The Stage of Seduction: Eric Whitacre on the Influence of Poetry in His Compositions

Composer Eric Whitacre spoke with The Economistabout, among other things, the influence of poetry on his own work. He has written works based on the poems of Octavio Paz, an electronica-infused take on Paradise Lost, and a sort of Robert Frost homage.

From the interview:

Many of your pieces are influenced by poetry. What decides whether a poem is going to make a good musical piece?

A musical relationship with a poem is very much like an actual relationship with a person. There’s the stage of seduction, when I’m first reading it and the poem is flirting with me. Then there’s the part when I’m completely ‘into it.’ Then there’s the stage of a real relationship when I’m trying to express myself musically—so the music sounds like the poetry feels to me.

In case of "Light and Gold" I had a concept that was supposed to be a bit higher than poetry. My idea was that I can teach the audience how to breathe—for the first two measures the chorus’ sings crescendo for four beats and then decrescendo for four beats; the crescendo for four beats, decrescendo for four beats. So what the choir is doing without the audience even knowing it is teaching it to breathe in… and breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. The audience doesn’t realise that they’re being manipulated, but the effect is palpable. For example, people come to me after the concert and say: ‘Wow, that piece—I felt so breathless at the end of it.’ And that’s exactly how they’re supposed to feel. So in that instance the poem becomes a vehicle for a conceptual idea that’s a little above the poem itself.

The full interview, including how Whitacre diffused some copyright issues with the Frost estate, can be found here.

Video of Whitacre conducting "Cloudburst" (one of the Paz-inspired pieces) can be found here.