Like an Altar with 9,000 Robot Attendants
General Info
Year: 2016
Duration: c. 5:05
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Ryan Lindveit
Cost: Score and Parts (print) – Part rental with score purchase ($275.00) | Score Only (print) - $50.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet I-II
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-VI, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crotales
- Flexitone
- Glockenspiel
- Log Drums (2)
- Marimba
- Sandpaper Blocks
- Splash Cymbal
- Suspended Cymbal (medium small)
- Tam-Tam
- Temple Blocks (4)
- Triangle
- Vibraphone
- Whip
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The wind ensemble version of Like an Altar with 9,000 Robot Attendants was commissioned by a consortium of wind ensembles organized by H. Robert Reynolds, to whom the work is dedicated.
- Program Note from publisher
Like an Altar with 9,000 Robot Attendants was inspired by Ray Bradbury’s short story There Will Come Soft Rains (1950). The futuristic story describes a computer-controlled house, in which robots do everything from cooking breakfast to cleaning house. The house even reads poetry aloud. In Bradbury’s future, all humans have been destroyed, but this house remains steadfast to its tasks in service of its absent denizens. The author describes it: “And inside, the house was like an altar with nine thousand robot attendants, big and small, servicing, attending, singing in choirs, even though the gods had gone away and the ritual was meaningless.” All humans have been annihilated, and yet Bradbury’s futurist prose remains characteristically exuberant in describing these household robots -- a tension which stimulated me to write the music in this piece. I also felt that the orchestra -- an ensemble associated with myriad rituals -- was the perfect medium through which to explore ideas of robotic ritual.
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Texas State University (San Marcos) Wind Symphony (Caroline Beatty, conductor) – 8 February 2024 (2024 TMEA Conference, San Antonio)
- Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mason St. Pierre, conductor) - 8 November 2023
- Baylor University (Waco, Texas) Wind Ensemble (Eric Wilson, conductor) – 25 November 2019
- Texas Tech (Lubbock) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Sara McKoin, conductor) – 22 March 2018 (CBDNA 2018 Southwestern Conference, Houston, Texas)
- University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Stephen G. Peterson, conductor) – 24 September 2017
- Lone Star Wind Orchestra (Dallas, Tex.) (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) – 26 March 2017
- University of Southern California Thornton Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor) - 10 February 2017 *Premiere Wind Ensemble Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Overture A2 (2023)
- Bass Clarinet Concerto (2023)
- Don't Be Evil (2018)
- The Great Unconformity (2017)
- Hopscotch (as arranger)
- Like an Altar with 9,000 Robot Attendants (2016)
- Mysterious Butterflies (2017/2018)
- Spinning Yarns (2015)
Resources
- Perusal score.
- Ryan Lindveit website Accessed 10 February 2017