published on
Babel (2019)
for Mixed Choir SATB
Written during 2019 Choral Chameleon Institute under the guidance of Joseph Stilwell, Steve Smith and Dale Trumbore.
In in the Bible on Genesis 11: 1-9, the story of the creation of the Tower of Babel is narrated. Seeing that this monument was getting so tall that it was almost reaching the heavens, God decided to scatter humanity through the world and gave them different languages so that they would not be able to communicate with each other.
Through this piece, using an already “scattered” poem by Edward Einhorn based on this story and translations of it over into 20 languages, and by creating scales based on the division of the major 7th (11 semitones) from 1 to 9 I try to, respectively, symbolically illustrate the scattering of one language (in this case English) into a multitude of others and generate the form and pitch material for this piece based on the section of the Bible in which this story is told.
I wholeheartedly thank all these amazing people for translating and helping with the translation process of Edward Einhorn’s poem: Armando Possante, Bjorn Vandenneucker, Carmen Artaza, Carolina Alexandra, Christos Callow Jr., Giovanni Zaniol, Jack Wong, Jean-Phillippe Drécourt, Julia Owczarek, Junzuo Li, Laura Farré Rozada, Laura Hildebrandt, Margarida Espiguinha, Maria Clara Costa, Maria VA Soares, Mia Søndergaard Nielsen, Nasr-Eddine Lalaoui, Nilufar Habibian, Ofer Ben- Amots, Pedro Manuel Finisterra, Rosa van Alphen, Tari, Vova, Vova’s mum & Yana. Without them this piece would not exist.
"BABEL
Lost
Lost the
Words are
Lost
Tower went too high
Babel
Do you understand me?
Babel
Babel
Words are
Went too high
Do you understand?
Lost
Words are
Went too
Babel
Words are
Understand me
Words are
Words are
Babel
Babel
Ba – Ba
Ba"
Poem: Edward Einhorn
Music: Pedro F. Finisterra
Conduction: Matthew Oltman
Choral Chameleon
2019 Choral Chameleon Institute Concert
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States of America
29th of June, 2019
Painting: "The Tower of Babel", by Joos de Momper & Frans Francken
Website: www.pedroffinisterra.com
Where to find my scores:
Portfolios: https://portfolios.esml.ipl.pt/compositor/pedro-f-finisterra/
Scherzo Editions: http://www.scherzoeditions.com/?page_id=6957#ffs-tabbed-11
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Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/pedroffinisterra
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Contact me:
pedroffinisterra@gmail.com
Follow Choral Chameleon on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdUUNAw1ti61uOYb_E2ooFg
Follow Edward Einhorn on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqvjexPf1QBOHnmfqs16fGw
- Genre
- Choral