Songs of a Once Winged Cadaver (2005)
to Ryan Burress
Duration: 20:00
for female vocals, male vocals (with effects), alto sax, tenor sax, electric guitar, bass guitar, turntables & sampler (1 player), piano, and tonmeister

These songs are the result of double inspiration. I found Thade Correa’s cycle of poems so moving in their lyric precision and emotional expansiveness, I felt I had to set them. Having recently experienced the loss of my father-in-law (June 2004) , Frank Horne, I was looking for some sort of way to engage myself, through music, in the thoughts of death and suffering. Correa’s poems resonated with my own thoughts about life and death and of the suffering that is inherent in the loss of a loved one. As Correa’s cycle was itself inspired by Joel-Peter Whitkin’s photograph Woman Once a Bird, I too was absolutely taken over by the profundity of the image of the cadaver, bereft of arms and without wings. Feelings about the horror and grotesqueness of the subject in reality (a dead body as the source of matter for the artist) and the beauty and stunning nature of what came across in the composition of the photograph (a once winged woman) guided the tone and emotional thrust of this piece.

This piece is dedicated to Ryan Burruss, who inspired me to dig deep within myself and sound out the most resonant spaces within my musical self. Our shared passion for technology and music drove the composition of this piece.


Interactive Score

Premiered: February 24, 2005 Rhonda Frick, Female Vocals Rafael Hernandez, Male Vocals Stacy Wilson, Alto Saxophone Dana Booher, Tenor Saxophone Tony Lanman, Electric and Bass Guitars (8-string Guitar) Ryan Burress, Turntables & Sampler Joseph Sheehan, Piano Charles Latshaw, Conductor Auer Hall Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana