2001

for chamber ensemble

By:

• Michael Norris

Duration:

06' 00"

Instrumentation:

B flat clarinet, bass clarinet (with low C), french horn in F, bass trombone, cello, double bass

Samples

	Score (106k)	Pages 1-4	© Michael Norris
	Recording (467k)	0:33 - 1:33
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Availability

• This work has 2 scores, 1 Media on Demand and 2 recordings

Media on Demand

Programme Note

According to legend, St. Vitus was the Christian son of a pagan senator of Lucania, Italy. He was known for his miracle-working, although his father tried to make him abandon his faith, through sometimes violent means. He fled with his tutor Modestus to Rome, where he was taken to exorcize the evil spirits from Emperor Diocletian’s possessed son. This he did, and yet, because he remained steadfast in the Christian Faith, he was once more tortured along with Modestus and his nurse Crescentia. By a miracle an angel brought back the martyrs to Lucania, where they died from the tortures they had endured.

Vitus reflects this legend by setting out a slowly modulating tetrachord articulated by the strings and brass, which the woodwinds ‘torture’ by means of completing the full chromatic gamut of pitches in sweeping moments of violent dissonance. The central section suggests an episode of St Vitus Dance, also known as Sydenham’s Chorea and Rheumatic Chorea, a temporary disorder of the brain that manifests itself in continuous, involuntary jerking movements.

Commissioned:

Written for 175 East

• 175 East

Difficulty:

Advanced

Dedication:

dedicated to 175 East

• 175 East

Performance History

	20 May 2001	Performed by 175 East
		175 East
	17 Jun 2001	Performed by 175 East
		175 East
	27 Apr 2006	Performed by GateSeven, conducted by Justus Rozemond, at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Wellington
		Justus Rozemond
	28 Apr 2006	Performed by Gate Seven conducted by Justus Rozemond at Pataka Pacific Arts and Cultural Centre, Porirua
		Justus Rozemond
	29 Apr 2006	Performed by Gate Seven conducted by Justus Rozemond at Paekakariki Community Hall
		Justus Rozemond
	13 Aug 2009	Performed by 175 East conducted by Hamish McKeich at The Basement, Auckland
		175 East    Hamish McKeich
	15 Aug 2009	Performed by 175 East conducted by Hamish McKeich at St Andrew’s on The Terrace, Wellington
		175 East    Hamish McKeich