In the span of nine minutes, Nor Height, Nor Depth unleashes the taut drama of a symphony, with the kinetic energy of an overture.  Opening with a brash and resonant G-major chord, harmony in the upper strings begins to unfold over accelerating and decelerating murmurs between violas and cellos.  Upon a culminating tutti, symmetrically opposed intervallic ascents and descents in flutes and clarinets accompany an emergent melody in the oboe that ultimately blossoms in ripe fruition with the entire orchestra accelerating toward an explosive allegro.  Over a multi-layering of passagework in the strings, woodwinds and brass take turns at a foreground that swells toward a climax of tragic proportion.  After a brief detour in a seeming nether-world of muted strings and woodwinds that explore an obtuse and abstract harmony, principal thematic material emerges and wends its way toward its combustible and cataclysmic destination.

	While the writing of St. Paul is the source of the title, I was drawn to the extremes inherent in these words.  They seem to capture in my imagination the sorrows and failures of the first decade of the 21st Century.  At the same time, they imply the possibility of love and cooperation even in the face of tragedy.  This work represents to me a sonic rumination on that possibility: that in the face of war, violence, and the effects of climate change, we—like the central motives in Nor Height, Nor Depth—can endure despite context.

This performance is by Nobuyoshi Yasuda and the UWEC Symphony Orchestra.

Nor Height, Nor Depth

River of Stars (Pre-premiere Note Performer)

Aurora
Fly away, sleep;
Fly away, dreams, 
Fly with the prayers upon myrrh’s fragrant wings.

Rise from the haze
To the dawn’s sacred light
From unknowable yearning, inscrutable night.

Awake to the bugle,
That evanescent strain
Disclosing the tomb where all sorrows lay slain,
Where legions of angels shall cease their restraint
And cull forth the hope that lies faint.

Hasten the morning 
That scorches the frost,
Emblazons the gaze, illumines the lost;

Hasten the sun
In its rise to consume 
Each atom of darkness, each quantum of gloom

’Til the Ancient remembers,
‘cross the endless expanse,
the embers of history no more glow askance,
but shine in this glorious hour of chance
from pyre, to ashes, to sweet renascence.

	I wrote this poem in the spring of 2013, just a few months after I moved from Wisconsin to Texas. That spring—in fact that entire year—had been one of momentous transitions, as I left a faculty position at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and took a new one at the University of Texas at San Antonio, effectively trading the familiar rivers, streams, and bluffs of the Chippewa Valley for the thirsty, mesquite and oak groves of the Texas Hill Country. In the past remained friendships forged through the victories and trials of shared experience; in the future lay unknowable, unrealized promises. In this spirit I contemplated the nexus of endings and beginnings; retrospectives and prospectives. The idea of death and resurrection or renewal provided a poignantly apt poetic vehicle for my thoughts. Thus was born the poem, Aurora. In the protracted wake of a global pandemic, the hope for new beginnings assumes even greater urgency.

	Originally for SATB unaccompanied choir, the piece has been re-composed into its present state, accounting for the sonic possibilities of wind and percussion.

Aurora: Symphony No. 1 for Band (MVMT 3)

Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University for the San Antonio Philharmonic

The word “emergent” permeates conversation in our post-modern culture: technologies emerge, viruses emerge, organisms, economies, and trends likewise emerge. To me, the notion of emergence connotes an ascent in spite of resistance, a rising up where it is not expected, a calculus that multiplies predictability by the element of surprise. In a poetic sense, emergence describes the propensity of individual and collective human will toward transcendence despite all resistance. These have been years of fierce resistance. It’s hard to mark humanity’s gains amidst so much loss, and so much tearing of the social fabric in our own communities and around the world. And yet (and yet!), we still gather to tell stories, to sing, to dance, to witness our losses together that we might find joy in our communion. Emergence is a love song without words to our courage to continue gathering, to our primordial longing for meaning and beauty. 

Beginning with a hazy growl in the contrabasses, beneath a misty cloud of ambient percussion, a lone bass trombone intones a chromatic melody out of the depths. Joined now by tuba, then with horns, the imitative melody ascends slowly upward before a background of shimmering strings. Thus embarks the sonic journey, emerging from a haze ever yearning toward a destination of exquisite resplendence. Emergent is not without its distractions and its detours—a stroke of art imitating life—yet its propensity to rise in spite of resistance, despite gravity, remains undeterred.

Emergent

Performance by Dr. John Silantien and the UTSA Concert Choir

Lullay, Lully,
The falcon hath born my mate away.

He bore him up, he bore him down,
He bore him to an orchard brown.

In that orchard there was a hall,
That was hung with purple and pall.

And in that hall there was a bed,
It was hung with gold so red.

And in that bed there lieth a knight,
His wounds bleeding day and night.

By that bedside there kneeleth a maid,
And she weepeth both night and day.

And by that bedside there standeth a stone,
"Corpus Christi" written thereon.

Anonymous, ca. 1504

Corpus Christi Carol

"Sleep now, O sleep now, O you unquiet heart!
A voice crying “Sleep now” Is heard in my heart."

--James Joyce

"All by myself I have to go,
With none to tell me what to do-- All alone beside the streams
And up the mountain-sides of dreams."

--Robert Louis Stevenson

"Save me from curious Conscience, that still lords Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole; Turn the key deftly in the oiled wards,
And seal the hushed Casket of my Soul."

--John Keats

No experience adequately prepares one for the late night rituals of parenthood: the cry in the dark that seizes one from the depths of exhaustion; the lumbering footsteps that make their way cradle-side beneath the dull glow of the moon; tranquility split asunder by the anxiety-inducing cough, fevered skin, and undisclosed aches and tremors. Perhaps we are summoned by no more than the desperate, terrified pining of a tiny soul at once confronting their utter isolation in the profundity of night. In these moments, there are quiet words: stories rendered stream-of-consciously, simple songs, memories from the day, promises for the morning. Miracles transpire that are known only to those awake in these sacred, silent hours. To lull a child to sleep is to witness the crossing of a threshold--the abandonment of determined, grasping, fear as it acquiesces to surrender and to dreams.

Drifting From Midnight is a sonic exploration of that moment when thresholds are crossed; when anxious wakefulness surrenders to peaceful slumber and the transcendent glories of worlds and horizons known only to dreamers.

Concert Premiere: March 5, 2015 by Dr. John Zarco and the UT-San Antonio Symphonic Band

Drifting From Midnight (University of Iowa Symphony Band)

Cante Jondo for bassoon and piano (digital)

The second in my set of art songs on texts by Spanish poets. 


They sing. They sing.
Where are the birds that sing?

It has rained.  Even the branches
have no new leaves.  They sing.  The birds
sing.  Where are
the birds that sing?

I don’t have birds in cages.
There are no children to sell them. They sing.
The valley is very far.  Nothing...

I don’t know where
the birds sing -they sing, they sing-
the birds that sing.

Contraponientes II: Canción de Invierno (Ramón Jiménez)

Commissioned by the UWEC Foundation for the UWEC Centennial celebration.

Fly away, sleep;
Fly away, dreams, 
Fly with the prayers upon myrrh’s fragrant wings.

Rise from the haze
To the dawn’s sacred light
From unknowable yearning, inscrutable night.

Awake to the bugle,
That evanescent strain
Disclosing the tomb where all sorrows lay slain,
Where legions of angels shall cease their restraint
And cull forth the hope that lies faint.

Hasten the morning 
That scorches the frost,
Emblazons the gaze, illumines the lost;

Hasten the sun
In its rise to consume 
Each atom of darkness, each quantum of gloom

’Til the Ancient remembers,
‘cross the endless expanse,
the embers of history no more glow askance,
but shine in this glorious hour of chance
from pyre, to ashes, to sweet renascence.

Aurora (UWEC Concert Choir)

The first movement (overture) of "Ballads of the Borderland," an anthology of cultural experiences from the border region. This is a recording from the premiere performance by the Soli Chamber Ensemble, the Children's Chorus of San Antonio, the San Antonio Chamber Choir, and mezzo-soprano Tynan Davis, conducted by Joseph Causby.

Ballads of the Borderland: I. Borders, Badlands and Banderas

The second movement of my cantata "Ballads of the Borderland." Text from poet John Phillip Santos.

Ballads of the Borderland II. La Ruta

The sixth movement of my cantata, "Ballads of the Borderland." Text by John Phillip Santos.

Ballads of the Borderland VI. Saving Light

The seventh movement of my cantata, "Ballads of the Borderland." Text adapted from Elizabeth Leal.

Ballads of the Borderland VII. Elegy

The eighth movement of my cantata, "Ballads of the Borderland." Text by Carmen Tafolla. Performed by members of the San Antonio Chamber Choir.

Ballads of the Borderland VIII. Something About The Clouds

The ninth movement of my cantata, "Ballads of the Borderland."

Ballads of the Borderland IX. Twilight Echoes

The tenth movement of my cantata, "Ballads of the Borderland." Text by John Phillip Santos.

Ballads of the Borderland X. A Legend

The third movement of my piece for piano, clarinet, and two percussionists, Angle of Repose. 

Recorded by the Zeitgeist New Music Ensemble.

Angles of Repose III: Angle Of Acceleration

The second movement of my choral-orchestral work, "Let the Word Go Forth."  This movement employs text from a variety of sources, including President Kennedy's speeches on the importance of space travel.  

Let the Word Go Forth mvmt. 2, "To the Moon"

The first movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013. 

I. Inauguration

We observe today a celebration of freedom, signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath that our forebears prescribed.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his hands the power to abolish poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man com from the hand of God.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival of liberty.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Let both sides unite to let the oppressed go free.

The trumpet summons us again. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Ask what we can do for the freedom of man.  (From JFK Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961)

Let the Word Go Forth, Mvmt. 1: Inauguration

A short piece I wrote one morning in the summer of 2011.  I had mostly completed work on another choral piece--which to this day remains unfinished--but this is what came out instead.  This was my answer, in that moment, to violence.  The UW-Eau Claire Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, is featured here.

No Greater Love

The fourth movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013.

"I am proud to come to this city as a guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized around the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin.

Two thousand years ago the greatest boast was 'civis Romanus sum.' Today, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand. Let them come to Berlin. There are some that say that Communism is the way of the future. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists. Let them come to Berlin.

So let me ask you to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, beyond the wall to the day of peace, with justice, beyond yourselves, and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'" 

-JFK Address in West Berlin, June 26, 1963

Let the Word Go Forth, Mvmt. 4: "Berlin"

The third movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013.

I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this. (JFK Civil Rights Address, June 11,
1963)

When saw we thee a stranger? When saw we thee an hungered? Naked or clothed thee; sick or in prison; or thirsty gave thee drink? Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least, ye have done it unto me. (from Matt. 25: 37-40 KJV)

One hundred years of delay have passed since Lincoln freed the slaves. Yet their heirs are not yet free from the bonds of injustice; and this nation shall not be free until all its citizens are free. We face a moral crisis, we face a moral issue as old as the scriptures and clear as the constitution.

It is time to act in the congress, it is time to act in your state, it is time to act in your homes and in your daily lives. This is one country. (JFK Civil
Rights Address)

Ethan Wickman

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