Wedding Thoughts (Salem, MA 2002)

This piece was written to celebrate the wedding of two friends of ours, Ellen and Dorothy. It is a relatively accessible piece, and the structure is quite direct and user-friendly.

Some people have said that they hear the overall structure but don't quite know how to articulate it. For their benefit, I will give a brief outline of the structure.

There are two characters, oboe and flute.

1. Brief introduction
2. Oboe sings its melody
3. Flute sings its melody
4. Flute and oboe begin to interact with fragments of their melodies, cutting each other off and being a bit contentious. They grow more frustrated with each other, trying to shout each other down until they realize---much to their surprise---that they are actually singing together.
5. Flute sings its melody with oboe accompaniment
6. Oboe sings its melody with flute accompaniment
7. Flute and oboe sing a new melody together that is built from fragments of each other's solo melody. They merge together shifting and changing so that you can no longer tell who leads and who follows.
8. Quiet ending and coda