WINGATE: METAPHYSICAL MONOLOGUE NO. 6 
for Bass Trumpet Solo

Date:
2021

Duration:
4'30"

Notes:
With its origins in the 1820’s and spectacular later success in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, the noble and heroic-natured bass trumpet lends a solemn air to Wingate’s sixth Metaphysical Monologue. Rarely heard as a solo instrument today (but also used by Wingate for his orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition), it decorates this monologue with a slightly introspective philosophical fanfare. Technically, the fanfare is constructed of exactly 288 notes, or 144 notes first played forward, then backward – a four-and-a-half-minute pitch palindrome, with variations in rhythm, octave placement, and phasing on the journey back. Unique among the Monologues, this palindromic structure recalls the famous dispositions of other pieces like Corigliano’s Second Symphony, or the namesake Minuet of Haydn’s 47th. The ubiquitous multiples of twelve in the monologue represent the primes of a 12-tone matrix, followed by the retrogrades, all in matrix order. Yet the bass trumpet’s melodies wrap themselves around this numerical arrangement in such a way as to obscure the piece’s dodecaphonic architecture. An assymetrically-placed heroic climax leading up to the 215th note showcases the instrument’s great sonic power, which in other contexts allows it to outplay an entire 90-piece Wagnerian orchestra. The Monologue ends with one last gesture of assurance against the uncertainties of the metaphysical enterprise.