VIS VIVA (2021) for orchestra

Instrumentation: Piccolo, Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in F, 2 Trumpets in C, Trombone, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion (Vibraphone, Suspended Cymbals, Snare Drum, Wood Blocks), Strings

Duration: ~5 minutes

Performance/Recording History:

Awards:

Program Notes:

“Vis viva” is a Latin phrase which translates to “living force,” and is a historical term which refers to the first recorded description of what we now call kinetic energy in Gottfried Leibniz’s law of conservation of vis viva. When Leibniz first proposed this law, it was controversial because it seemed to oppose Sir Isaac Newton and René Descartes’ law of conservation of momentum. These two theories are now conventionally understood to be complementary, as the law of conservation of vis viva is the ancestor of the now widely accepted law of conservation of energy.

Writing this piece required me to think more in terms of energy, and its buildup and release, more than any other piece I have written in the past. As I began to write the first section of this piece, I found that the harmonies (and the lack of resolutions) I was picking were causing the music to build up an extremely large amount of tension. My original plan was to keep the music at a slow tempo throughout the piece, and simply utilize a harmonic resolution to release all of the energy I had built up. However, I soon realized that this would be insufficient to expel all of the tension I created from the first section of the music. This is where I started to think about the law of conservation of energy (and the law of conservation of vis viva) in connection to this piece. If I did not effectively release all the energy I had collected in some form, that would result in the destruction of energy, which cannot take place, according to those laws. Therefore, I needed to balance out the system I had created by executing a far larger conversion and release of energy than I had originally planned. So, instead of employing a simple harmonic resolution and then fading away, the music launches into a fiery and frantic dance. While this certainly isn’t the most conventional choice, I do believe it more successfully releases the built-up tension more than a harmonic resolution could, and creates a more impactful experience for listeners by conserving the “living force,” or “vis viva” of the musical system I have created.

VIS VIVA was written for the 2021 Atlantic Music Festival (AMF) Precollege Composition Program to be read and recorded by the AMF Orchestra.