for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL<\/p>\n\n\n\n
duration: 10 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\nProgram Note<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint<\/em>, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a flutist, a drummer and a duck(!) – were unveiled to astonished Frankfurters in 1746, who were fascinated – and in some cases, deeply troubled – by their realism and functionality (the duck\u2019s most acclaimed feature was its apparent digestive system). The flutist, however, captured the imaginations of the German intelligentsia – especially the great flute virtuoso Joachim Quantz – with its astonishing technical ability. Yearsley, quoting Quantz, writes: \u201cWith skill a musical machine could be constructed that would play certain pieces with a quickness and exactitude so remarkable that no human being could equal it….but it would never move you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n“Bizarrie de varie Figure (1624),”Giovanbatista Bracelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nQuantz\u2019s musical prophecy was fulfilled just over two centuries later with the development of computer music in the 1940s and 1950s. With the possibility of a perfect, impossibly accurate realization of a given work, performers were now cast as an imperfect shadow of now quite visible Platonic form of technical virtuosity. In this new reality, musicians bore a new burden – they were now subject to the autocratic rule of technical perfection, machine-like accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAutomaton is a dramatization of this burden – a kind of passion play for the contemporary musician in which heartless, unrelenting machines roar, then slowly crumble as a distinctly human voice emerges from the ruins. The opening measures of the work are a theatre of impossibility: is the clarinetist breathing? can any other sound be heard above the loud mechanical percussion of the bass clarinet\u2019s large and cumbersome keys? And in the end: is that the sound of a human voice, or just a convincing reproduction?<\/p>\n\n\nGradone-Automaton-perusal<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Automaton for bass clarinet for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL duration: 10 minutes Program Note In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Program Note<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint<\/em>, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a flutist, a drummer and a duck(!) – were unveiled to astonished Frankfurters in 1746, who were fascinated – and in some cases, deeply troubled – by their realism and functionality (the duck\u2019s most acclaimed feature was its apparent digestive system). The flutist, however, captured the imaginations of the German intelligentsia – especially the great flute virtuoso Joachim Quantz – with its astonishing technical ability. Yearsley, quoting Quantz, writes: \u201cWith skill a musical machine could be constructed that would play certain pieces with a quickness and exactitude so remarkable that no human being could equal it….but it would never move you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n“Bizarrie de varie Figure (1624),”Giovanbatista Bracelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nQuantz\u2019s musical prophecy was fulfilled just over two centuries later with the development of computer music in the 1940s and 1950s. With the possibility of a perfect, impossibly accurate realization of a given work, performers were now cast as an imperfect shadow of now quite visible Platonic form of technical virtuosity. In this new reality, musicians bore a new burden – they were now subject to the autocratic rule of technical perfection, machine-like accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAutomaton is a dramatization of this burden – a kind of passion play for the contemporary musician in which heartless, unrelenting machines roar, then slowly crumble as a distinctly human voice emerges from the ruins. The opening measures of the work are a theatre of impossibility: is the clarinetist breathing? can any other sound be heard above the loud mechanical percussion of the bass clarinet\u2019s large and cumbersome keys? And in the end: is that the sound of a human voice, or just a convincing reproduction?<\/p>\n\n\nGradone-Automaton-perusal<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Automaton for bass clarinet for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL duration: 10 minutes Program Note In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint<\/em>, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a flutist, a drummer and a duck(!) – were unveiled to astonished Frankfurters in 1746, who were fascinated – and in some cases, deeply troubled – by their realism and functionality (the duck\u2019s most acclaimed feature was its apparent digestive system). The flutist, however, captured the imaginations of the German intelligentsia – especially the great flute virtuoso Joachim Quantz – with its astonishing technical ability. Yearsley, quoting Quantz, writes: \u201cWith skill a musical machine could be constructed that would play certain pieces with a quickness and exactitude so remarkable that no human being could equal it….but it would never move you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n“Bizarrie de varie Figure (1624),”Giovanbatista Bracelli<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nQuantz\u2019s musical prophecy was fulfilled just over two centuries later with the development of computer music in the 1940s and 1950s. With the possibility of a perfect, impossibly accurate realization of a given work, performers were now cast as an imperfect shadow of now quite visible Platonic form of technical virtuosity. In this new reality, musicians bore a new burden – they were now subject to the autocratic rule of technical perfection, machine-like accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAutomaton is a dramatization of this burden – a kind of passion play for the contemporary musician in which heartless, unrelenting machines roar, then slowly crumble as a distinctly human voice emerges from the ruins. The opening measures of the work are a theatre of impossibility: is the clarinetist breathing? can any other sound be heard above the loud mechanical percussion of the bass clarinet\u2019s large and cumbersome keys? And in the end: is that the sound of a human voice, or just a convincing reproduction?<\/p>\n\n\nGradone-Automaton-perusal<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Automaton for bass clarinet for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL duration: 10 minutes Program Note In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Quantz\u2019s musical prophecy was fulfilled just over two centuries later with the development of computer music in the 1940s and 1950s. With the possibility of a perfect, impossibly accurate realization of a given work, performers were now cast as an imperfect shadow of now quite visible Platonic form of technical virtuosity. In this new reality, musicians bore a new burden – they were now subject to the autocratic rule of technical perfection, machine-like accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Automaton is a dramatization of this burden – a kind of passion play for the contemporary musician in which heartless, unrelenting machines roar, then slowly crumble as a distinctly human voice emerges from the ruins. The opening measures of the work are a theatre of impossibility: is the clarinetist breathing? can any other sound be heard above the loud mechanical percussion of the bass clarinet\u2019s large and cumbersome keys? And in the end: is that the sound of a human voice, or just a convincing reproduction?<\/p>\n\n\nGradone-Automaton-perusal<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Automaton for bass clarinet for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL duration: 10 minutes Program Note In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Automaton for bass clarinet for Katie Schoepflin \/\/ premiered May 10, 2015; Chicago, IL duration: 10 minutes Program Note In Bach and the Meaning of Counterpoint, David Yearsley recounts the incredible tale of Pierre Demoulin\u2019s automata. The three automatons – a …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-236","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1057,"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/236\/revisions\/1057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}