Macbett
Incidental Music for the play by Eugène Ionesco
for Trumpet, Horn, Piano and Percussion (1974)
by Ron Hannah

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Duration: about 15 minutes

    This was a personal commission from Gordon Gordey, who was completing his master's degree in directing in the Drama Department of the University of Alberta. For his final project, he was to direct a play. He chose "Macbett", Ionesco's surrealistic take on Shakespeare, and it received four performances. The play calls for a variety of music, including "ridiculously lavish fanfares". With limited resources, ie. piano, trumpet, horn and percussion, I made fanfares that were too long, that modulated unexpectedly, etc. I also wrote a Renaissance-sounding dance and a smooth jazzy piece to accompany one of the witches doing a strip-tease. I enjoyed this project. The score exists only in hand-copied manuscript.


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