The Great Mirror
2019
for double vocal quartet
2S/2A/2T/2B
premiered by les Métaboles, Léo Warynski
as part of the Academy Voix Nouvelles of the Royaumont Foundation
Duration 12 min
The Great Mirror recreates the making of the encyclopedia of the same name by friar Vincent de Beauvais (1184/94-1264, Royaumont Abbey). His struggle to contain all information about the world in a single work is what serves as the core of this vocal piece for eight voices. It takes its immediate surrounding as its content (local animals, architecture of the concert venue, singers, audience, local music history) and takes varying systems of order to structure them. By exposing the processes of memory and summary on stage, the mechanisms of history become tangible. They are flawed, but ultimately the only measures to conserve what, according to de Beauvais is “worthy of contemplation (speculatio), that is, admiration or imitation”.
The Great Mirror - Version Royaumont [2019]
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Added on 24 August 2020
The Great Mirror
2019
for double vocal quartet
2S/2A/2T/2B
premiered by les Métaboles, Léo Warynski
as part of the Academy Voix Nouvelles of the Royaumont Foundation
Duration 12 min
The Great Mirror recreates the making of the encyclopedia of the same name by friar Vincent de Beauvais (1184/94-1264, Royaumont Abbey). His struggle to contain all information about the world in a single work is what serves as the core of this vocal piece for eight voices. It takes its immediate surrounding as its content (local animals, architecture of the concert venue, singers, audience, local music history) and takes varying systems of order to structure them. By exposing the processes of memory and summary on stage, the mechanisms of history become tangible. They are flawed, but ultimately the only measures to conserve what, according to de Beauvais is “worthy of contemplation (speculatio), that is, admiration or imitation”.
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