Chaoborus

Hear an excerpt of this piece.

Composer: David Heuser
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, percussion, piano, 2 violin, viola, cello, double bass
Year Composed: 1993
Duration: 8 minutes
Pages (score): 31
Cost:

• Rental: $80.00
  
• Purchase: $130.00
  

• The EvorEnsemble Contemporâneo, Évora, Portugal (January 2006)
• University of Louisville Contemporary Player, Frederick Speck, cond., University of Louisville, Louisville, KY (April 1995)
• Tim Hankewich, cond., Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington, IN (October 1993)

Percussion Required: Bass Drum, Bell Plate, Vibraphone, Crotales (pitches: E, F, A), Chimes (i.e. Tubular Bells; pitches: Db, E)

Chaoborus (pronounced Ka-OB-or-us) was written from October 1992 to the beginning of 1993. It is scored for four woodwinds, three brasswinds, five strings, percussion and piano. It is approximately eight-and-a-half minutes long. The Chaoborus is a phantom midge, found in the profundal zone of lakes. According to Wetzel (Limnology, 2nd ed., Saunders, 1983, p. 663):

	the larvae can develop to the fourth instar in six to eight weeks.
	The first and second instars are the larvae can develop to the
	fourth instar in six to eight weeks. The first and second instars
	are always limnetic and positively phototactic, and they develop
	rapidly in a few weeks. The third instar, mostly limnetic but also
	occurring in the sediments, is of much longer duration. After a
	variable period of up to several months, ecdysis to the fourth
	instar occurs; this instar is limnetic much of the time. The fourth
	instar of many species of Chaoborus undergoes strong diurnal
	vertical migrations.

It is this last trait which attracted me to the Chaoborus as a possible title.

The piece is in one movement, the tempo the same throughout. Formally Chaoborus breaks down into four parts with an introduction and a coda. In the introduction the basic conflicts between chords and melody, and between "whole- tone"-like material and more chromatic material are presented. The first main section is anchored by a nearly continuous rocking minor third, over which there are several melodies. Interrupting the anchor and the melodies are the loud chords first heard in the introduction. In the second section the loud chords take over, shifting and changing abruptly until, just as suddenly, they end. The third section of the piece has slower rhythmic motion, and it is more nebulous and fractured in nature. In the last section all of the previous elements of the piece are heard against each other, piled up like building blocks: the elements are not affected by the music around them, and their arrangement is somewhat orderly, somewhat haphazard. The piece ends with an almost backwards recapitulation of the opening.