The Old Question

2020
/
Solo and Duo Works

Details

Category

Solo and Duo Works

librettist

WordS by

instrumentation

Violin and Piano

duration

5'

commissioned by

premiered by

Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg

Purchase Score

The Old Question is based on a Yiddish song of the same name — di alte kashe (די אַלטע קשיא). The text of the song explains, rather cryptically, that the world asks an old question, “Trala-tradi-ri-di-rom?” to which one answers, “Tradi-ri-di-rom!” and thus the question persists. The Yiddish word for question here is kashe (קשיא) which isn’t a question in the sense of a straightforward inquiry — which in Yiddish would be frage (פֿראַגע) or shayle (שאלה) — but rather something more philosophical: an enigma or a conundrum. This folksong offers a bit of Jewish folk wisdom, reminding the listener that the eternal and existential questions of life always remain unanswerable.

As I adapted this folksong for my own composition I wondered: What does the wisdom of this folksong mean to me? What does this melody and its musical language mean to me? How do I bring them into my own personal musical language? I decided to ask these questions musically by deconstructing the melody into motivic elements (a focus on repeated Gs, a melodic octave, a 4-note descending melodic line motif, etc.) and crafting something searching of a prelude-nature with them (m. 1-80). I then answer that musical “question” by taking the folksong itself, re-harmonizing it, and fitting it into my soundworld (m. 81-end). The work closes with a brief nod to a more traditional harmonization of the melody (m.96-99), before concluding by returning to my own harmonies and textures.

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cOMPONENT divider

The Old Question

Purchase Score
duration

5'

instrumentation

Violin and Piano

premiered by

Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg

commissioned by

The Old Question

The Old Question is based on a Yiddish song of the same name — di alte kashe (די אַלטע קשיא). The text of the song explains, rather cryptically, that the world asks an old question, “Trala-tradi-ri-di-rom?” to which one answers, “Tradi-ri-di-rom!” and thus the question persists. The Yiddish word for question here is kashe (קשיא) which isn’t a question in the sense of a straightforward inquiry — which in Yiddish would be frage (פֿראַגע) or shayle (שאלה) — but rather something more philosophical: an enigma or a conundrum. This folksong offers a bit of Jewish folk wisdom, reminding the listener that the eternal and existential questions of life always remain unanswerable.

As I adapted this folksong for my own composition I wondered: What does the wisdom of this folksong mean to me? What does this melody and its musical language mean to me? How do I bring them into my own personal musical language? I decided to ask these questions musically by deconstructing the melody into motivic elements (a focus on repeated Gs, a melodic octave, a 4-note descending melodic line motif, etc.) and crafting something searching of a prelude-nature with them (m. 1-80). I then answer that musical “question” by taking the folksong itself, re-harmonizing it, and fitting it into my soundworld (m. 81-end). The work closes with a brief nod to a more traditional harmonization of the melody (m.96-99), before concluding by returning to my own harmonies and textures.

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