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Curtains for Brass Band and Narrator (2020) by Matthew Nunes
Text by Jessica Mitford extracted from her 1963 essay "Behind the
Formaldehyde Curtain"

Composer's Notes:
Jessica Mitford’s incisive 1963 essay "Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain" is the inspiration for this piece. Mitford dissects the embalming industry while baring the ironies and inhumanities of its processes. First included in her book "The American Way of Death", we follow “Mr. Jones” from death to burial and experience all the
tools, techniques, and abuses in-between. It was required reading for me as a high school junior and a text that grows more haunting with each added birthday candle.

The piece follows “Mr. Jones” on his journey with narrated extracts from Mitford’s essay. The opening chords are constructed from the pitches D-flat, E-flat, A-flat, and another D-flat, following Igor Stravinsky’s final chord in "The Rite of Spring" (D-E-A-D). From here the material alternates between chromatically descending, as the corpse nears its final resting place, and ascending, while the embalmers fight to champion death.

- Matthew Nunes
Niceville, July 2020

Curtains for Brass Band and Narrator

www.MatthewNunesMusic.com

Matthew Nunes (ASCAP) is a euphoniumist and composer on the rise. 2017 was a breakout year as he advanced to the Leonard Falcone International Tuba-Euphonium Festival's Euphonium Artist semi-finals, and won the Montclair State University Concerto Competition with his own Concerto for Euphonium (2015). In 2012 he won the University of Central Florida Concerto/Aria Competition for Band – earning the distinction of being the first euphonium player to win since Dr. Gail Robertson. He has played with the Brass Band of Central Florida and has had multiple orchestra opportunities. He earned his Master’s in Euphonium Performance at Montclair State University studying with Derek Fenstermacher. His performance teachers include Tim Van Dam, Dr. Gail Robertson, Dr. Robin Sisk, Derek Fenstermacher, and Bente Illevold. 

Matthew is a published composer and arranger with works available from Cimarron Music Press and SheetMusicPlus.com. His Concerto for Euphonium and Wind Band was premiered by Dr. Gail Robertson and the Little Rock Wind Symphony in 2016, while his In League with Extraordinary Women (Concerto for Tuba and Wind Band) was premiered by Dr. Robin Sisk and the University of Florida Symphonic Band in 2018. In late 2021 he completed his Symphony for Orchestra and Choir, a massive and emotionally intense work. Matthew earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Composition from UCF studying with Christopher Marshall. 

Theory and research are important to Matthew, and in late 2019 his article Mystery, Necromancy, and the Euphonium was published in Vol. 47, No. 1 of the International Tuba-Euphonium Association Journal. 

My music is available from these publishers:
CIMARRON MUSIC PRESS
https://www.cimarronmusic.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=%22nunes%22

SHEET MUSIC PLUS DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/search?Ntt=%22matthew+nunes+music%22

Curtains for Brass Band and Narrator

Matthew Nunes - Composer