Lonnie and Lonie

Title

Lonnie and Lonie

Description

Black composer George Lewis composed "Lonnie and Lonie" for trumpet and piano. The work received its world premiere on November 24, 2019 by trumpeter Glen Whitehead, pianist Susan Grace, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs. The work was commissioned in grand collaboration between UCCS, Colorado College and the Chamber Orchestra of the Spring.

As written in the composer's program notes provided on Facebook: "This work was inspired by my twin uncles, Lonnie and Lonie Griffith, who as teenagers were frequently tasked with watching over me while my parents were at work on weekends. We would go to horror movies like Mr. Sardonicus, where the director himself calls for a vote on whether the title character should suffer or escape the consequences of his depredations. Later, at the now-defunct Illinois Slag and Ballast Company, where Lonnie and Lonie were supervisors, they got me a job cleaning out railroad cars during a particularly intense Chicago winter. Lonnie and Lonie expressed both complementary and contrasting views of the world, a circumstance that, in line with my general understanding of the important trope of depiction in American music (Ives, Ellington, and Carter, for examples), is perfectly suited to the deployment of the concerto form, which has offered composers the opportunity to enact both agonistic and cooperative dramaturgical experiences of the dialogue among soloist(s) and orchestra. I’d like to provide this small hint to you automobile buffs out there as to which soloist represents “Lonnie” and which “Lonie”: I remember when both were driving “muscle cars”--a Dodge Charger (Lonnie) and an SS396 Chevrolet Chevelle (Lonie). In the concluding double cadenza, the soloists, driving fast and noisily through the narrower streets of Chicago’s Englewood district, head each other off at the pass before the work’s emphatic, but somehow pensive conclusion. This work is dedicated to Lonnie Griffith (1947-) and the memory of Lonie Griffith (1947-2002). I would like to thank Glen Whitehead, Susan Grace, Maestro Thomas Wilson, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs for bringing this project to full fruition."
Duration: 12 minutes

Creator

Lewis, George E. (b. 1952)

Source

George E. Lewis (faculty profile, Columbia University), https://music.columbia.edu/bios/george-e-lewis
George Lewis, Lonnie and Lonie (Facebook premiere post), https://www.facebook.com/events/1137016606688267

Date

2019

Format

10-20 minutes

Coverage

2000-

Instrumentation

trumpet / trompette
piano

Ensemble Type

duo

Citation

Lewis, George E. (b. 1952), “Lonnie and Lonie,” Music EnLivened, accessed November 21, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/music-enlivened/items/show/158.

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