The Delian Society, founded in 2004, celebrated its decennial in 2014. The DS is distinguished not only for its leading role in the renaissance of tonal art music but also for its international artistic collaborations. To commemorate this occasion, some of its composers have combined their talents to create the Delian Suite No. 8—”Letters to Eternity”—expressly for a world premiere by The Octava Chamber Orchestra in its 2015 season.
Each participating composer chose a person of significance to her or him living in the past and addressed a musical “letter” to her/his dedicatee. Using a renaissance musical technique, each movement incorporates one or more mottos “carved out” of the solfege vowels in “Delian Society”:
re – mi – fa – sol – mi – re – mi (typically, D – E – F – G – E – D – E).
Special thanks go to Matthew Weiss and members of the Octava Chamber Orchestra for their outstanding artistry and support of contemporary tonal art music, and to all those who gave so generously of their expertise, musical creativity, and skill to make this project a reality. We hope our gift to you, the listening public, will further the spirit of international friendship and cooperation.
Mp3 of the concert of this suite given by The Octava Chamber Orchestra (16 minutes)
1. Carlos Caicedo-Russi (Carabobo, Venezuela): To Hildegard von Bingen (pdf) (mp3)
2. Ronald Brown (Ontario, Canada): To John Dowland (pdf)
3. Graham Marshall (Rochdale, UK): To Jean-Jacques Rousseau (pdf)
4. Joseph Dillon Ford (Florida, USA): To Ludwig van Beethoven (pdf and mp3)
5. Edward Gold (New York, USA): To Franklin Feldman (pdf)
6. Jean Chatillon (Québec, Canada): To Edvard Grieg (pdf)
7. Nancy Bloomer Deussen (California, USA): To Fanny Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hensel (pdf)
8. Reinhold Behringer (Leeds, UK): To Ada Lovelace (Video)
9. David Solomons (Sale, United Kingdom): “Bunny Rabbits” To Gertrude Bennett (pdf and mp3)Video
10. Patrick O’Keefe (Seattle, Washington, USA): To an Unknown Balkan Musician (pdf) (mp3)
11. Jonathan Rabson (Missouri, USA): To Alfred Hitchcock (pdf) (mp3)
12. Sheila Firestone (Florida, USA): To Erik Satie (pdf) (mp3)
