Eric Whitacre
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Musical Background
Whitacre began his musical training while an undergraduate at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It was here that he wrote his Ghost Train triptych for concert band, which has come to be one of his most beloved works. He would go on to study at the Juilliard School under John Corigliano and David Diamond, eventually receiving a Master's Degree.Music
In the past decade, Whitacre has become one of the most famous and often-performed composers in America. Many of Whitacre's works for high school and college wind ensemble have entered the standard repertoire, including October, Sleep (a transcription of his choral work of the same name), and Equus.Whitacre has also written a multitude of choral works, some of which utilize texts by E. E. Cummings and Mexican poet Octavio Paz. His "Water Night", translated from the original poem of the same name, is very popular among high school and college vocal ensembles across the country. Also popular are his settings of texts by Cummings: i thank you god for most this amazing day, i will wade out, and hope, faith, life, love
Another of his works, Sleep, was originally a setting of Robert Frost's Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening. After extensive legal battles, he was forced to discontinue use of Frost's text, and turned to poet and friend Charles Anthony Silvestri to craft a new text to fit the already existing music. Silvestri's text was inspired by watching his son fall asleep. When asked about the possibility of again using Frost's poem for the piece when it entered the public domain (in 2038), Whitacre stated that "[he] will NEVER use the Frost poem again with [the music for "Sleep"]"; additionally, Eric has gone on to say that he prefers the music with Silvestri's poem instead of Frost's.
The text for another of his works, Five Hebrew Love Songs, was composed at Whitacre's request by his Israeli wife, Hila Plitmann, a fellow Juilliard graduate, while on tour in Germany before they were married. The pitches of the "bongs" in movement four, "Snow," are the exact pitches of the bells that woke them each morning. The music of movement four is strongly related to that of another of his pieces, "Winter."
In 2004, Eric premiered his first work for stage, Paradise Lost. The show is only very distantly related to Milton's Paradise Lost. Eric calls Paradise Lost an "opera electronica"; the music is a mixture of many different styles of music including trance, classical, electronica, and traditional opera.
Related Projects
Whitacre's music - particularly his music for choir - has inspired the creation of a number of national and international music festivals. In July 2004, the Sydney Opera House hosted the first annual Eric Whitacre Wind Symphony Festival. In late July of 2007, Venice and Florence, Italy will host the first Venice Whitacre Festival, which will include a fully-staged performance of Paradise Lost.
Outside of his freelance work, Eric is a founding member of the consortium BCM International, a quartet of composers consisting of himself, Steven Bryant, Jonathan Newman, and James Bonney, who, according to their mission statement, aspire to "enrich the wind ensemble repertoire with music unbound by traditional thought or idiomatic cliché". BCM International's online discussion forum, which features participation by all four BCM members and others, dissects various topics related to music.
Works
Brass Ensemble
- Lux Aurumque
Concert Band
- Equus
- Ghost Train Triptych
- * The Ride
- * At the Station
- * Motive Revolution
- Godzilla Eats Las Vegas! †
- Noisy Wheels of Joy
- October
- Sleep (Choral Transcription)
- Lux Aurumque (Choral Transcription, transposed a semitone lower from E to E flat)
- Cloudburst (Choral Transcription)
Choral
- A Boy and A Girl ** (poem by Octavio Paz)
- Cloudburst * ** ++ (poem by Octavio Paz)
- Five Hebrew Love Songs ++ (poem by Hila Plitmann)
- Her Sacred Spirit Soars ** (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
- Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine * (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
- Little Birds ++ (poem by Octavio Paz)
- little tree (poem by E. E. Cummings)
- Lux Aurumque * ** (poem by Edward Esch; translated into Latin by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
- She Weeps Over Rahoon ++ (poem by James Joyce)
- Sleep * ** ++ (poem by Charles Anthony Silvestri)
- This Marriage ** (poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi)
- Three Flower Songs
- *I Hide Myself * ** (poem by Emily Dickinson)
- *With a Lily in Your Hand * ** (poem by Federico García Lorca)
- *Go, Lovely Rose * ** (poem by Edmund Waller)
- Three Songs of Faith (poems by E. E. Cummings)
- *i will wade out * **
- *hope, faith, life, love * **
- *i thank You God for most this amazing day * ** ++
- When David Heard * ** (from II Samuel 18:33)
- Water Night * ** ++ (poem by Octavio Paz; translated by Muriel Rukeyser)
- Winter + (poem by Edward Esch)
** collected on the album Cloudburst and Other Choral Works (Hyperion Records 2006), performed by Polyphony, conducted by Stephen Layton.
+ collected on the album Winter (Clarion 2005), performed by The Choral Project
++ collected on the album Water and Light (Clarion 2003), performed by The Choral Project
String Ensemble
- Lux Aurumque
- Water Night
Theatre
- Paradise Lost: Opera Electronica
Other Arrangements
- Rak HaHatchala (Only the Beginning), for soprano voice, solo violin, piano and wind ensemble
External links
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