The Ceremonies Belonging
Kenneth Ransom, David Bertoldi, and Austyn Williamson performing their conjurations while Bella Merlin looks on enthralled. Photo by Nile Scott Studios
This is a piece of music written for Shakespeare and Company’s production of The Contention (an adaptation of Henry VI part 2 meant to more closely resemble the style of Shakespeare’s early performances) The musical theme was introduced earlier in the play when we get our first hint of the supernatural as Lady Eleanor meets with John Hume, an agent of magicians and witches. The excerpt heard here is a mixdown of the underscoring from Act I, Scene 4 wherein Hume and his companions attempt to summon the demon Asmath to predict the future for Lady Eleanor. The simple, uncanny flute line is split and thrown around the room in different times and pitches as thunderclaps punctuate the beginning and ending of the incantations.
Hume’s theme was also the first piece of music I performed with my Roland AE-20 electronic wind instrument, which has allowed me to shift away from writing on a keyboard or in a DAW and incorporating my own body and breath back into the composition process: which has been very rewarding.