Peace Dance (A Fantasy Ode to the Universe for B-flat Clarinet and Piano)
by
Dan Locklair
Peace Dance (A Fantasy Ode to the Universe for B-flat Clarinet and Piano) is in three movements, but is played without pause. Each movement begins with similar musical material and calls upon the clarinetist to play crotales and dramatically speak brief lines of poetry. Excepting one Biblical line and the composer’s own line, “Let the Spirit of Peace dance,” the other six lines of poetry are from the first stanza of the John White Chadwick (1840-1940) hymn, Eternal Ruler of the Ceaseless Round. SONG 1, a hymn tune by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) that is often paired with the Chadwick text, serves as the melodic basis for the second movement.
Peace Dance was composed in 1984 for clarinetist Esther Lamneck and pianist Gary Steigerwalt.
Narrated text:
I.
“Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round
Of circling planets singing on their way.”
Let the morning stars sing together!
II.
“Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round,
Guide of the nations from the night profound
Into the glory of the perfect day.”
III.
“Eternal Ruler of the ceaseless round.”
Let the Spirit of Peace dance!
Duration = ca. 21 minutes
Dan Locklair
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
July 1984