written in response to the apparently escalating global crises in the political, economic, social, and cultural spheres. The current age finds itself in a sort of permanent warzone, too often seeking solutions in heated rhetoric, arms, and pointing fingers. However, in light of these problems, this works objective is not to simply vent or dwell in negativity. Instead, it points toward hope in an avenue that that the world has left largely unexplored: that of mercy.In order to musically incorporate the idea of mercy, this work includes quotations from Gregorio Allegris Miserere (c. 1630), a choral setting of Psalm 51 in which King David takes full responsibility for his crimes and faults while asking for mercy. The composition races through moments of both anxiety and determination, culminating in a climactic moment in which the floodgates burst and the orchestra evokes images of torrential downpour along with restatements from Allegris Miserere Finally, the present work is left somewhat open-ended or unresolved, in order to not prematurely celebrate what is still left up to the world to live out.Advisors/Committee Members: Gottschalk, Arthur (advisor).