The Musician and the Mountaineer

for Clarinet, Voice and Piano

Commissioned by the Arts Association of Denmark

A setting of the poem, Figures On A Hill, by Diana Syder.

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email William Neil

…Right at the Moment…

I am looking forward to the premiere of Objets Trouvés on the Out of Our Minds Chamber Series in La Crosse, WI. Flautist, Jonathan Borja and pianist, Mary Ellen Haupert will interpret my musings around two found objects.

World War II was a dark time for the musicians, artists, writers who were silenced and forbidden to express freely. Many were ultimately murdered in the labor camps, their creativity lost to the world forever. The creation of this piece presented an unusual challenge for me, demanding a sense of empathy for artists that were in the shadow of oppression and persecution during this time. In preparing for this composing project, I searched the archives of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. for information about those that were silenced. I found two objects that fueled my imagination as they represented to me acts of defiance against their oppressors. The ink drawing entitled “A Brighter Future” was drawn by the Czech Jewish artist, Bedrich Fritta (1909-1945) while interned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Fritta created drawings and paintings that depicted the deplorable living conditions in the camps. I was captivated by this image with its clear expression of freedom beyond the barred window and the still life of the violin and musical manuscript suggesting the consoling power of art and music; a precious asset to those prisoners who endured the violence and starvation that ruled the camps. The second found object was a sketch composed by the Moravian composer, Gideon Klein (1919-1945) who was forced to abort his musical career when Czechoslovakia was invaded in 1939. He was murdered at Auschwitz in 1945 when the Nazi were busy retreating and hiding their atrocities by liquidating the camps and executing the prisoners. He composed and performed music while captive including a string quartet, a string trio and a piano sonata. He also composed this fragment, hidden from the Nazi and returned to Klein’s surviving family. This sketch of a twelve tone melody was never realized as a finished work for solo violin. By using it as a basis for my composition, I am giving a voice to a silenced composer. Fritta’s creation is manifest in my work through the quotation of the motive in Ab major depicted in the drawing. The construction of my composition is largely derived from the dual tonal-atonal nature of the music as it drives forward in thematic variations expressing the conflicting emotions of hope and despair. WN

Future Events

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2019

November 11th, Six Preludes for Piano Solo, , Live from WFMT, Martin Jones, piano WFMT Radio in Chicago,

July 26th, Spiritual Adaptation to Higher Altitudes for Clarinet and Vibraphone, ClarinetFest 2018, Corey Mackey, clarinet and Keith Lienert, vibraphone, Knoxville, KY

June 10th, Six Tangos for Piano Solo, , Live from WFMT, Giacomo Dalla Libera, piano WFMT Radio in Chicago,

May 15th, Commission, South Point High School, for symphonic band, Belmont, NC

April 11th, Love poem with a Knife, Pro Musica Concert Series, for two guitars, violin and soprano, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC

April 6th, Objets Trouvés for Flute and Piano, Out of Our Minds Chamber Series, Jonathan Borja, flute and Mary Ellen Haupert, piano Nola Starling Recital Hall, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

January 27th, 27 Birds and Canis Lupus: Lamentation for piano and saxophones and digital acoustics, with Laurent Estoppey, saxophonist, Cameron Art Museum, Wilmington, NC.

2018

November 9th, 6 Preludes for Piano, Martin Jones, piano, Radford University, Radford, VA

November 4th, (3pm) Cabaret Songs, Out of Our Minds Chamber Series, Ann Schoenecker, soprano and Mary Ellen Haupert, piano Nola Starling Recital Hall, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

October 12th and 13th, 12:15 PM Canis Lupus, International Wolf Symposium, Minneapolis, MN

October 7th, 7PM Six Tangos for Solo Piano, TheComposerStudio.Com-HouseConcerts, with Tom Gullion, April Dahl, and Bassem Elhassan, Castle La Crosse, La Crosse, WI

April 21 (7:30pm) The Waters are Shaking the Moon, Down to Earth,Out of This World, Ann Schoenecker, soprano and Mary Ellen Haupert, piano. Nola Starling Recital Hall, Viterbo University, La Crosse, WI

March 22nd (7:30pm) Out of Darkness into Light, UNCW New Music Festival, Univ. of NC, Wilmington, NC

March 18th (3pm) Spiritual Adaptation to Higher Altitudes, Corey Mackey, Clarinet, & Keith Leinert, vibraphone, Brodbeck Hall, Univ. WI, Platteville Performing Arts Center

March 11th (5PM) 3 Tangos, Between Italy and America, Giacomo Dalla Libera, piano, Sala SOSAT, Trento, Italia

2017

October 8th, (6pm) Four Tangos for Piano, Tango Society of Rochester, MN, William Neil, piano, Rochester, MN

September 23rd Premiere of A Feather in a Shell, a cycle of 6 songs on original poems, Paola Velvet, alto, William Neil, piano, Auditorium Convento dei SS Apostoli, Rome, Italy

July 15th (7:30PM) Concerto for Piccolo Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra, Fàtima Boix Canto’, Clarinet, The Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara, CA

May 27th (4PM) Prelude No. 3, Tango No. 1, and Nocturne No. 1, Giacomo dalla Libera, pianist
Morley College, London, UK

March 30th, Out of Darkness Into Light,
Pro Musica Ensemble
Cameron Art Museum
Wilmington, NC

2016

December 23rd, 8PMApril 11th, 2015 Project FourthStream Nostras Voces Concert Broadcast
, WFMT Radio in Chicago

November 13th, Project FourthStream CD Release Concert
Letihold Music, La Crosse, WI

November 6th Tango No. 1 for Piano and Clarinet
Mark Tollefsen, piano and Corey Mackey, Clarinet
Viterbo University Recital Hall
La Crosse, WI

September 18th, New Work
Project FourthStream with Issam Rafea, Oud
Benefit Concert for Syrian Refugee
In Tandem Theatre, Milwaukee, WI

2015

November 1st Twenty Seven Birds, Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano, William Neil, piano and digital acoustics
Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston, IL

October 24th Sinfonia delle Gioie, La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, La Crosse, WI

June 27th Green,White and Red Concert, William Neil piano,
Accademia della Musica
Santa Sofia d’Epiro, Italy

June 18th Piano Trio “Notte dei Cristalli”, Trio Malipiero, Padua, Italy

April 11th Nostras Voces with Project FourthStream, St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, Chicago, IL

2014
November 11th Project FourthStream, University of Wisconsin, LaCrosse, WI

September 26th Sound Design for Glass
Menagerie, Tandem Theatre Milwaukee, WI

January 27th Notte dei Cristalli, Cadoneghe, Italy

2013
November 26th We All Sing, Citywide Interfaith Thanksgiving Service, St. John’s Catholic Church Charlotte, NC

November 6th Where There is No Autumn, La Crosse, WI

August 25th Tango for Malgosia for guitar and cello, Gargnano, Italy

June 17th – World Premiere of Notte dei Cristalli , Crespano sul Grappa (VI), Italy

March 1-24th Sound Design for Beast on the Moon, In Tandem Theatre, Milwaukee, WI

February 2013 Twenty Seven Birds with Project FourthStream, Viroqua, WI

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The Musician and the Mountaineer

for Clarinet, Voice and Piano

Commissioned by the Arts Association of Denmark

Purchase Score

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