On Thursday, October 10, at 8:00 pm, Dr. Andrew Cote will be premiering his very first symphony! This event will be held in the Johnson Theater at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. Tickets are not required, and the concert is free and open to the public. For more information about the event, visit this link. You can also stream the performance on YouTube. Below you will find a brief write up about the piece from Dr. Cote.
“In the summer of 2020, shortly after the passing of my grandfather, my family was tasked with sorting, discarding, and dividing the estate my grandparents had left behind. In the process of sifting through decades of artifacts from their 60+ years of marriage, my sister discovered a tattered looking hat box which contained hundreds of letters written between my grandparents while they were first falling in love. Though the contents of these “lost letters” were not necessarily the inspiration behind this piece, I used them as an opportunity to examine how over time (in this case a long time) the things we lose, or think we have held on to, can have a profound impact on our memories and perceptions of the past.
The composition begins with an original melody, meant to represent my Grandparent’s love for one another. However, the majority of the source material for this composition primarily comes from two folk/hymn tunes. The first, Say, Brothers will you Meet Us also known as Glory Hallelujah, has taken many different forms since its recorded introduction in the 1700s, but was known to my grandfather throughout his life, and especially during his time serving in the United States Army, as The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The second, For the Beauty of the Earth, is another hymn tune that has taken on several forms, both religious and secular, and was performed at my grandmother’s funeral. Though these hymn tunes are used throughout the composition, they are never stated in their entirety, reflecting how our memories are often incomplete. These melodies also begin to overlap more and more as the composition develops, while also shortening and merging into new melodies and ideas just as my grandparents grew closer together.
In the last few years of her life, my grandmother battled dementia. She ultimately lost that battle, leaving my grandfather widowed for two years before his passing on the 4th of July. The middle and ending of the composition explores the end of their respective lives, first with the two hymn melodies becoming increasingly dissonant and fragmented symbolizing my grandmother’s battle with dementia. Ultimately the composition ends joyfully, as my grandfather passes and once again joins my grandmother, however the work does not end with a clear statement of either hymn’s melody.
Though this composition was written through a very specific lens, I hope that I have captured a bigger idea of how the discovery of a physical artifact, such as a lost letter, can bring back a flood of memories, oftentimes not even directly related to that lost item. Our memories are often incomplete, and can fade as we make room for new memories, but a tangible reminder can offer an opportunity to reflect on the past in light of our present.”
