Saint Paul, Minnesota-based composer Timothy Roy’s “dans les dents de la guivre” was awarded second place in the 2023 Musicworks Electronic Music Composition Contest.
Format: Binaural Stereo . . . please listen with headphones!
The piece is the opening movement of Valentina V., an extended monodrama for harp, immersive audio, and lighting that was commissioned by harpist Hope Cowan through a grant from the American Harp Society. It was premiered by Cowan (harp) and Roy (electronics) at Rice University’s Shepherd School in October 2021 and has had multiple performances since then.
Valentina V. will receive its full premiere on September 27, 2024, at Saint Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, with Cowan performing.
Roy shared some notes with Musicworks about Valentina V. and its opening movement, “dans les dents de la guivre.”
“Valentina V. is inspired by my own musicological research into the medieval song ‘La harpe de melodie’ and the provenance of the illuminated manuscript containing the song’s renowned pictographic musical score. In Valentina V., the harpist adopts the persona of fourteenth-century noblewoman and virtuoso harpist Valentina Visconti, whose life ended in tragedy and exile. Extant musicological research suggests that the song ‘La harpe de melodie’ may have been composed as a vehicle to showcase Valentina’s musical talents.
“The work’s electroacoustic component, in addition to augmenting the sound of the harp, incorporates pre-recorded and synthesized sounds. Distributed over a loudspeaker array surrounding the audience, these sounds contribute to the work’s mysterious and dreamlike atmosphere. All elements of the piece — immersive audio, lighting, and dramatic actions of the performer — coalesce to engender an atmosphere not unlike that of a psychological thriller, whose narrative unfolds as a loose succession of scenes exploring various mental and emotional states of the protagonist.
“At its core, Valentina V. is a metaphor by which to confront timeless and universal issues: isolation and loneliness, loss and grief, anxiety and depression.
“Drawn from Victor Hugo’s poem “Canaris,” the opening movement’s title “dans les dents de la guivre” (“in the teeth of the viper”) refers to the Visconti family’s coat of arms: a serpentine creature devouring an infant. “dans les dents de la guivre” intersperses fragments of “La harpe de melodie” with sounds imitative of the mythical serpent, engendering a feeling of trepidation, anxiety, and suffocation.”
Timothy Roy is currently choirmaster and organist at the Church of Saint Peter Roman Catholic Community. He is completing a doctorate at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music; there, he taught electronic music, theory, and composition, and served for three years as the Teaching Fellow for the Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs (REMLABS).
The recording submitted to the 2023 Musicworks EMC Contest was made in October 2021 at Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs (REMLABS) at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston Texas. The performers are Hope Cowan (harp) and Timothy Roy (electronics). The recording engineer is Chapman Welch
The recording appears on Music from SEAMUS, Vol. 33 from New Focus Recordings, which was released July 19, 2024.
