Written: 2019
Duration: ca. 12'
Instrumentation: flute (doubling piccolo), oboe (doubling English horn), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and piano (pianist plays from score)
Commissioned by the Exponential Ensemble, with funding from the New York State Council on The Arts (NYSCA)
World Premiere: Exponential Ensemble, Opera America, Marc A. Scorca Hall, New York, NY, October 30, 2019

MOVEMENTS
I. Pascal’s Triangle
II. Noether’s Theorem
III. Einstein’s Daydream
IV. The Hammers of Pythagoras

PROGRAM NOTE
Relative Theory is a four-movement, ca. 12 minute work for flute (doubling piccolo), oboe (doubling English horn), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), and piano. Each movement is inspired by a mathematician or theoretical physicist. I was inspired by a story that the commissioning ensemble, the Exponential Ensemble, told me about how much they enjoy performing programs for children that relate math to music. In a fun, yet hopefully meaningful way, the movements of my piece are designed to draw parallels between these two distinct, but interrelated worlds.

The title Relative Theory is a play on words: it loosely refers to Albert Einstein’s famous Special Theory of Relativity, but also to musical theories and theoretical principals that are used between each of the movements. All of these movements are inspired by mathematicians or theoretical physicists, and their theorems and theories inspire the music itself.

In Pascal’s Triangle, triads and intervallic content are structured so as to use binomial coefficients in musical ways. In Noether’s Theorem, the music mirrors her theorem, which states that every differentiable symmetry of the action of a physical system has a corresponding conservation law. Einstein’s Daydream, perhaps the most fanciful movement, quotes a few themes from Beethoven, J.S. Bach and Mozart, three composers who’s music Einstein loved to play on his violin. The work ends with a movement entitled The Hammers of Pythagoras, inspired by a legendary, apocryphal but nevertheless playful tale of Pythagoras passing by a blacksmith at work one day, and discovering that musical notes could be translated into mathematical equations.

There are some fascinating programmatic relations that dictate how thematic materials are used in various movements. Albert Einstein thought very highly of Emmy Noether, a mathematician who never achieved the fame she deserved because she was female. In fact, some of her theories inspired Einstein. Therefore, some of the themes in the second movement are used in the third. Einstein and Pythagoras both figure prominently in music history, albeit for different reasons, so themes from each of these movements permeate back and forth.

Relative Theory was commissioned by the Exponential Ensemble, with funding from the New York State Council on The Arts (NYSCA).

LINKS
https://www.exponentialensemble.com/
https://www.robpaterson.com/
https://robertpaterson.com/relative-theory

EXPONENTIAL ENSEMBLE
Anna Urrey, flute
Kemp Jernigan, oboe
Pascal Archer, clarinet
Geoffrey Burleson, guest pianist

Relative Theory - I. Pascal's Triangle

American composer Robert Paterson is a true New Yorker—born and bred in Buffalo, he lived in Rochester and Ithaca for over ten years, in New York City for over twenty years, and now lives in Saratoga Springs, near the Adirondacks. Paterson’s colorful music embraces a wide variety of themes, everything from goddesses and online dating to mathematics and the environment. His music is filled with emotion and fierce rhythmic energy, marked by elegance, wit, and meticulous craftsmanship. Named Composer of The Year by the Classical Recording Foundation at Carnegie Hall, Paterson is the winner of the Alfred I. DuPont Award, and his opera Three Way won the Grammy® under Best Classical Producer of the Year. His music is often a Best of the Year pick on National Public Radio. His orchestral tone poem, Dark Mountains, regularly airs on NPR’s Performance Today. Three Way premiered with Nashville Opera, then BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and across the United States. Minnesota Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, The Oratorio Society of New York, Buffalo Philharmonic, Albany Pro Musica, Albany Symphony, Musica Sacra, Austin Symphony, Vermont Symphony, and ensembles worldwide perform his works. Paterson gives masterclasses at the Curtis Institute of Music, New York University, the Aspen Music Festival, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and more. He is the Artistic Director and house composer for Mostly Modern Projects. Robert is a lifelong vegan and advocates for animals and the environment, celebrating the natural world with ground-breaking works such as his Triple Concerto, A New Eaarth, Listen, and I Go Among Trees.

Relative Theory - I. Pascal's Triangle

Robert Paterson Composer