Ursula Le Guin Orchestral Narration Manuscript
The Great Instrument of the Geggerets [Working Mss. and Typescript]
Notes: An archive of material showing the development of this piece for orchestra and narrator, which pairs one of the great science fiction writers with a notably California composer. The piece, part III of Le Guin and Armer's Uses of Music in Uttermost Parts sequence, was commissioned by the Bay Area Women's Philharmonic, which premiered it in 1989, with Le Guin reading the narration. It has been performed many times since. The narration describes a species of seven-legged creatures who live on a small island that is an instrument that they have to keep playing or a "tyrannical deity" will sink their home. The orchestra is supposed to stand during the performance and act out the creatures playing the island.
This archive includes:
1) Four one-page drafts of Le Guin's narration (one holograph and three corrected typescripts) with an autograph letter signed by Le Guin explaining the sequence of composition.
2) A 59-page printed proof of the score (10 by 16 inches) with handcorrections by Armer in the score and on the the first page.
3) A six-page photocopied errata for the score proof, prepared by the publisher.
4) Three pages of changes to the narration by the composer Jonathan "Elly" Elkus, the publisher.
5) A one-page printed version of the final version of the narration.
According to Armer, Geggerets is one of her most popular commissions. "It’s been performed more than any of the pieces, around the country," she said. The narrative text "was sort of a metaphor for reality in our lives. You have to keep playing an orchestra or it won’t survive." Over the decade of Armer's work on the Uses of Music series, the collaboration with Le Guin "really, greatly, added to my composing chops," Armer said in an oral history with the San Francisco Conservatory Music (p. 50–51).
Manuscript material from Le Guin is scarce on the market. Several institutions appear to have photocopies of various versions of the score, which may not have been formally published.
Provenance: Jonathan Elkus to Peter Howard of Serendipity Books.
Edition + Condition: Manuscript and typescript material fine. The proof score is comb-bound in cardstock covers that are irregularly faded.
Publication: Staunton, VA: Overland Music Distributors, 1987–1989.
Item No: #306801
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