"To sleep, to dream" performed by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Recorded live, February 16, 2006. Commissioned by Swarthmore College.

I have often wondered why the ensemble made famous by Schubert in his renowned “Trout” quintet (D. 667) has not been more often employed by composers in the almost two centuries since its initial conception.  The chamber music literature abounds with works for the more traditional quintet (piano and string quartet), but the more interesting combination proposed by Schubert has had far fewer takers.  When I was approached by Swarthmore College to compose a work for members of the Brentano Quartet, I leapt at the chance to add a work to the limited repertoire for a quintet featuring my own often-neglected instrument, the double bass.  However, in planning the work, two concerns quickly arose: one, to avoid the thick, piano-centric writing so frequently found in much of the nineteenth-century repertoire in favor of a lighter, more transparent texture; and secondly, in composing a work for an ensemble so closely tied to one piece in the repertoire (one of the most ubiquitous works in the chamber music literature and one which I, myself, performed on many occasions), whether or not to acknowledge Schubert’s original.  However tempting it might be to appropriate Schubert’s quintet in some manner (and realizing that the work may find itself on programs with the “Trout” more often than not), I decided to avoid any connection or reference to the Schubert and create a world as far from it as possible.

The work is in one movement, loosely divided into several sections, all connected by shared harmonic and melodic material.  The opening (marked “delicately, otherworldly, dream-like”) introduces the general atmosphere and sound-world of the piece, as well as the musical materials upon which all subsequent sections will be based.  Following a violin cadenza, a long transition – beginning in a hazy world of string harmonics and crotales – leads into the first fast music.  This section, driven primarily by a “walking” line introduced by the double bass, includes the most rhythmically intricate music in the work.  As this music comes to a close, another cadenza, now for piano, leads into the second slow section (marked “darkly expressive”, and the longest section in the work).  Accompanied by piano clusters, glissandi, and quiet, slow trills, the double bass, soon to be joined by the other strings, begins a long lyric line which slowly rises, growing in intensity, until it reaches a final, dramatic climax.  The piano then begins a fast, running figure, soon to be taken over by the strings, which quickly dissolves into the final, coda-like section.  As the opening atmosphere returns and the music slowly fades, the violin solo returns, climbing into silence.

"To sleep, to dream" was commissioned by Swarthmore College in honor of Gilmore and Mary Roelofs Stott.  The work was written during summer of 2001 at the MacDowell Colony and revised in 2004 at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the support of both of which is most gratefully acknowledged.  The work was premiered at Swarthmore College in November 2001 by members of the Brentano String Quartet: Serena Canin, violin, Mischa Amory, viola, and Nina Lee, ’cello, with James Freeman, double bass, and Thomas Sauer, piano.

To sleep, to dream (2001/2004)for vln, vla, vc, dbs, and pno/celesta

This piece was inspired by the craft of needlepoint, in which different-colored yarns are stitched onto a stiff canvas to produce a pattern or image. What inspires me about this art form are the contrasts it contains: between the flexible strands of yarn and the rigid canvas and between the small complex patterns that combine to form larger shapes and images. Throughout the work, small melodic threads are stitched onto a slowly-evolving harmonic grid. Dynamic swells produce rapid changes between the foreground and background, while stark tempo changes create a sense of ebb and flow as the music sometimes surges forward and sometimes seems to be held back against its will.  Essentially, this piece stems from my love for orchestral performance and from the sonic complexity that emerges when a multitude of small sounds come together to form a coherent musical whole.

Recorded by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Cliff Colnot, conductor.

Needlepoint--for orchestra

Head, Composition Department
Vincent K. and Edith H. Smith Chair in Composition
The Cleveland Institute of Music

Professional composer, teacher and conductor.
Former faculty at Bard College, Mannes College of Music, and Indiana University.

D.Mus., M.M., B.M., Indiana University

Teachers include Frederick Fox, Eugene O'Brien. Claude Baker. Additional studies with Joan Tower and Donald Erb. 

You can find my full bio here: http://keithfitch.com/biography.html or http://www.cim.edu/about/bios.php?id=268

This is a sampling of live performances of some my work over the years. 

If you are interested in any of the music you have heard here (or anything thing else of mine!), you may contact me via my website or CIM, or contact my publisher directly (all links below).

I hope that you enjoy my music!

-Keith

To sleep, to dream (2001/2004)for vln, vla, vc, dbs, and pno/celesta

Keith Fitch

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