Botti: Cosmosis
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- Composer: Susan Botti (1962-)
- Instrumentation: Soprano, Concert Band, Treble Choir
- Work: Cosmosis (2004)
- Work Language: English
Description
Texts: "Overboard" and "The Cross Spider" (May Swenson)
The American poet, May Swenson wrote "The Cross Spider" in response to the news of a Skylab experiment in which a student project proposed to see whether a spider could spin a web in space. A common cross spider (araneus diadematus), named Arabella, is mythically portrayed by Swenson. Her shape poem, "Overboard" (a play of gravity) serves as a prelude.
In Cosmosis, "Overboard" plays with musical equivalents of gravitational force following the shapes laid out in the poem, before entering the gravitation-free sea of space. Here, Arabella succeeds in her quest on "The First Night". A musical interlude follows, reflecting on the vastness of space as well as the heroic undertaking. in "The Second Night", Arabella succeeds again...but is sacrificed in the process... "experiment frittered". Yet the resonant energy of the mission still spins in the air, like the soundwaves in space that echo throughout the cosmos, becoming a part of it, and inspiring others.
Cosmosis was commissioned by a consortium organized by Michael Haithcock, Director of Bands at the University of Michigan and including the additional participants: Baylor University (Kevin Sedatole), Florida State University (Patrick Dunnigan), Michigan State University (John Whitwell), University of Texas-Austin (Jerry Junkin).
-Susan Botti
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Botti: Cosmosis
