Eric Whitacre

Background

Very little formal training before

joining his university choir at 18

Attended University of Nevada,

Las Vegas

Changing moment: Mozart’s

Requiem

Sophomore year: studying piano, voice, and composition

First published piece – “Go, Lovely Rose”

Presented at 1992 ACDA

conference

Became a set of three

“Flower Songs”

Went on to study with

John Corigliano at Julliard John Corigliano

Compositions:

Choir, orchestra, wind symphony

Musical theatre, solo voice

Film scores

Music

Contemporary harmonies

“Whitacre chords”

Complex meter changes,

rhythms

Hand actions; props

“Cloudburst”

Notable Awards

2012 Grammy

ASCAP Harold Arlen Award

Richard Rogers Award

ACDA

America Composers Forum

Projects

Virtual Choir

Virtual Choir 3 currently scheduled to launch in April 2012

http://ericwhitacre.com/the-virtual-choir

Listening Guide

Cloudburst

Created in spring 1992

Spontaneous process

Albums:

“Cloudburst and other Choral Works”

“Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Capella Works, 1991-

2001”

“Water & Light”

0:00 Simple, major chord

Aleatoric section begins

Eight note motif

0:56 Bass solo

Dissonant harmonies

Smooth, legato phrasing

1:46 Female parts: round figure

Return to “la lluvia”

2:29 Sopranos: aleatoric section

Spoken lines

Lines repeated by lower parts; chant-like

3:45 8 part split, beginning with bottom voice,

and moving upwards

Repetitions grow in intensity; climax at

“Sangre…”

Soprano solo, whispered “la lluvia”

5:32 Beginning of Cloudburst section

Percussion starts

Voices join one part at a time; growing

chord cluster

6:21 Beginning of the storm

Singers clapping, snapping, and patting

legs to imitate rain

6:55 Climax: powerful, fortissimo major chord

Eight note motif

Drastic decrescendo

7:15 “La lluvia” repeated four times

Percussion swells

Ending chord: lack of resolution

She Weeps over Rahoon

Commissioned in 1993

Trial and error process

Albums:

“Brigham Young University Choirs and Eric Whitacre 2”

“Water & Light”

0:00 Duple/compound meter

SSA

Introduction: Piano and French Horn.

0:24 Section A: Round figure between parts

Painting the picture of a steady, drizzling

rain

0:47 French Horn: counter melody

1:30 Interlude: French Horn and Piano

Steady, unwavering tempo, triplet figures

1:47 Section B: Half singing, half whispering the

text

2:32 Climax: major chord

Sopranos at upper part of their range

Accompaniment: ascending chords

3:04 Interlude/solo for piano and French Horn

Freer tempo taken

3:43 Coda: Voices ending on chord cluster in

low register

Dissonant last chord

Word painting on “muttering rain”

Accompaniment ends with same melody

from introduction

Bibliography

Eric Whitacre Biography: http://ericwhitacre.com/

“Whitacre’s Way”, UNLV Fall Magazine, Fall 2007 :

http://magazine.unlv.edu/Issues/Fall07/32whitacres.html

Weiler, David (2012, February 15) Personal Interview