A LITTLE RENAISSANCE MUSIC

Composed: 1996
Premiere:  Bennington Chamber Music Conference and Composers’ Forum, Bennington College, Bennington VT, August 17, 1996
Duration: 12 minutes
Instrumentation:  violin, oboe, clarinet, cello, double bass

PROGRAM NOTES

Rondeau Squared follows the rondeau form of the 13th century French Trouvères which, simply put, exploited the alternation between chorus and soloist and had two thematic ideas. My contemporary version is elaborated so that each section of the large rondeau form is, in itself, a small rondeau form.
Five Part Canon is a five-voice strict canon, with two voices in augmentation, which evolves through tonal and non-tonal harmonies. It culminates in a stretto before the final coda.