Music Mosaic

Artist's Statement

For this project, I chose to create images to go with the 2nd movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, which I've loved for a long time. In fact, I got to play it in a full orchestra in high school, so going at it from a slightly more creative, less technical angle was really interesting. This song has always reminded me of a slow, forced march, with its repetitive, lilting beat. For that reason, I wanted to show a long, long road through multiple environments in my images. One famous image from the Crimean War, "The Valley of the Shadow of Death" by Roger Fenton, came to mind early on and served as particular inspiration for my second image (see below). The road "goes ever on and on," through harsh environments, as the sun goes down. Depth was important to me in creating this impression of a never-ending path, and further helped parallel the early diminuendos. My favorite attribute of this piece is how often and artfully it switches between major and minor chords, most obviously portrayed in the transition from the main theme to the middle, sweeter part, and back again. In my images, I tried to show this by letting the path go through sweeter places, and one point offering respite in the form of a home. At one point, the woodwinds with their countermelodies reminded me strongly of a brook or river. In the end, though, the main theme builds up again into a fugue. The many different layers of instrumentation reminded me of water again, and the slow majesty of the music reminded me of the ocean. I thought its slow growth was also reminiscent of an incoming storm, as the music grew and boomed. So, the long journey is finally ended in the face of the elements.

As far as medium goes, I chose to use an old fashioned pen and inkwell, as representative of the strict format and old traditions Beethoven was working in (also, how cool is using an old fashioned pen and inkwell?). This also lent itself well to the harsh lines I was looking for in the beginning and end. For color, I wanted to be able to blend effectively, like the orchestra, to create cohesive tones. Crayons worked well in this regard, and also gave me a coarse, almost tangible texture that really pleased me because when I hear instruments playing, especially strings, I can almost hear the bows scraping over the strings, trying to get as warm a tone as possible. Similarly, when I see the crayon texture bounded in by the scratched ink, I can't help but imagine how it got there. It was a challenge drawing, and not something I've ever been used to! I felt, though, that the time it took to conceptualize and execute in this way made me think longer about what I was doing than if I had taken photos or done something I was more comfortable with.





"The Valley of the Shadow of Death" by Roger Fenton