Most of my commissions are from ensembles and organizations, but
every now and then, I am commissioned by an individual to compose a piece for
someone in their lives. These commissions are often gifts to a parent, partner,
or child; sometimes a commission is in tribute to someone who has passed away. All
of the commissioners are looking for something meaningful that will relate to
their loved one. As I start each new project, I ask myself: what’s the best way
I can personalize this commission for its recipient?
I find the best approach is to learn as much as I can about the
person. If the piece is a surprise gift, then I have conversations with the
commissioner. What issues are important to the recipient? What are his/her passions? Are there any
particular events that have been important in his/her life? Some
commissioners prefer meeting in person or talking by phone; others write their
thoughts via email. If the recipient knows about the commission, then I greatly
prefer to have a conversation with the person.
There are a few pieces that I’d like to share that highlight
aspects of this process:
In Eleanor’s Words and String Quartet No. 3: Gaia
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| With Nadine and Tom Hamilton and the Biava Quartet |
One morning in 2006, longtime Washington D.C. residents Tom and Nadine
Hamilton were reading through the New York Times when they found an article about
how anyone can commission a piece of music. Tom’s mother Marget was about to
celebrate her 90th birthday; upon reading the article, they decided
to commission a piece for Marget in honor of this momentous occasion. One thing
led to another, and Tom and Nadine eventually got connected to me (it worked
out quite well – Tom attended Roosevelt University, where I’m on faculty). Tom,
Nadine, and I decided on Eleanor Roosevelt as the focus of the composition
because of Marget’s lifelong commitment to social issues. The resulting piece, In Eleanor’s Words for mezzo-soprano and
piano, featured six movements, each with text chosen from Mrs. Roosevelt’s My Day newspaper column that ran from 1935-1962. Mezzo-soprano
Buffy Baggott and pianist Amy Briggs premiered the piece at Roosevelt
University in a private event for the Hamilton family and guests around the
time of Marget’s 91st birthday.
In 2007, Tom contacted me again; this time, he wanted a piece for
Nadine. He also intended for the piece
be a complete surprise. I asked Tom to
write up a description of Nadine. What I took away from Tom’s essay was a
strong-willed, loving wife with a great sense of humor and who embraced life to
its fullest, particularly in light of the fact that she was a cancer survivor. I chose Gaia
as the topic, as Mother Earth represents these qualities to me. To link Nadine
in a more direct manner to the music, I took the “a” and “d” from Nadine’s name
and made this into a rising perfect 4th motive that spans the entire
quartet. While the Hamiltons weren’t able to make the Biava Quartet’s premiere of String Quartet No. 3: Gaia in Moscow, Idaho in January 2009, they flew out to Chicago for its second
performance at the Norton Building Concert Series in Lockport, Illinois later that
year.
String
Quartet No. 4: Illuminations
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| With Susan and Nicholas Yasillo and the Cecilia Quartet |
Sanctuary
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| With Barbara Garrop and the Lincoln Trio |
The most recent was a commission from my mother, Barbara Garrop. She
attended a performance of String Quartet No. 4: Illuminations given by the Avalon Quartet, and loved the idea of a
personal commission. She commissioned me to write a piano trio in memory of my
father, who passed away a little over thirty years ago. This project proved to be the most
challenging. How do you write a piece to
depict someone who has been gone for so long? I can’t ask him about his
passions and interests; my own memories of my father are scattered and dim with
age. So I gathered together old pictures, letters, and objects that had belonged to him, as well as talked at great length with my mother. I also tried searching the web
for additional clues about his life, but as he died right on the cusp of our current
computer age, there was very little material online to mark his existence. Ultimately,
the piece became about the search itself; the first movement (Without) presents a young child
searching everywhere for her lost parent, whom she finds in the second movement
(Within) within the sanctuary of her
own heart. The Lincoln Trio premiered Sanctuary in November 2013 with lots of
family in attendance, including my mother and sister.
As these personal commissions have significant meaning for the
commissioners, I carry the commissioners’ involvement further than just the
commission itself. I ask all to write the dedication line for the first page of
the score. Some of these commissioners get artistic with this: Nick Yasillo
quoted a line from a poem of Robert Browning, whereas my mother chose a line
from a Shakespeare sonnet. I also occasionally ask the commissioners if they
can help with the crafting of the piece’s program note. Susan Yasillo wrote a
significant portion of String Quartet No. 4’s program note, with wonderful
descriptions of the five illuminated plates as well as the historical background
of Books of Hours. Tom Hamilton, who recently commissioned me to write a
voice and piano piece when Nadine passed away, wrote a beautiful tribute to his
wife that we used as program notes for the premiere performances (to read his
tribute, click here to go to my website, then open the header called Dirge without Music).
Personalizing a commission is a very rewarding experience, not
only for the commissioners, but for myself as well. I love being able to give
something unique to the recipients of commissions, and hopefully the piece will
be something that they’ll want to hear again and again. In the case of Sanctuary, the piece had an unexpected
benefit of helping me to gain some closure on the loss of my father, something
I hadn’t realized I needed until I started composing the piece.
