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Orchestra
2010
- Program Notes
- “Dr. Formad recently exhibited a very unique specimen before the College of Physicians, Philadelphia. The specimen is an enormously developed colon. The patient from whom the specimen was taken was a man 29 years of age who had been found dead in a water closet, and thus became the subject of coronatorial investigation. At 16 he would go as long as a month at a time without a movement of the bowels. At 20 years of age he was exhibited in a dime museum as the “Wind Bag” or “Balloon Man.” Lately, he had abdominal pain, tympanites, and shortness of breath. At the autopsy the colon was found to be 8 feet, 4 inches long, and its circumferential measurement [up to] 30 inches. The colon contained about 2-and-a-half pailfuls of feces, which weighed about forty pounds. Dr. Formad regards the case, not as one of ordinary dilation from retention of feces, but an actual overgrowth of the colon.”–The Journal of the American Medical Association (1892) “Today, this condition would probably be diagnosed as Congenital Aganglionic Megacolon or Hirschsprung’s Disease. This happens when the nerve supply to the portion of the colon fails to develop, leading to functional obstruction and colonic dilatation in front of the affected segment. Hirschsprung’s Disease occurs in approximately 1 out of 5,000-8,000 live births and predominates in males 1:4. Treatment may involve a surgical resection of the affected portion of the bowel.”—The Mütter Museum: Of the College of Physicians In creating the music for the Megacolon, I tried to be as explicit as possible. Amplified ripped-open cabbages, stirred macaroni and cheese, a cow moo can, and a Lion’s roar, contribute to a large orchestral round on a long-winded musical subject evoking an intestinal track. The subject begins in the extreme low register of the basses (tuned down) and works its way up through the orchestra—faster and faster—to the high woodwinds and piccolo. I enjoyed working with the idea of presenting a serious compositional genre, the mensuration canon (a canon of different speeds), with a comical subject.
- Performer Credits
- Indiana University Concert Orchestra