Divertimento (2024)

for violin, Viola, cello, and piano

5 Mvts., 30 Mins.

Program Notes with Score Video 

When the Covid pandemic began in March 2020, it was both alarming and novel.  Isolating seemed rash but the disease, in its initial surge, was astonishingly lethal.  People were dying fast and in large numbers.  I was lucky to have built a house on property in Northern Arizona years ago when my children were young, and my wife and I moved there in April.

I wrote a serenade for strings and harp (Serenade In Isolation) which I finished in June of 2020.  I touched on the novelty and tragedy of the situation.  At the time, I never  thought that it would be another 16-17 months before musicians only began to trickle back to work!  Those were the longest months imaginable!  The Pandemic was difficult for almost everybody, but for artists it was a nightmare.  Working from home is difficult, but it is not the same as having your entire profession come to a screeching halt!

A divertimento is a musical form dating from the late 1700’s, which was meant to be background music for a social event – a diversion.  I use the term ironically and even sarcastically referring to all that time we spent alone looking for something to do!  

The first movement, Bedside, was the inspiration for the rest of the piece.  It depicts a number of family members emoting at the bedside of a stricken patient. Of course, this happened online if it happened at all, and most of those critically ill were intubated and in a coma.  The piece therefore bears a resemblance to Charles Ives’ Unanswered Question.

 

One of the first things I gave up when the pandemic hit was going to the gym.  I could exercise at home, but many people who relied on classes had to turn to videos for exercise.  In Tai Chi Video, the class opens with a ceremonial bow, which is answered and returns throughout the class.  Not all the moves are easy.

 

In Dejá Vu, the opening tenth from Bedside in the piano left hand returns, but this time the patient is a lot more resistant.  After two plus years of exposure and vaccination, the outlook improved, but the disease was still quite serious.

 

With all that time spent by oneself, fantasy became a major source of entertainment.  It was a fantasy to think that you could actually carry on relationships under the circumstances.  In Music Box Fantasy, opening a musical jewelry box triggers just such a fantasy.

 

The last movement, Resilience, is a tribute to those who stuck it out, especially the caretakers and health care workers, essential service workers, and vulnerable populations.  Some people had trouble keeping up the isolation, masking, vaccinations, and careful interaction required, and several people fell grievously ill as a result.  Worse yet, a number of people developed a form of the disease that lasted for months or even years.  This movement, which is sort of a fantasy invention, repeats and develops a single motive, eventually distilling it down to just three notes.  The motive used has actually been slowly evolving throughout the first four movements and is meant to embody the resilience needed to get us through.  The Covid experience has been such a long haul.

 

Divertimento is written for piano quartet in my home near Ash Fork, Arizona, in the spring and summer of 2024.  Its five movements last approximately thirty minutes.