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Dark Angel (“Et in Arcadia Ego”) (2003)
Daniel Brewbaker (b. 1951)
Daniel Brewbaker was born in Elgin, Illinois, and now lives in New York. Dark Angel was commissioned by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra through the generosity of Ron and Carolyn Woodard in celebration of the orchestra’s hundredth anniversary. It is dedicated “with great respect and affection to Maestro Gerard Schwarz.” Schwarz conducted the premiere with the Seattle Symphony on October 2, 2003. Of the music and its genesis, the composer has provided these remarks:
The title Dark Angel originated with a dream that I had in my apartment in New York City this past spring (2003) (which will be remembered by New Yorkers as “It Might as Well Not be Spring”). In the dream I felt two hands touching my back and turned to behold a figure with long curls and dark wings staring over my shoulder into the distance. Startled by this apparition I screamed, abruptly jarring myself (and probably the neighbors) from the dream state to the waking state. Between them was a very brief but intense moment of inhabiting both states simultaneously. Dark Angel represents that brief moment between sleeping and waking, a momentary but profound connection between the subconscious and conscious mind.
The subtitle of the work is “Et in Arcadia Ego,” an ancient Latin sepulchral inscription generally understood to mean “Even in earthly paradise I (death) exist.” Or in our vernacular “All good things must end.” The musical materials of Dark Angel were conceived in Genoa, Italy and Napa, California (my Arcadia) last fall (2002), developed at Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs, NY, last winter and completed at Yaddo this past August. The genesis, development, and completion of Dark Angel thus follow a personal trajectory and transition from a quite sun-drenched period of life to a rather darker one, both literally and figuratively. At one point in August, after months of unrelenting New York rain I thought I might change the subtitle to “Et in Ark I go.”
Most of the art that I love embodies a deep knowledge and appreciation of both the dark and light elements of the world (and of human nature), and makes a conscious choice to struggle through the former toward the latter. This is always my intention.
The melodic and harmonic materials of Dark Angel are primarily developed from two motives, a three-note chord (G, D, C#) and a five-note melody (C, G, D, E, B) and their respective permutations and implications.
Not recorded
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