Infrared view of the Pleiades from the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Pleiades Visions (2012) takes inspiration from traditional lore and music associated with the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) star cluster from Australian Aboriginal, Native American, and Native Hawaiian cultures. It is based on research by the composer incorporating techniques from the fields of ethnomusicology and cultural astronomy. This large-scale work employs the organ’s vast sonic resources to evoke the majesty of the night sky and the expansive landscapes associated with the homelands of the cultures mentioned above. Other important themes in Pleiades Visions are those of place, origins, cosmology, and the creation of the world.
Matthew Whitehouse, organ
Aeolian-Skinner organ, Christ the King Episcopal Church, Tucson
Recording by Stan Kartchner
Movement I: Uluru
Aerial view of Uluru (Ayers Rock). Image Credit: Wikipedia.
The opening movement of Pleiades Visions situates the listener in the landscape surrounding Uluru (Ayers Rock), a large sandstone rock formation located in the central desert of Australia. It can be understood as a reflection on the experience of observing the Pleiades – and the spectacular Southern Hemisphere night sky – from the vast and remote landscape of the Australian Outback. The musical materials comprising “Uluru” arise indirectly from a melody associated with the Pleiades from the Pitjantjatjara people, an Aboriginal group native to the area surrounding Uluru. Like other Aboriginal peoples, the Pitjantjatjara believe that the world was created in the Dreamtime: a time-before-time in which totemic ancestors wandered the landscape, creating animals, natural features, and all aspects of human society. In the Pitjantjatjara culture, the Seven Sisters are considered to be Dreamtime heroes.
“Uluru” opens with a passage reflecting the vastness of the Australian central desert and the mystical nature of the Dreamtime. Following this expansive opening passage is a colorful section calling to mind images of the Pleiades themselves and the brilliant Southern Hemisphere night sky. This section leads into a large toccata comprising the bulk of the movement; this toccata evokes the majestic rise of Uluru over the surrounding landscape. The conclusion of “Uluru” reprises the opening material, now using full organ, reinforcing the movement’s depiction of the endless Outback landscape and brilliant desert night sky.
Movement II: …life on other worlds
Colorado River flood canals near Yuma, AZ. Image Credit: Getty Images.
The musical materials comprising “…life on other worlds” originate from a melody associated with a series of Pleiades songs sung by the Quechan (previously known as Yuman) Indians. This melody was identified by ethnomusicologist George Herzog, and influences the construction of the movement in an indirect and abstract manner. The Quechan are an American Indian tribe native to southwestern Arizona and southeastern California (the area near the town of Yuma, Arizona). The title refers to the Quechan belief that their ancestors had their origins in the Pleiades. “…life on other worlds” employs several unusual timbres to create the otherworldly atmosphere suggested by the movement’s title, and features solo melodies evocative of Native American flute music. The extramusical themes on which “…life on other worlds” is based are linked to historical notions of the Plurality of Worlds: the idea that the universe may contain many instances of life beyond Earth.
Movement III: Mauna Kea
The Keck telescopes atop Mauna Kea.
Image Credit: Laurie Hatch; courtesy W.M. Keck Observatory
The finale of Pleiades Visions creates a dramatic musical landscape reflecting the immensity of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Mauna Kea is the site of a major astronomical observatory, and its summit is the highest point in the Pacific Ocean basin. Mauna Kea is in fact a larger mountain than Mt. Everest, though much of the mountain is situated underneath the ocean’s surface. “Mauna Kea” is also a narrative journey through sequence of images depicted by the opening lines of the Kumulipo (see below), a Hawaiian creation chant. The overall trajectory of “Mauna Kea” reflects the building cosmological drama, evoking the creation of the world, in the chant text.
| The opening of the Kumulipo in Hawaiian (left) and English (right). | |
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O ke au i kahuli ka honua O ke au i kahuli lole ka lani O ke au i kuka’iaka ka la E ho’omalamalama i ka malama O ke au o Makali’i O ka walewale ho’okumu honua ia O ke kumu o ka lipo, i lipo ai O ke kumu o ka Po, i po ai O ka lipolipo, o ka lipo lipo O ka lipo o ka la, o ka lipo o ka po Po wale ho–’i Hanau ka po |
At the time when the earth became hot At the time when the heavens turned about At the time when the sun was darkened To cause the moon to shine The time of the rise of the Pleiades The slime, this was the source of the earth The source of the darkness that made darkness The source of the night that made night The intense darkness, the deep darkness Darkness of the sun, darkness of the night Nothing but night. The night gave birth… |
Martha Warren Beckwith, The Kumulipo: A Hawaiian Creation Chant (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai’i Press, 1972), 187 (Hawaiian), 58 (English).
The movement opens with a dark, sinister passage, suggesting the opening line of the chant text (“At the time when the earth became hot”). A large toccata ensues, pointing to the text “At the time when the heavens turned about.” This toccata grows in intensity, suggesting images of “rising” (“The time of the rise of the Pleiades”). A lyrical, expansive middle section follows, depicting the expansive view from the summit of Mauna Kea. This lyrical section leads into a brief transitional passage, in which angular lines and dissonant sonorities suggest the “darkness” and “slime” imagery in the middle lines of the chant. The drama continues to build in the powerful dance/toccata, whose juxtaposition of the organ’s low and high registers suggest the sheer size of Mauna Kea and the fact that much of the mountain is underwater. The dance/toccata gives rise to the concluding section of the movement, in which the full power of the organ is employed to suggest a breathtaking sunset view from the summit of Mauna Kea. The massive repeating chords in this final section point to the volcanic past (and future) of the mountain. Furthermore, the final stages of the movement create an “explosive” atmosphere, harkening to astronomers’ modern understanding of the Pleiades as containing, hot, young, massive stars. The conclusion of “Mauna Kea” highlights the final line of the chant text: “The night gave birth.”
Night view from the summit of Mauna Kea. The Pleiades are located up and to the right of the Moon (the bright object near the center of the image). Image Credit: B. McGrath; NASA/courtesy of nasaimages.org.