for Saxophone ensemble (SATBariBass)

In the fall semester of 2018, Susquehanna University’s composition studio combined with the French language students to create a memorial concert for the centennial anniversary of World War One. The language students translated a collection of French letters from the war, from which the composition students selected as inspiration for a group of new pieces. Last Breath is based off of Marcelle Capy’s 1916 letter entitled “Peace to the Dead.” Capy accuses the French people of celebrating the deaths of German soldiers while the atrocities of the war are brushed to the side or even romanticized. The letter’s angry criticism is channeled in my music with harsh, mocking interruptions between the five saxophones. Marcelle Capy ends the letter in mellow tones of mourning, which is imitated in the gradual progression from shocking chaos to somber submission.

I composed Last Breath almost entirely backwards, creating a long, drawn out evolution of melody over the piece’s duration. The music begins in chaos but ultimately develops into a simple, tonal melody and harmony before it fades out into nothing. The final alto sax solo, written first, is taken apart, altered, and distorted, inspiring most of the music that precedes it. A ‘bell-tone’ motif reoccurs periodically throughout the piece- in the beginning as a brief introduction, and later as a harmonic accompaniment.

The bass sax is the first to sound a jarring minor third, the first hint of what will eventually become the final melodic line. Soon after, the soprano sax cries out, foreshadowing the final melody, but is drowned out by the screaming multiphonics of the other saxes. The noise halts abruptly, as if Capy herself shouts “Enough!” Free atonality then reigns, hinting at different twelve-tone rows but without fully committing to serialism. As the rhythmic energy dies down, the entire ensemble unites with pure, classic dodecaphony, slowly creating a sense of structure from the chaos. In the manner of Alban Berg’s music, the rows are carefully crafted around each other to create a hint of tonality, allowing the sound to blend and settle into traditional harmony. The prime row is finally played as the rest of the ensemble rises and falls somewhat chromatically, abandoning serialism, like a final sigh of unrest before drifting into consonance. This Liberation from Dissonance is only brief, as the voices quickly fade out one by one until nothing is left but a faint ringing in the ear.

Emma Mooradian, Soprano Sax

Jonathan Deysher, Alto Sax

Kirby Leitz, Tenor Sax

Jenny Morris, Bari Sax

Luke Duceman, Bass Sax

Susquehanna University

October 2018