Hebel (הָ֫בֶל)

Chamber

| 2017 |

Life is a vapor; here today, gone tomorrow.

At the beginning of the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon brings this sobering reality of life into the spotlight of his opening statement: "Everything is a vapor!"  

The Hebrew word employed by Solomon here is הָ֫בֶל, or "hebel", which literally means a breath or a vapor; something which appears and then immediately dissipates. 

Composed for a quartet of horns as part of the Advanced Composition course in Juilliard's Evening Division, this is my first foray into working solely with the modern horn. 

The goal was not harmonic or theoretical complexity, but rather, to build one "super-instrument" from four separate-but-identical parts. The nature of the horn makes this very difficult, as it is actually comprised of  multiple horns tuned to each harmonic series. 

Wrapped in a presentation of modal swells and material which appears and never returns, orchestral cohesion was the primary priority in illustrating the yearning for more resounding in Solomon's statement.

 

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