Ausencias/Ausências/Absences (2016/17) — Parts + Max Patch

String quartet (optional amplification) and fixed electronics.

Original version (2016, Movements I–III): approx. 18 minutes.

Extended version (2017, adds Introduction and Interlude): approx. 30 minutes.

I found the impetus for this work in the last writings of three South American poets: Violeta Parra (Chile), Alfonsina Storni (Argentina), and Ana Cristina Cesar (Brazil). I was moved by their final works and compelled to explore the weight of the roles they played, as women artists, as protectors of Indigenous Peoples’ culture, and as figures in the 20th-century feminist current. Parra’s “Gracias a la vida” [Thanks to Life] (1966) simultaneously held gratefulness, appreciation, and mourning in a song that became an icon of 20th-century Latin American folk culture; Storni’s “Voy a dormir” [I’m going to sleep] (1938) describes her transition to death in a magical-realist poem, where she will be welcomed and comforted by fantastic sea creatures; and Cesar’s “Samba-Canção” (Slow Samba), a poem with an ambiguous tone (between crude and funny) describing the multiple identities she had performed in her search for approval. The fixed media and video, gathered on research trips through Argentina, Chile, and Brazil, include Parra’s own Cuatro Venezolano, the coastal site where Storni died, and an archival recording of Cesar—in an attempt to materialize their memory.

The extended version includes two extra parts, in addition to the three main movements: an introduction and an interlude before the last movement. It was created in 2017 while I was a fellow at the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities and presented as an intermedia work, with dance and interactive video, in collaboration with Sandra Torijano as choreographer, Carlos García as interactive visuals designer, and Jeff Alder as lighting designer. It can be performed as a standalone music work.

Premiere performance at the Duderstadt Center in 2017.

• Violin I – Lauren Pulcipher

• Violin II – Christine Harada Li

• Viola – Hsuan Lee

• Violoncello – Nathaniel Pierce

• Dance – Shea Carpenter-Broderick, Alicia Samson, and Michaela Esteban

• Choreography – Sandra Torijano

• Interactive engineer and visual effects – Carlos García

This download includes: Digital parts (PDF) for both versions; patch guides (PDF); and links to download the standalone Max patch applications for performance (hosted on Google Drive, as the files are too large for this download): Version 2016 | Version 2017.

This work exists in two versions; both are included in this download: the original, shorter version (Mvt I – Violeta, Mvt II – Alfonsina, and Mvt III – Ana C.) and the extended version, which includes two optional sections: Introduction and Interlude.

*The standalone Max patch can be run on any macOS and Windows computer. It includes a playback system that allows the performer to trigger audio tracks in layers, as indicated in the score. This can be managed from stage using a footswitch or page-turner pedal or by an assistant. It also includes a time and pulse tracking window to follow the time cues written in the score.