Seven Archons
for string quartet (2022)
Performers: Owen Cromwell (violin), Grace Alexander (violin), Louis Dhoore (viola), Henry Paton (cello)
I. Yaldabaoth (Child of Chaos) (0:00)
The name of Chaos’ kin is YALDABAOTH, and he is a false god of creation. In his desire to fashion a rational ideal of the universe, he creates naught but suffering and destruction in his wake. His movement is a twisted depiction of his three personae - the first a reflection of Samael, the Talmudic archangel who seduces, accuses, and destroys; the second a reflection of Yaldabaoth himself, a chaotic volatile entity; the third a reflection of Saklas, a twisted fool.
II. Astaphaios (Venus) (04:36)
ASTAPHAIOS is an androgynous principle of Yaldabaoth’s creation, an analogy to the human soul representative of God’s femininity. Over all else, she emphasizes wisdom as a path to God - as the Gnostic “mother of the universe”, Astaphaios (alternatively known as Sophia) brings about a meditative foray into spectral soundscapes, far different from any other texture found in the Seven Archons. To form the basis of the soundscape, I chose to record a passage from the Apocryphon of John (a core Gnostic text) with my own voice, divide it into five, and isolate the formants - which would become the harmonic palette of Astaphaios.
III. Iao (Lordship) (09:28)
IAO closely mirrors three aspects of an archetypal medieval court - majesty, jest, and conflict. Defined by the ideal of “lordship”, the third Archon is a jarring juxtaposition of characters. No matter how a string quartet composer tries to escape it, if they are at all within the Western Classical tradition, they will be forcibly thrown into the shadow of Ludwig van Beethoven. Iao chooses to embrace this particular ‘lord’ of the canon by incorporating the Grosse Fuge’s main fugal subject and becoming a twisted mockery thereof.
IV. Elaios (Resentment) (14:25)
ELAIOS is the Archon of resentment. Thus, this movement portrays the anger and fury stewing away within a jealous being, in the process becoming lethargic with these bottled emotions. An obsessive, driving pizzicato motive is contrasted by harmonic timbral trills that purvey the sensation of a melting mind - a descent into a quiet madness.
V. Sabaoth (Deity) (19:46)
SABAOTH is the true Deity, in direct opposition to the false god of Yaldabaoth. Yaldabaoth’s desire is to fashion a ‘rational ideal of the universe’, and Sabaoth does so in an incredibly precise, orderly fashion. Pure Order is mechanical, rhythmic, and perpetual - thus, Sabaoth forces an incessant view of organization (all the while providing glimpses of a ‘beautiful’ deific form, often warping in a way akin to a Deity’s perception of humanity even to the point of parody).
VI. Horaios (The Moon) (23:43)
The soft beams of HORAIOS are cast down on the world below, illuminating all in its faint radiance. Their energy is pulsating and constant - with tintinnabular juxtaposition between triadic harmony and an ever-present, ever-morphing twelve-tone row. The heavenly body that defines the sixth Archon is the Moon, reigning above in a distilled radiance.
VII. Adonaios (The Sun) (29:09)
ADONAIOS is divided into an introitus and a sequenza - an introduction and sequence (in this case, a twisted, quarter-tone fugue). As the Sun, king of heavenly bodies, this movement evokes the shift from sickening radiance, darkness, then again to a brilliant sunrise. The introitus is defined by presentations of themes by Adonaios’ six companions in divinity, before transitioning into a twisted fugal sequenza. In the sequenza’s exposition, grim iterations of the movement’s primary motive (a lament of three repeating pitches, the cry “a-do-nai”) are passed around in a dissonant conversation. The development transmutes the lament even further (on the verge of completely obscuring the cry), before stabilizing pitch, meter, and dynamic, thus evolving into a brilliant, majestic finale to the Seven Archons.
Performed in Boe Memorial Chapel on April 11th, 2023. Recorded by St. Olaf Broadcast Media Services.