title: Diadem
instrumentation: voice (C#3–B4) + toy glockenspiel, C trumpet, tenor trombone, bass clarinet
duration: 4 minutes
written in: 2019–21
text: R.A. Briggs
Diadem is a song about gay desire in Medieval Europe. The text, by poet R.A. Briggs, tells of the protagonist’s inner conflict as he discovers his longing for another man and has to reevaluate what he has been taught by Church. The piece is more or less in the form of a 15th-century virelai (I like to think of it as a “queerelai”), and the musical style is suggestive of Dufay and the composers of the Ars Subtilior. Diadem was commissioned by loadbang.
Watch
(captions recommended)
loadbang:
Jeffrey Gavett, voice
Andy Kozar, trumpet
William Lang, trombone
Adrián Sandí, bass clarinet
Live at Penn State University, 4.14.22