ANTIDOTUM TARANTULÆ
The original Antidotum Tarantulæ by Athanasius Kircher (ca. 1640)
for double brass quintet (4tpt.2hn.2tbn.2tba)
completed 2024
duration ca. 8 minutes
Program note
In Antidotum Tarantulæ, I seek to meld the visceral intensity of the tarantella, a lively Italian folk dance, with the mystical ambiguities of tarantism, an old belief that this dance could cure the uncontrollable urge to dance thought to be caused by the bite of a tarantula spider. This antiphonal double brass quintet is not merely an echo of folk tradition but a dialogue with the past, where the ancient dance of healing is reimagined through the lens of our contemporary times. It extends my work begun in Book of Spells, for brass quintet, exploring the alchemy of sound as a medium for transcending the temporal. Here, the frenzied dance induced by the bite of a spider becomes a metaphor for the transformative power of music, capable of drawing poison from the soul. My goal is to create a continuum between the ancient and the present, producing a piece that both honors the past while speaking to the modern heart that seeks peace in an ever-turbulent world.
-SC