Revista Música Hodie, Goiânia - V.13, 362p., n.1, 2013

PACHECO, A. J. V. Canzonetta 10ª com variações a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo José António da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Música Hodie, Goiânia, V.13 - n.1, 2013, p. 303-315.

The Oak of Mambre, for unnacompanied Double Bass

Michael Edward Edgerton (The University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur, Malásia)

edgertonmichael@hotmail.com

O Carvalho de Mambre, para contrabaixo solo

The Oak of Mambre presents an inner world of sound exploration, whose strands are woven through ancient cultures and traditions. Mambre is a birthplace, itself, literal and ideal. Compressions and rarefactions tell two stories; of Abram and Mambre, of sur- vival and an heir.

The Oak of Mambre begins where the reality and existence of a tone becomes mani- fest. Here we are looking at the sub-particulate world of existence, found not through care- fully placed devices designed to catch the trails of extremely high-speed and dense par- ticulate matter, but rather through the perception of radicalized elements during sound production. Beginning with little to no pitch movement, the sound world is opened through systematic exploration of scaled microtonal movement, bow rotation, bow placement, vibra- to, bow speed, bow length, etc. Within this sound world we find matrices that are associ- ated with numerous stratified layers, whose deposition of energy varies according to reflec- tive stress-strain qualities found in elastic fibrous interaction.

In The Oak of Mambre, the expression I was interested in presenting was similar to Edward Said’s notion of an artwork exhibiting “intransigence, difficulty, and unresolved contradiction” in order to provide an “occasion to stir up more anxiety, tamper irrevocably with the possibility of closure and leave the audience more perplexed than before... to ex- plore... a nonharmonious, non-serene tension, and above all, a sort of deliberately unpro- ductive productiveness, going ‘against’...”

Murray Gell-Mann (Nobel Prize, 1969, for his work on quarks) identified that many quantities for complexity have been proposed, and that a variety of different measures are required to capture intuitive ideas about complexity and simplicity. Take for instance time/space measures – Gell-Mann suggested that one reliable indicator of complexity con- sists of how long it took a computer to perform any particular task, or the number of steps required to carry out a computation; whereas measures of information were related to the length of the shortest message conveying certain information. However, in ordinary con- versation, the measure that corresponds to what is meant by complexity corresponded not to the “length of the most concise description” but rather the “length of concise description of a set of the entity’s regularities”. So that in a message that is effectively random, with practically no regularities: the effective complexity will be near zero. In a message that is completely regular, bit string of zeros, or perhaps an invariant rhythmic stream, the effec- tive complexity may be near zero. However, in a message featuring effective complexity, complexity is high only in a region which is intermediate between total order and com- plete disorder.

Revista Música Hodie, Goiânia - V.13, 362p., n.1, 2013

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PACHECO, A. J. V. Canzonetta 10ª com variações a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo José António da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Música Hodie, Goiânia, V.13 - n.1, 2013, p. 303-315.

Michael Edward Edgerton - Currently Associate Professor at the University of Malaya, Michael is a composer whose work elides the boundaries of complexity with practical applications of physical and perceptual models. Michael’s compositions have received prizes and/or recognition from: Kompositionspreis der Landeshauptstadt Stuttgart, 2007; Composition Contest of the Netherlands Radio Choir, 2007; 5th Dutilleux International Composi- tion Compétition, 2003; 31st Festival Synthese Bourges, 2001; MacDowell Club, 1996; Friends and Enemies of New Music, 1993; Midwest Composers Symposium, 1989; National Federation of Music Clubs, 1987; National Federa- tion of Music Clubs, 1987; Michigan State Univ-Orchestral Composition Contest, 1986. Michael is engaged with research into voice, acoustics and perception. His work with the extra-normal voice is internationally known through performances, journal publications and a book, The 21st Century Voice published in the New Instrumen- tation Series (Scarecrow Press).

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PACHECO, A. J.V. Canzonetta 10a com varia oes a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo Jose Antonio da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Musica Hodie, Goiania,V.l3- n.l, 2013, p. 303-315.

' .,. ..

The Oak of Mambre

(Haram Ramet el-Khalil)

for double bass

Michael Edward Edgerton

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PACHECO, A. J.V. Canzonetta 10a com varia oes a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo Jose Antonio da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Musica Hodie, Goiania,V.l3- n.l, 2013, p. 303-315.

Dedicated to Edicson Ruiz

The Oak of Mambre is a recomposition of Mamre (#55, 2000) for solo violin

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PACHECO, A. J. V. Canzonetta 10a com variagoes a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo Jose Ant6nio da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Mdsica Hodie, Goiania, V.l3- n.l,2013,p. 303-315.

TEXTUAL SOURCE REFERE NCES The following excerpted from:

"Ancient Sources: Mountain of Judah and Shephelah: 78. Arbo, also the Terebinth. The Oak of Mambre- (Ramal al- Khalil)"

Ge n esis 13:18

Abram settles in Mamre

Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Gen esis 18:1-15

The apparition at Mamre

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks ofMamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up

and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, "My lord. if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your

feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on- since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choi ce flour, knead it, and make cakes." Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, wh o hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

Eusebi us, On o m asti co n 6:12-16 (ca. 295 A.D.)

Jerome 7:18-24 (ca. 390 A.D.)

The oak of Abraham, also called Mambre, could be seen standing unt il the reign of Constantius, and the tomb of the same is visible to this day and while a church has been erected there by our people. the place of the oak is [greatly] venerated by all the pagan population around, because under it Abraham gave hospitality to the angels. At
first the place was called Arbe.and later it was named Hebron after Hebron, one of the sons of Caleb, as we read in the Chronicles. ( I Chron 2:42).

Josephus, War 4,533 (1 st cent. A.D.)

There is also there shown, at the distance of six furlongs from the city, a very large
turpentine tree; and the report goes. that this tree has continued ever si nce the creation of the world.

ltinerarium Burdiga lense 599 (333 A.D.)

Fourteen miles away is Bethsur.at which is the spring where Philip baptized the eunuch. It is nine miles to Terebinthus, where Abraham lives and dug a well beneath the terebinth tree, and spoke and ate with the angels; an exceptionally beautiful basilica
has been built there by command of Constantine. Two miles on from there is Hebron, where there is a remarkabl y beautiful tomb, square and made of stone, in whi ch are

l aid Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Sarah, Rebecca, and Leah.

Sozom enus, Historia Ecclesiastica 11,4 (5th cent. A.D.)

I deem necessary to decl are now what was resolved about the oak of Mambre by Emperor Constantine. The place is presently called the Terebinth. and is situated at the distance of fifteen stadia from Hebron, which is to the south... Every year, at summer time, the inhabitants of that place and the Palestinians, the Phoenicians and the Arabs, coming from far away, make a fair there. Many come there for the sake of business, some to sell and some to buy. The feast is celebrated by a very big congregation of Jews. since they boast of Abraham as their forefather. of heathens since angels came there, of Christians since he who should be born from the Virgin for the salvation of humankind appeared there to that pious man. Everyone venerates this place according to his religion: some praying God the ruler of all. some calling upon the angels and offering libations of wine, burning incense or sacrificing an ox.a pig, a sheep or a cock... Constantine's mother in law (Euthropia), having come there to fulfill a vow, gave notice of all this to the Emperor. So he wrote to the bishops of Palestine reproaching them for having forgot their mission and permitted such a most holy pl ace to be defiled by those libations and sacrifices.

Anon y m u s Pl acentinu s, ltinerariurn 30 (ca. 570 A.D.)

From Beth lehem it is twenty-four mi l es to the Oak ofMamre, the resting-place of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah and also of

Joseph's bones. The basilica has four porticoes and no roof over the central court. Down the middle runs a screen. Christians come in on one side and Jews on the other, and they use much incense. On the day following Christ's Birthday the people of this area celebrate the Deposition of Jacob and David with much devotion, and Jews from all over the country congregate for this, too great a crowd to count. They offer
much incense and lights, and give presents to those who minister there.

TEXTUAL SOURCE REFEREN CES-COMMENTARY The si te of Mamre. known in Arabic as Haram Ramel ei-Khalil, l ies

approximately 3 kin (2 mi.) north of Hebron on the ancient road linking the
main Hebron-Jerusalem and Bcthlehem-Ziph routes. The Bibl e describes
Elonei (oaks of) Mamre as Abraham's dwelling place ...
Josephus relates that Abraham resided near Hebron, by an oak

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PACHECO, A. J. V. Canzonetta 10a com variagoes a solo (1798/1799), de Policarpo Jose Ant6nio da Silva, para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Mdsica Hodie, Goiania, V.l3- n.l,2013,p. 303-315.

called ogyges. the oak of genesis (Antiq. I , 186). Elsewhere he mentions a terebinth 6 stadia from Hebron that had stood there since creation ( War IV, 533); it is not clear whether both references are to the same place. In Antiquities he tells the biblical story, calling the tree Lin oak: whereas in War ofthe Jews he is describing a holy place in his own time calling it a terebinth....

The book of Jubilees (29:1 7-19; 37:14. 17) refers to Abraham's capital in the Hebron Hills as a tower (migdal). The reference is probably to Abraham's residence Lit Elonei Manue. If so, the author, a contemporary of the Second Temple was describing the enclos ure at Elonei Mamre in terms associated with the Temple Mount -migdal or birah - both meaning tower or fortress. Talmud ic literature refers to the place as Beth llanim or Botnah and it is mentioned as the site of one of the most important fairs in Palestine: "There are three fairs: the fair of Gaza, the fair of Acco, the fair of Botnah, and the least doubtful of them all is the fair of Botnah," meaning that of the three fairs this was the one most definitely associated with idolatry and therefore Jews were forbidden to participate 111 it (J.T.. A.Z. 39c;Gen. Rab. 47: I 0) The fair is mentioned in two of Jerome's commentaries (In Hieremiam VI, 18, 6, CCSL 74, 307; In Zachariam Ill . II , 4-5 CCSL 76A, 851 ), where it is sa1d that Hadrian brought the captive Jews to the famous marketplace at Terebinth. There he sold many into slavery. For this reason the Jews in Jerome's time shunned the annual fair.

The most detailed description of the site is in the work ofSozomenos (op. cit.). He reports that the place situated 15 stadia from Hebron, was the site of the terebinth, where the angels had appeared to Abraham. In summer, he states a great fair was held there

attracting hordes of people from far away, who came to offer libations and bum incense, but also to trade: among them were pagans, Christians and Jews.

The Medeba map seems to differentiate between Botna and Mamre, as the mosaic depicts both a church and a terebinth. During the seventh century CE there was a monastery at the site that continued to exist after the Arab conquest (Adamnanus, De Locis Sanctis II , II . 6, CCSL 175, 211 ). In Crusader times, the site may have been

occupied by the Church of the Trinity

- ft=haq Magen. n,e New Encyclopedia of Archaelog1cal Excavauons m the Holy lAnd, Jentsalem 1993.ad v."Mamre"

The sacred enclosures of Mambre and Hebron- Haram Ramel el-Khalil, Mambre

The large enclosure is preserved so badly that it does not allow for such study as might specify its date with certainty. In the fourth century buildings occupied i ts eastern part following Constant ine's intervention.

Eutropia, Constantine's mother-in-law. whi l e visiting the holy place which commemorated the apparition of the three angels to Abraham, observed the mixed cult offered there by Jews. ChriStians and even by heathens, and begged her son-in-law to erect a church on the site. The latter gave the order to Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem. In

333 the church was finished.as the pilgrim of Bordeaux noted.

According to Peter the Deacon ... the place included a well, an altar in front of the church. and two "most bright" caves where Abraham had stayed.

The church was frequented by the Ch ristians who left some graffiti, among which we note the invocation in Greek: "Lord.

help your servant Paregorios": at other i nscripti ons we have on l y names, for example, Arsen ius, Christopher, and Demas, or invocations where the name of the suppl icant has disappeared. Many lamps, some of them with Christian emblems, testify to the cult practiced there. The place was a cult center, especially for the nearby villages. The church continued to be visited after the Arab conquest; in 670 Arcul ph noted within the enclosure a large oak said to date back to Abraham's time. Later the spot seems to have been abandoned because at the beginning of the Middle Ages a different oak, today preserved by the Russians, began to be venerated. Nevertheless. the location was continuall y visited by pilgrims. Thus, for example, Barbone Morosini, describing in

1514 his excursion to Hebron, says: "We found large buildings and ruins; our friars told us that the place had been called

Mambre" (TS 1950, p. 49).

THE TREE ITSELF?

The famous Oak ofMamre, Abram's Oak, was illustrated formerly in the Transactions of the Linnean Society, by Dr. Hooker.

It is a fine specimen of the species Q. Coccifera. the prickly evergreen or Kermes Oak, a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean; the insect (coccus) from which it derives its name yielding the dye known as 'Turkey red.'

Abram's Oak is 22 feet m circumference; it is popularly supposed to represent the spot where the tree grew under which Abraham pitched his tent.

There is a superstition that any person who cuts or maims this oak will lose his firstborn son.

FROM: botanical.com -A Modem Herbal I Oak, Common by Mrs. M. Grieve

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PAQ-IECO,A. J. V. Canzonetta 10 3 com varia es a solo (1798/1799),de Policarpo Jose Antonio da Silva,para vozes e piano forte.

Revista Musica Hodie,Gciania,V.l3 - n.l,2013, p.303-315.

Performance notes:

Bow h air rotation

Bow hair Oat on string(s)

Bow h air on edge of string(s)

Bow hair and wood together on stri ng(s)

Wood only on string(s) ,..

Bow speed (with faster bow speeds always use 213 to 3/4 bow length-except when performing tremoli - try to keep pressure from moderate to light - at the very fastest speeds. it is expected that the bow may bounce or feature other erratic behaviors - the intent is to draw in the otherwise unallowed source (bow to string) characteristics)

As fast as possible

As slow as possible

Bow placement

Tasto 1

Tasto 2

T "'04

Taste 3

Above stop

TastoS \

====:;::;-:- • .

Ponticello 2

O-rd ------=====--

Ponticello I

On bridge

Vibrato

A variety of vibrati are used:

Non-vibrato

Vibrato ad lib

Vibrato with slow to fast frequency

Vibrato with small to wide excursion

Bow angle

Bow angles are used in which the bow remains on the horizontal plane with the strings, changing as notated

-If

Beating - detuning of adjacent strings when playing unison and nearly-unison diads

Slight pitch differentials are ofien manifest as beating when existing within the same bandwidth. When a unison is slightly detuncd a slow beating occurs, then as the pitches move further apart the speed of the beating increases, then at some point the beating begins to slow down until the two pitches reaches the bandwidth threshold.

In this piece the speed of the beating is identified within a 10-point scale with -10 bei ng the fastest, -I bemg the slowest and +0 being a perfect unison.

lov. er- J,.;_.l

6--t"rte.

Bow pressure

Bow pressure is not explicitly identified in this piece - more or less bow pressure will follow the dynamical markings. When performing at faster bow speeds try to use less pressure