The poet borrows from the composer, and the composer from the poet. In music, meter, from the Greek word for “measure” is the framework for rhythm determined by the number of beats and their accents; in other words, the pulse. Rhythm is the composer’s interpretation and expression, the written matter; the notes within the specified meter. And it is the poet’s language, the words themselves that forge their own rhythmic life. Thus, we have the close alliance between music and poetry.
“Before Breathlessly Melting into Air” was composed in March and April of the year 2002, and the underlying concept and structure of the work is derived from this idea of the parallelisms between music and poetry. The work uses the four basic metrical “feet” or rhythms found in poetry, IAMB, DACTYL, TROCHEE, and ANAPEST. These rhythms (pulses) are used for the basic rhythmic materials for each of the four movements of this work, as well as, poetically, for the titles of each movement, which combined give us the title for the whole composition. It was commissioned by, is dedicated to, and premiered by the pianist and composer Duncan J. MacMillan.
The first movement (“Before”), uses the poetic pulse, IAMB, the basic pulse of all poetry. The iambic, or “heartbeat” rhythm, short-long, is one of the most natural and elemental rhythms known to man. Once established, the pulse can stop, be rendered to silence, and still be felt. Such is the power of this ancient pulse. The composer has taken license with the Greek “IAMB” in this work, making this the beginning of the piece, the statement “I am”, with the ensuing heartbeat rhythm throughout the movement. The harmonic scheme for the entire work is also based on “real and human elements”, a row, or series of tones, each one representing a letter of the alphabet. In this piece the row spells the name of the performer, and the one to whom the composition is dedicated, Duncan J. MacMillan; thus the tones C, F, Bb, B, A, Bb, Gb, A, A, B, A, F, Ab, Ab, A, Bb. This harmonic framework runs throughout and gives the work its musical language.
The second movement (“Breathlessly”), the DACTYL, is one of the two basic three syllable beats (feet) in poetry. DACTYL (the Greek word for finger) has the pulse long-short-short; corresponding to the human finger, with one long joint followed by two shorter ones. In a musical sense, this movement of the work demands a complex dexterous technique in an unrelenting rhythmic framework.
The third movement (“Melting”), based on the TROCHEE pulse, long-short, is the counterpart to the IAMB. This rather dark movement, musically, is a depiction, literally, of this pulse throughout. It is in the form of a Passacaglia, the recurring ground bass motif being the “Duncan J. MacMillan” row.
The final movement of this work, “into Air”, (ANAPEST), short-short-long, is the corresponding three syllable pulse to the DACTYL. “Anapest” in the Greek means “reversed”. This final movement is in many ways “reversed”. With the exception of a slower middle section over a basso ostinato, the mood is rather joyous and uplifting; the rhythm is reckless and uninhibited. This is in contrast to the more somber and “careful” nature of the first three movements. A short codetta accentuating a rising motion in fourths brings the work to a close, not with a crashing, pounding conclusion, but rather one that dissipates “into air”.
