L'homme armé

by Tomi Räisänen

for alto saxophone and percussion

Description

’L'homme armé’ was a well-known Burgundian melody from the 15th and 16th centuries. It was commonly used as a cantus firmus in many masses by Dufay, Josquin, and Ockeghem, among others. I decided to continue this tradition and use the melody in a new context. The tune is augmented, and even the shortest time values last in their new form for around ten seconds. In this way, the augmented melody forms a kind of skeleton or a structural basis for the whole work. I have also studied the form and the interval structure of the original medieval tune and then applied these same features to this new work for saxophone and percussion. TR, 2003

Instrumentation

asax, perc

Category

Chamber Works

Premiere

First performance on July 5, 2003, at the Time of Music Festival in Viitasaari, Finland, by Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo and Aki Virtanen.

Commisioned by / dedications

Dedicated to Olli-Pekka Tuomisalo

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Archive number

MF36155

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