Between Worlds

Title

Between Worlds

Description

African-American composer, curator and activist Carlos Simon wrote "Between Worlds" for solo violin or cello or solo double bass.

The text related to the project and its title are borrowed from and organized in relation to Leslie Umberger's Smithsoninan American Art Museum exhibit Between Worlds: The ARt of Bill Traylor, the first major retrospective organized for an artist born into slavery. From the composer's website: "Bill Traylor was born a slave in Alabama in 1853 and died in 1949. He lived long enough to see the United States of America go through many social and political changes. He was an eyewitness to the Civil War, Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow segregation and the Great Migration. As a self taught visual artist, his work reflects two separate worlds— rural and urban, black and white, old and new. In many ways the simplified forms in Traylor’s artwork tell of the complexity of his world, creativity, and inspiring bid for self-definition in a dehumanizing segregated culture. This piece is inspired by the evocative nature as a whole and not one piece by Traylor. Themes of mystical folklore, race, and religion pervade Traylor’s work. I imagine these solo pieces as a musical study; hopefully showing Traylor’s life between disparate worlds."
Duration: 4 minutes

Creator

Simon, Carlos (b. 1986)

Source

Carlos Simon (personal website), https://www.carlossimonmusic.com/
Carlos Simon, Between Worlds (score), https://www.carlossimonmusic.com/works/between-worlds-2
University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, "Celebrating MLK // Between Worlds by Carlos Simon // Bethlehem Kelley, violin" (YouTube), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am8hSZSsSgE&ab_channel=UniversityofMichiganSchoolofMusic%2CTheatre%26Dance

Date

2019

Format

0-10 minutes

Coverage

2000-

Instrumentation

double bass / contrebasse

Ensemble Type

solo

Citation

Simon, Carlos (b. 1986), “Between Worlds,” Music EnLivened, accessed November 22, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/music-enlivened/items/show/189.

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