Metamorphosis for solo flute, solo pedal or lever harp, and strings Chamber Orchestra - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.953627

Celebrate women scientists!

Metamorphosis (2019) by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP) for flute, harp, and string orchestra, commissioned by Balcones Community Orchestra, celebrates the life and work of Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), pioneering entomologist, naturalist, and artist.
Duration 5:30 minutes.

Commissioned by the Balcones Community Orchestra of Austin, Texas, Metamorphosis (2019) by Adrienne Inglis for solo flute, solo harp, and string orchestra, honors the life and work of pioneering entomologist, naturalist, and artist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). As she carefully documented in illustrated detail the life cycle of so many insects, Metamorphosis musically follows a butterfly from adult, egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The piece opens with an ostinato pattern in the strings over which the flute and harp play fluttering modal melodies. The strings and harp represent the egg stage with minimalistic layers of a single pitch. To recognize Merian’s time in Suriname and her discovery of many insect species there, a cheerful tune fashioned after traditional Arawak folk songs informs the busy larvae in the caterpillar canon. A bit of contemplative dorian polyphony laced with metamorphic machinations demonstrate the remarkable transformation of the pupa as well as Merian’s time at a devout Labadist religious commune. The butterfly emerges from the pupa with a flute/harp cadenza and then the strings underscore the adult butterfly with a return of the ostinato. The piece ends with the same ostinato as the beginning such that the piece could loop seamlessly as in a true life cycle.

This performance does not include the revisions made in this version of the music: https://youtu.be/GIjQpkXl6Uc