{"product_id":"dove-in-damascus-peters","title":"Dove: In Damascus","description":"\u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eComposer\u003c\/strong\u003e: Jonathan Dove (1959-)\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFormat\u003c\/strong\u003e: Score \u0026amp; Set of Parts\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eInstrumentation\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cspan class=\"edition-instrumentation\"\u003eString Quartet (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello), Tenor\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWork\u003c\/strong\u003e: In Damascus\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli class=\"binding hidden\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBinding\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eISMN\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cspan class=\"book-barcode\"\u003e9790577011769\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eSize\u003c\/strong\u003e: \u003cspan class=\"book-width\"\u003e9.1\u003c\/span\u003e x \u003cspan class=\"book-length\"\u003e12.0\u003c\/span\u003e inches\u003c\/li\u003e \u003cli class=\"book-pages\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePages\u003c\/strong\u003e: 164\u003c\/li\u003e \u003c\/ul\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"row\"\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c!-- split --\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"row\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"one-half columns\"\u003e \u003ch4\u003eDescription\u003c\/h4\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"feature_divider\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e \u003cp\u003eI have only visited Damascus once, twenty years ago, on the way to Palmyra. I had a purpose (I was writing music for a play about Palmyra's Queen Zenobia) but essentially I was a tourist. Like any visitor, I was thrilled to step out of the noisy modern city into the magical ancient world of the walled Old City, its vibrant souk leading to the magnificent mosque, and a labyrinth of winding, narrow streets filled with the smell of unleavened bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Palmyra, I was met with extraordinary kindness everywhere. On one occasion, a little Bedouin boy noticed that I was risking sunstroke wandering bare-headed among the spectacular ruins: he showed me how to tie a turban, then took me to have tea with his family in their tent.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince then, I have watched helplessly as these places of wonder have been devastated and their inhabitants scattered and killed. When the Sacconi Quartet suggested that I might choose a Syrian poet for our collaboration, I welcomed the idea.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI searched for a long time to find a contemporary poet whose work might gain from any music I could imagine. I felt it was important to find first-hand accounts of the Syrian experience – but, of course, I was always reading them in translation. in an anthology called _Syria Speaks, _I was astonished to read something that looked like prose, but was full of poetry. It was Anne-Marie McManus's fine translation of Ali Safar's _A Black Cloud in a Leaden White Sky – _an eloquent, thoughtful, contained yet vivid account of life in a war-torn country, all the more moving for its restraint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn setting these words, I have not attempted to imitate Syrian music. However, there is what might be called a linguistic accommodation in my choice of scale, or mode. Several movements are in a mode that I first discovered while writing a cantata commemorating the First World War: it has a tuning that I associate with war, its violence and desolation. This eight-note mode is similar to scales found in Syrian music. I did not choose it in the abstract: it emerged from the harmonies I was exploring in the earlier work, and emerged again as I was looking for the right musical colours to set Ali Safar's words. in this work, its Arabic aspect is more prominent. - Jonathan Dove\u003c\/p\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Edition Peters","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42659481354375,"sku":"EP72822","price":145.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0658\/8635\/5591\/files\/df81d3ec223812ca69f03a65f5265f23.jpg?v=1750716604","url":"https:\/\/www.editionpeterspublications.us\/ja\/products\/dove-in-damascus-peters","provider":"Edition Peters Publications","version":"1.0","type":"link"}