The White Whale

Baritone and Piano or Orchestra [Flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, 2 clarinets (2nd doubling bass clarinet), bassoon, contrabassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, harp, piano (doubling celesta), percussion (two players), strings]

The White Whale is a musical projection of Ahab’s madness as revealed in fragments of soliloquy and dialogue from nine different chapters of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. The four movements do not attempt to mirror Melville’s continuous narrative. Instead, they reflect some of the novel’s greatest discontinuities by juxtaposing paradoxical aspects of Ahab’s character—aspects which are revealed one by one in non-successive chapters strung out like beads on a chain throughout the book—in a radically compressed time frame. The compression heightens awareness of the depth and complexity of Ahab’s personality and of his relationship to the whale while creating a particular dramatic tension of its own. The text of this work was adapted by the composer from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick.

Movements:

1. The Prisoner
2. In Nomine Diaboli
3. The Symphony
4. A Hump Like a Snow-Hill

Score Samples:

Audio Excerpts:
Sanford Sylvan, Baritone; Joel Rosenberg, Conductor; Orchestra of Five College Musicians

Movement 1: