Work
Tathāgata
for string quartet
Buy or Borrow
Borrow/Hire:
To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.
About
"Tathāgata" is the term Goutama Buddha often used when referring to himself after his enlightenment. In Pali and Sanskrit, "tatha" is the "truth", and "āgata" is "to come", "arrived". (The noun buddha drives from "budh", which means "to understand".) As Buddha often said, he was a man, not a god or saviour and "...Tathagatas are only teachers... [who] point out the path...". He taught that it is up to us to make the effort ourselves to follow the right path. "Nibbāna" is the cessation of sorrow and suffering (in Sanskrit "Nirvana").
The String Quartet is in two contrasting movements. The structure, both overall and within movements, and many musical procedures, build on mathematical ideas. For the composer many layers of intention and personal history combine, but in performance the main impression is of struggle against conflict and discord, eventually overcome in exultant song in the First movement; the Second instead is contemplative, fugal, sometimes complex and intense, but finally resolving tensions and simplifying to end in an ancient cadence.
Maarire Goodall
Difficulty note
intermediate to advanced
Contents note
I. We shall overcome
II. Contemplating Nibbāna
Performance history
06 Dec 2008: Performed by Antony Verner (violin), Chloe Trever (violin), Amanda Verner (viola) and Aleisha Verner (cello) at the Stamps Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A