Chamber Music Violin
SKU: PR.144407380
Composed by Ellen Taaffe
Zwilich. Performance
Score. 4 pages. Duration
4 minutes. Merion Music
#144-40738. Published by
Merion Music
(PR.144407380).
ISBN
9781491133903. UPC:
680160683475. 9 x 12
inches.
In her
powerful Foreword to the
music, violinist Kelly
Hall-Tompkins has
written: “There are
great works which give
voice to important
moments for generations,
and this is one of
them.†The tragedy
of Elijah
McClain’s murder
has moved us all, and for
many musicians the image
of this gentle young man
playing his violin for
kittens at an animal
shelter has added a
poignant extra layer.
Zwilich was a
professional violinist
before turning
exclusively to composing,
and A LITTLE VIOLIN MUSIC
is a memorial from the
heart of one violinist to
another.
[THESE NOTES
MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED
OUTSIDE OF THE
PUBLICATION; OK TO QUOTE
A BIT AND GIVE AUTHOR
CREDIT]We often research
important pieces of music
to gain some glimpse into
the mind of the composer
by understanding the
times in which a piece
was written. The times
that brought this piece
into being, 2020, has
been a year like no other
in our lifetimes.With the
suffering of a once in a
century pandemic raging
in ever higher waves, and
millions of people around
the world confined to
their homes with a shared
attention span for the
first time in
generations, we watched
in horror the 8 minute 46
second killing of George
Floyd, a man previously
unknown to us, but now
unwillingly joining a
long list of names of
unarmed African Americans
killed by police. The
anguished backlash of
citizens around the
world, from Japan to New
Zealand to Germany to the
United States, of every
age, color, and creed,
has rallied for weeks and
months on end to demand
enough and that
“Black Lives
Matter.â€And yet, in
the midst of it all is an
America starkly divided
against itself with some
defiantly pushing back,
emboldened by
authoritarian-style
government actions
against its own citizens
occurring all over the
country. It is against
this backdrop that we
ever had a chance to know
of Elijah McClain. Here
in quarantine I sometimes
practice my scales in
front of the news. And
one day the mirror image
looking back at me from
the screen was a slight
young man, warm, affable
brown eyes, and also a
violin under his chin.
The newsreel-style camera
pan so familiar now, I
knew the only reason we
were gazing upon his
unfamous face was that he
too had been killed by
police nearly a year
before. But the
revelation of it in the
broadcast hit me
particularly hard.Ellen
Taaffe Zwilich, who is
not only one of the great
composers of our time, is
also a dear friend, and
called me the next day,
also deeply saddened by
the news. It was from
Ellen that I learned that
Elijah used to play for
the kittens at the local
animal shelter so they
wouldn’t be
lonely. This kind, gentle
soul was aggressively
taken into police custody
while saying, “I am
an introvert. Please
respect the boundaries
that I am speaking...
I’m going
home.†He was never
seen alive again.Ellen
and I spoke of the
sadness and the injustice
of this several times.
She felt a powerful
calling to contribute
something in a statement
and the result is the
piece you now hold in
your hands. I am deeply
honored to be the
dedicatee of the piece,
to have worked together
with Ellen on some of the
final details, and to pen
this score note. As an
invited alumna of the
Eastman School of Music,
I premiered the work for
their virtual event on
Diversity and Inclusion.
Each time I play it,
there is a persistent
lump in my throat because
Ellen has captured
something poignant and
powerful here.There are
great works which give
voice to important
moments for generations,
and this is one of them.
We humbly offer this
piece in memory of Elijah
McClain.Foreword ©
2021 by Kelly
Hall-Tompkins. Used by
permission.
