The Sunken Cathedral

The Sunken Cathedral is based on the ancient Breton legend of the cathedral of Ys, the same myth behind Debussy’s piano prelude La cathédrale engloutie. As the story goes, the mythical city of Ys was submerged in the sea ages ago, but on rare occasions, the city’s cathedral rises to the surface, and the sound of its bells and organ can be heard. In my telling, the organ and other instruments of the cathedral have long been inhabited by merfolk and sea water, altering their scales, harmonies, and resonance. The piece blends elements from various musical traditions, including 19th-century tone poem, fantasy film score, contemporary sculptural timbral writing, and microtonal harmonies. Based on science and intuition, I have woven crossmodal correspondences through the entirety of the piece in such a way that I hope that listeners will see and feel the wet, dark coldness of the underwater world contrasting with the bright warmth of the sun as the cathedral rises out of the sea.

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