Claude Baker

Carmen Infernarum Machinarum Fugax

Written for Alarm Will Sound, Carmen infernarum machinarum fugax (The Fleeting Song of the Infernal Machines) is written for a sixteen-piece chamber ensemble. The title of the composition is a riff on both Harrison Birtwistle's Carmen arcadiae mechanicae perpetuum (The Perpetual Song of Mechanical Arcady) and Christopher Rouse's The Infernal Machine. For centuries, composers have been fascinated with and have drawn inspiration from the sounds and operations of mechanical devices of various sorts, including Haydn, Beethoven, and the early 20th century Futurists. During the course of this work, relatively short, machine-like events (some pitched, some non-pitched) continually start up, sputter, and inevitably stall. Just when it seems as if they are at last humming along, having become increasingly pitch-centric in the process, a spanner is thrown into the works, and everything is brought abruptly to a halt. The machines struggle to restart themselves, but, in the end, their song does indeed prove to be all too fleeting.