I first got the idea for Elegy
and Fugue when a friend of mine serving in the peace corps sent
me a package from Nepal with a very interesting postage stamp on
it. Nepali stamps are quite beautiful in general, but this
particular stamp caught my eye more than any other because it had a
melody printed on it in tiny musical notation. Using a magnifying
glass, I took the melody down on staff paper and played through it
several times. I was so taken by its simplicity and beauty that I
decided to file it away for future use. About a year later when I
was thinking about writing a piece for the Guitar Foundation of
America's 1996 set piece competition, I remembered the little Nepali
melody and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to use
it. The first movement, "Elegy," features a chromaticised version
of the original melody followed by a short improvisatory passage of
bell-like motives. The subject of the ensuing fugue is a more
remote transformation of the Nepali melody. The climax of the
fugue is a presentation of the subject in augmentation, and the Nepali
melody finally appears in its original form (although now harmonized)
shortly thereafter in a sort of reprise of the Elegy. Elegy and Fugue is dedicated to
Lori Schell, who sent me the melody that inspired the piece. The
work was first performed by Randall Goldberg at the New England
Conservatory (Boston) in 1997.
Jonathan Kulp, 2003
Duration
6'30"
Premiere
Randall Goldberg, New England Conservatory of
Music (Boston, MA); Feb. 12, 1997
Audio
MP3 (6
MB) Jonathan Kulp, guitar; Lafayette Composers Concert, March 28, 2004,
Lafayette Public Library
