Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Embrassant la Renaissance is a varied transcription of the second work of my 2006 cycle for solo violoncello, Who is like God?, entitled Embracing Dumuzi. As such, like Who is like God?: (ii) Embracing Dumuzi, Embrassant la Renaissance is intended as a musical portrayal of my spiritual embrace and invocation of the Sumerian god, Dumuzi, the most ancient personification of the eternal cycle of life, death, destruction and renewal. In Sumerian mythology, Dumuzi is portrayed as a beautiful, innocently self-centred youth who dies and rises again, bringing both destruction and renewal with the turn of the seasons. Dumuzi also embraces the roles of priest, king and husband of the great Sumerian goddess of love, war and enlightenment, Inanna. He is the quickener of the child, the force that causes the sap to rise in the tree and a deity of fertility, vegetation and the netherworld. Dumuzi has also been called 'the Shepherd' and 'lord of the sheepfolds'. In the Sumerian King-List, Gilgamesh was descended from 'Dumuzi a shepherd. The musical material of Embrassant la Renaissance encompasses melodies inspired by both the Arab and Jewish traditions, in addition to fragments intended to evoke my conception of ancient Sumerian music.

Work Details

Year: 2018

Instrumentation: Soprano, alto or tenor saxophone.

Duration: 3 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Dedication note: Dedicated to Jason Lee