Divided Together: An Open Work

There are certain circles within the music world that hold firm to the belief that this art form is of the purest and most abstract, and should remain so, while others think music should remain open to as many people as possible. Within the context of the 21st century, the later positon has become increasingly important to adopt, not only for the continued success of this art form, but to inspire and motivate positive change in the world. The current project under consideration, titled Divided Together: An Open Work, was created with a focus on an issue affecting every person in this country, gun violence, through the lens of gender. The piece achieves this focus by using direct material and references on the issue, while also conveying an aesthetic atmosphere of conflict and tension. Though the piece is rather free/open in certain aspects of …show more content…
However, this formula is not followed strictly, with the piano playing a few cycles of the chaconne in the second tableau and in the third tableau everyone has access to the material and free to realize bits of the chaconne material on their own. This is to create an ambiguity with who or what is in control of the chaconne, ultimately brining this question for the audience to walk away with asking or answering. This ambiguity does not stand as an anomaly, in fact, it harkens back to a theme in Pierrot lunaire, in which the main character is setup to display traits that were historically coded as masculine and feminine, and a blur occurs with trying to categorize the person who is enacting both sides. The chaconne is the first major figure that is heard (played by piccolo and cello), establishing all this tension between high and low, feminine and masculine, from the onset of the piece until its