Cornell Set

Complete Work Title:

Cornell Set — four poems with computer music

Performance Medium:

poetry reading with computer music

Duration:

8:00

Date Composed:

December 2010 – April 2011

Movements:

  1. Gorge Dweller: Evensong I (Tacey M. Atsitty)
  2. Elegy for a Car (Clayton Pityk)
  3. What is Broken (Benjamin Garcia)
  4. In Mid-Autumn: Shanxi Province 2007 (Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers)

Additional Information:

  • The 4-channel computer music requires Max/MSP or pure data for performance.
  • This work was made possible by a generous commission from the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at Cornell University, with special thanks to Alice Fulton and the collaborating poets.
  • Included on the album Improbable Encounters (innova 873, 2014).

Recording:

Recording featuring poetry readings by Tacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia. and Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers.

Score:

Program Note:

In the spring of 2010, I was contacted by poet and Cornell University English Professor, Alice Fulton — whose poems I had set to computer music several years earlier — about undertaking a similar project with the second-year MFA poetry students in Cornell’s Creative Writing Program. A dozen poems were submitted for consideration, from which four — each by a different poet — were selected for this collection. The poems were chosen for their contrasting content and style, allowing for a variety of approaches in the computer music setting as well. Specific references in the text provided the impetus for many of the processed sounds (e.g., cars and dogs in the Pityk poem, birds and rain in the Garcia poem); in some cases, the text reading itself provided the source material (this occurs to some degree in each setting, though the computer music in the Atsitty poem is based entirely on a reading of the text by the poet).

Cornell Set was commissioned by the Creative Writing Program and the Department of English at Cornell University. The work was first performed by poets Tacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, and Elizabeth Rogers on 15 April 2011 at Cornell University. It is included on the album Improbable Encounters (innova 873, 2014).

Performance/Broadcast History:

DateVenueLocationPerformer(s)
30 July 2024Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.it, for the Chigiana International Festival and Summer Academy 2024Siena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
23 July 2024Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.it, for the Chigiana International Festival and Summer Academy 2024Siena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
16 July 2024Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.it, for the Chigiana International Festival and Summer Academy 2024Siena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
30 March 2024"Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.itSiena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
23 March 2024"Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.itSiena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
16 March 2024"Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.itSiena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
9 March 2024"Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.itSiena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
2 March 2024"Gli Spazzi dell'Immaginario": webcast on www.radioarte.itSiena, ItalyTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation
21 October 2015Janáček Academy of Music and Performing ArtsBrno, Czech RepublicJoseph Klein, recitation
24 June 2015Abrons Center—New York City Electroacoustic Music FestivalNew York City, NYJoseph Klein, recitation
18 March 2014University of North TexasDenton, TXStephen Morscheck, recitation
19 October 2013Bowling Green State University—34th Annual BGSU New Music FestivalBowling Green, OHElizabeth Pearse, recitation
20 October 2012Living Arts of Tulsa OK Electric FestivalTulsa, OKJoseph Klein, recitation
26 May 2012Sichaun Conservatory of MusicChengdu, ChinaJoseph Klein, recitation
1 March 2012Connecticut College—13th Biennial Arts and Technology SymposiumNew London, CTDavid Jaffe, recitation
3 October 2011University of North TexasDenton, TXHeidi Dietrich Klein, recitation
15 April 2011Cornell University—Department of English Reading SeriesIthaca, NYTacey M. Atsitty, Clayton Pityk, Benjamin Garcia, & Elizabeth Rogers — recitation

With Cornell poets at Cornell University (2011)