Reference (Collection) [2005]
This piece was commissioned for the fiftieth anniversary of the Memorial Library at UW—Madison. In the earliest stages of the piece, as I was struggling to find texts, I was thinking of randomly selecting quotes from books throughout the library, but was agonizing over the process of 'randomly' selecting the books. Mimmi Fulmer suggested turning to Bartlett's Book of Familiar Quotations; so, ultimately the songs were composed of seventeen quotes about books and libraries.
The original program notes:
When I think about the Memorial Library, I am struck by an inescapable impression of the vastness of its collection. This piece attempts to capture that sense through the use of many quotations from a variety of sources. Most of the quotations comment on the value of books and libraries, but the set includes others as well—a curse against book stealers, the secret thoughts and desires of librarians, a wink from the composer, and an invitation to solace in the library. In the end, I think of the piece not so much as a monument to the Memorial Library but as a constellation—a constellation in the form of a library that itself offers comment on the variable places that books and libraries hold in our lives.
performances
Mimmi Fulmer with Elizabeth Marshall, flt., Pavel Morunov, ob., Andrew Waid, vla., and Jan Kolar, vcl.; Madison, WI (Fall 2004)
sound: A curse against bookstealers | score: A curse against bookstealers