Tempest Fantasy Explained

Tempest Fantasy is a 2003 chamber music composition in five movements for cello, clarinet, violin, and piano by the American composer Paul Moravec. The piece is dedicated to clarinetist David Krakauer and the piano trio Trio Solisti, who premiered the work May 2, 2003 at Morgan Library & Museum in New York City.^[1] The title of the work comes from the play The Tempest by William Shakespeare. The work won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Music.^{[2] [3] [4]}

Composition

Structure

Tempest Fantasy has a duration of approximately thirty minutes and is composed in five movements:

1. Ariel
2. Prospero
3. Caliban
4. Sweet Airs
5. Fantasia

Style and inspiration

Moravec commented on the composition in the program notes for the work, saying:Moravec has also suggested that the piece was an allegory for his own struggle with depression, commenting: "Coming back from depression, I identified with Prospero and his melancholy and his downcast state. Through the power of imagination he improves his condition, and so that’s what I did as a composer."^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Paul Moravec Wins Pulitzer Prize For Tempest Fantasy . . April 5, 2004 . April 14, 2015.
2. News: Downey . Charles T. . Left Bank Quartet gives solid but spotty performance . . March 11, 2013 . April 14, 2015.
3. Web site: Lowe . Jim . Paul Moravec: The conventional unconventionally . . February 25, 2005 . April 14, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150929210222/http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20050225%2FNEWS%2F502250313%2F1011 . September 29, 2015 .
4. Web site: Johnson . Daniel Stephen . Paul Moravec: Mining Tonality for New Intricacies, The Pulitzer Prize-winning Composer Introduces his Music . . February 1, 2012 . April 14, 2015.
5. Web site: Shattuck . Kathryn . A Composer Who's Weathered Some Tempests of His Own . . April 22, 2007 . April 14, 2015.