Tinctures by Dallas Joseph Howard published on 2019-11-23T10:05:14Z Performed by Lindsey Eastham Notes: “Tinctures” is a reference to term used by William Yeats an Irish poet. Yeats along with his wife’s help Georgiana Hyde-Lees created A Vision, this substantial volume of written texts was the result of his experimentation with ‘automatic writing’, where the and the pen were used as unconscious instruments that the realm of spirits would use to convey information. Through this exercise Yeats made an intricate symbolic system, which also had geometrical, astrological, psychological, metaphysical and historical components, which to him was a model of the entire universe. Yeats determined certain patterns, which he called, gyres, existed: covered cones that represent the combinations of opposites within a personal and historical nature. This allowed Yeats to craft his character’s humanity/ personality through this system. These cones are represented by Concordia, unity; the other by Discordia, desire. Within this symbolism, the cone of Discordia (which he also refers to as the ‘antithetical tincture’) is our imaginative side, which is incessant; it separates one individual from the next (which can also be understood on subjective terms, those of beauty). In turn, the cone of Concordia (also known as the ‘primal tincture’) is our detached, intellectual side, that which leads us where we belong or to what can be understood on terms of objectivity or truth to ourselves). Musically, I was at first inspired by spiral movement of the gyre. Yeats’ conceptual reduction of character traits as a tincture was a fascinating idea to use compositionally. Pairing this relationship of Concordia and Discordia with the image of two spinning gyres gave me the explosive foundation to embody what I feel is transformative. Genre Classical