Haboo: fantasy on themes from the opera Songs from the Cedar House

For wind ensemble

Commissioned in 2004 by the Northwest Collegiate Wind Band Consortium The University of Washington, Pacific Lutheran University, Central Washington University, Eastern Washington University

Duration: 20 minutes

NOTES
Haboo is a new composition using themes from my 1991 opera "Songs from the Cedar House." That opera told of the interaction of Native and White peoples in the Puget Sound region over the last two hundred years. Haboo takes themes from the Native portions of the opera and re-works them into a tone poem in five uninterrupted sections:

Making the World refers to the story of Old Creator scooping up mud from the primordial sea to make the earth, while Creating the Animals depicts the populating of that world with the spirit of each creature. Awaiting the Salmon describes the salmon ceremony performed each year by the tribes eager for the year’s catch. Calling the Cougar refers generally to the practice of singing spirit songs to communicate with the spirits, and specifically to the story of one person who called a cougar spirit to demonstrate for a White person the truth of his beliefs. Making the World reprises the opening of the piece, with just a hint of the coming of the White people in the sound of the metal triangle.

Back to Wind Ensemble