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This piece was commissioned in the Fall of 2020 by Thomas Kidwell in Madera, California. The reason for this commission was that, from his research, there was no substantial or easily accessible sheet music or recordings for the music of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The brief story behind the music is that at one point, someone extensively examined the gown of the Virgin Guadalupe, and believed that it was a piece of music. Thus, the melody that is heard and written in this piece is the melody that was believed to be found on the actual gown. This means that the melody is also believed to be a divine composition, but never really had an interpretation or significant setting put to it.

It was my job to compose this piece in a way that captured the intent and mood of the piece in the way it was originally intended, as a meditative, spiritual, and emotionally evoking piece. To capture this, I used pleasing dissonances throughout in order to create a sense of continuousness with the occasional resting cadence to add more stability and assist in evoking the non-verbal story. I thought about using electronics originally, but the issue that I had with this, is that it was not something that could be as personal and accessible as writing for a live and common instrument. The conclusion was to write for organ with flute stops. The use of the flute stops was to keep the gentle character of the piece, as well as not to be too overbearing that it interrupts the meditative session of the individual(s). The first half of the piece is organ only, and the second half is cello solo, with organ accompaniment. The choice to use a cello seemed fitting, as it could gently blend with an organ and maintain the gentle character, along with the ability of a cello to fill the acoustic space of a room.

The Music of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Organ and Cello)

$10.00Price
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