"The Three Gates" was composed during the first two weeks of March in 2007, shortly after Ford began reading Dante's The Divine Comedy. It is dedicated to the British composer and singer David Warin Solomons, a fellow member of the Delian Society. Ford's musical style in these three movements, the last two of which include the organ, was strongly influenced by his familiarity with the music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly the polyphony of Josquin and the operas and madrigals of Monteverdi, although elements drawn from composers as diverse as Gesualdo, Beethoven, and Liszt also come into play.
A video, with music performed by David Warin Solomons and images chosen by Joseph Dillon Ford, can be seen on youtube at
Joseph Dillon Ford was born in Americus, Georgia, USA. He attended Harvard University as a Variell Scholar, graduating in 1978, and subsequently pursued an academic career at public institutions of higher education in Miami, Florida. His strong background and interest in music history has long informed his creative work, although he composes in a wide variety of both traditional and emergent styles. In 2004, with a group of composer and performer colleagues, he founded the Delian Society, an international body of men and women dedicated to the rebirth of tonal art music.
Joseph Dillon Ford died, too young, in March 2017 and this score and performance are offered in his memory.