David Del Tredici Final Alice “Acrostic Song”

About Del Tredici Prominent neo-romantic composer “recognized as the father of the neo-romantic movement” Has composed in many genres, including: Orchestral works, chamber works, piano works, melodrama/theater

What others say about Del Tredici Copland: [Del Tredici] is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene. I know of no other composer of his generation who composes music of greater freshness and daring, or with more personality. New York Times (of a performance of ‘Child Alice’) “To ask Mr. Del Tredici to moderate his excesses would be to request a falsification of his basic purpose. Excess is the point. The musical substance matches: it is Mahlerian excess squared.”

Some neat people.

The “Alice Works” 1968: Pop-Pourri 1969: An Alice Symphony 1969: Illustrated Alice 1969: In Wonderland 1972: Vintage Alice 1975: Final Alice 1980: Child Alice 1984: Virtuoso Alice 1994: Heavy Metal Alice

Why Alice in Wonderland? “Del Tredici has already shown his fondness for surprising juxtapositions of seemingly unrelated material in Pop-Pourri; with Gardner's book, he had a wealth of highly contrasting material, all of which related directly to the Wonderland world.” -from daviddeltredici.com (maintained by Boosey & Hawkes)

Performances of Acrostic Song (from “Final Alice”) Harry Christophers and the Sixteen (vocal recording) No version that matches the score is readily available (there is an instrumental version on Del Tredici’s website scored for wind ensemble.

Interesting Features Acrostic – “Whisper Chorus” spells Alice’s full name, matching the first letter of each line of text. Scoring oddities – Piano and tubular bell do not follow the tonality of the rest of the piece. Piano/Bell ‘chimes’ get longer, then shorter to match the climax of the piece Gradual drift from tonality into increased dissonance – following text.

Score example – acrostic (whisper chorus, soprano, piano, tubular bells)

Text of “Acrostic Song” from Final Alice A boat ‘neath a sunny sky Ling’ring onward dreamily In an evening of July Children three that nestle near Eager eye and willing ear Pleased a simple tale to hear Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and mem’ries die: Autumn frosts have slain July, Still she aunts me, phantom-wise Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes. Children yet the tale to hear Eager eye and willing ear Lovingly shall nestle near. In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream Ling’ring in the golden gleam- Life what is it but a dream?

Issues using just MIDI Whisper chorus/vocal line are unreproducible Many special effects in score (harmonics, use of mutes, etc.) Incredibly detailed phrase shaping in the score Irregular score printing in original text

Excerpt from available score. (note performance directions, irregular time signature placement. Also of note – the entire score is in concert pitch…)

Solutions Cubase – adding whispered/sung parts is far more simple in Cubase than in Finale (using the Place Audio tool) Exporting MIDI data from Finale would give a passable framework when working in Cubase.