Product Description
My piece is called, "Poe's Christmas Eve Carousel Ride," a microtonal melody for Celesta and/or Flute/Voice, based on Edgar Allan Poe's Evening Star. I started with finding a poem. Once I did, I wrote a melody for it.I imagined Edgar Allan Poe sitting on one of the carousel horses as it was going around and around. While this was happening, he was looking up at the night sky and thought about how much he liked the evening star better than the moon's light. (The celesta is known for it's recognized sound in Tchaikovsky's, The Nutcracker Suite, The Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.). I figured out how to put it into a quartal tone key, thanks to google. Then I added microtonal notes in the melody, but it sounded bad. So, I removed those from the right hand, and kept the quartal tone pitches in the left hand chords instead. I liked this much better, since I am more of a tonal composer. I enjoyed writing the celesta accompaniment. Edgar Allan Poe had a horrific life. His father abandoned his family when he was young. His mother died when he was a child. After he was "adopted," although not legally, he had a falling out with his foster father, who alienated him and didn't let him know that his foster mother was dying. But, he did inform him after she died. Edgar married his cousin, Virginia Clem, who was 13 and he was 26. She died 11 years into their marriage due to tuberculosis. Thus, some writers say that all of his writings have a beautiful woman who died in his stories. He lost all of the women who loved him in his life. When you see his portrait, he has sad eyes, as someone who has suffered much. But, his writing has lived well beyond his lifetime of misery and heartache.the song symbolizes, not only Poe's poem, but his life, as very difficult, yet beautiful. "With me poetry has not been a purpose, but a passion." Edgar Allan Poe. Disclaimer: This song is written in a quartal or microtonal key signature, which is not a typical key signature. Thus, the celesta part will need to be played on a keyboard with the capability of tuning it to a microtonal key.
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