Three Settings from the Book of Odes: Creative and Technical Processes
This presentation examines the creative and technical processes behind Three Settings from the Book of Odes (乐子之无知), a chamber work for baritone, flute, guzheng, percussion and cello. The piece interweaves three poems from the Guofeng section of the Book of Odes (诗经), using carefully restricted musical materials to evoke aspects of Pre-Qin ritual culture.
The presentation analyses the work’s pitch structure, including its origins in the guzheng’s chromatic limitations and its relationship to the expressive trajectory of the poetry, from anxiety and bravado to resignation. It also considers how the repetitive structures of the three poems informed the work’s form and variation processes, and how the vocal line is shaped by Mandarin tones and poetic structure. Finally, the lecture reflects on how working creatively within the guzheng’s limited pitch material has influenced Athens’s compositional approach in subsequent works, including those without Chinese instruments.
Dr Niccolo Athens
Niccolo Athens is a composer born in San Antonio, Texas. He holds a bachelor’s degree in composition from The Juilliard School and a doctorate from Cornell University, where his research focused on the music of Alan Hovhaness. During a Fulbright residency at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, he studied composition with Ye Xiaogang. He is a recipient of two BMI Student Composer Awards and a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Athens is currently resident faculty at The Tianjin Juilliard School, where he teaches composition, ear training and theory, and serves as Artistic Director of Festival Connect.
Tianjin Juilliard School