About Jonathan Bingham's The Lessons of History:
Beerthoven is pleased to be featuring works by two important living composers who are people of color; Jonathan Bingham and David Wilborn.
Jonathan Bingham gives the following notes for his work The Lessons of History on his website:
"Near the completion of their eleven volume book set, The Story of Civilization, Pulitzer Prize winning authors Will and Ariel Durant condensed what they had noted in almost 10,000 pages into one 100 page book, The Lessons of History. The book summarizes the past circa 5,000 years of history through 12 perspectives: geography, biology, race, character, morals, religion, economics, socialism, government, war, growth and decay, and progress. Through these perspectives we’re given examples of past societies and their practices and the results of those practices suggesting future probabilities.
The music composed is structured to mimic the “lessons” of the book. With the book stating, “The excessive increase of anything causes a reaction in the opposite direction,” the piece goes back and forth between two contrasting sections each ending at a climax after hearing their respective themes 12 times—12 occurrences representing the 12 perspectives. Though the piece undergoes a repetitive nature it seldom repeats any material entirely the same. “Our knowledge of any past event is always incomplete…Most history is guessing, and the rest is prejudice.” With this in mind many of the repetitions are shortened as “The historian always oversimplifies.” Though repetitions are prevalent, the piece avoids the practices of minimalism. The music repeats in the same way history has repeated, “only in outline and in the large.” With history’s repetitions between time periods and practices, the book rightfully asks, “Is progress real?” The piece is written to ask the same question as nothing in the work, despite its ranges of expression, actually changes. If one were to reduce the work to one line, i.e. one instrument in one voice, they’d hear two musical sentences, one repeating after the other, for as long as the duration of the work.
It is important to note that the music—the motives, themes, and harmonies—was not influenced by the book but the formal structure of the music—the occurrences of the motives and themes. The piece ends with all instruments playing the same pitch signifying the present which is the past rolled up into this moment.
I've dedicated The Lessons of History to my late father, Glen, who was an avid reader and expressed strong interests in history. He likely would agree with Aldous Huxley when the English writer stated, “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.”
Read more here."
About David Wilborn and Giddings Remembered:
Conductor, composer, and trombonist David Wilborn, an Austin native and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at Texas A&M University in College Station. Known especially for his works for low brass, Wilborn's new work Giddings Remembered is his first for string quartet. He writes about the inspiration for the quartet, "When I was a kid, my sister and I would visit my grandmother in Giddings (Texas) over the summer. Many times our visit would coincide with a religious revival that would take place. During the revival, there was a particular song that we would sing...When singing the song, everyone in the church would grab their neighbor's hand and sing while moving their arms rhythmically up and down to the music. I remember people singing the words with such power and conviction, and the arm movement matched the intensity of the singing. I have always wanted to try and use this melody as the focus of a new composition."
As a composer, David Wilborn's music compositions are performed and professionally recorded nationally and internationally. He is especially well known for his original compositions for low brass instruments. As a clinician and trombone soloist, Wilborn has presented sessions and performances at conference venues throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, and Europe.
Wilborn is the composer of several award-winning works for brass instruments. His “Excursions for Six Trombones” was selected as the winner of the 2003 Allen E. Ostrander Trombone Choir Composition Prize; his brass quintet entitled “Escapades” was selected as one of the winning compositions at the Appalachian State 2004 Brass Chamber Music Festival Composition Contest, and his “Three Movements for Brass Sextet” won second place at the 2005 Humboldt Composition Contest for Brass Chamber Music. In February 2008, Wilborn performed the solo bass trombone part in the New York premiere of his “Concertante Caprice” with the Texas A&M University Wind Symphony in Carnegie Hall. Rorianne Schrade, a music critic for the New York Concert Review, praised the work for its “freshness and excitement.”
Wilborn graduated from the University of Texas and the Eastman School of Music. He studied trombone with Donald Knaub and John Marcellus. He also studied composition with Donald Grantham. He has performed with the Austin Symphony, Amarillo Symphony, Roswell Symphony, and the Texas Chamber Orchestra. He is an artist and clinician for Edwards Trombone instruments
Wilborn’s professional affiliations include the International Trombone Association, College Music Society, National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Music Teacher’s National Association, Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, Texas Music Teacher’s Association, American Society of Composers Authors, and Publishers, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonians, Phi Beta Mu National Bandmaster’s Fraternity, Pi Kappa Lambda National Honor Society, and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
