Stitch (2007)

Instrumentation

Piano

Duration

c. 6 minutes

Creation Note

Composed for the 2007 Canberra International Music Festival.

About the Work

The concept Stitch deals with is needlework/handicrafts, in particular tapestry on canvas. The sentimental value attached to handicraft pieces, the repetitive rhythm the needleworker settles into, and the aesthetic qualities of needlework are all hopefully suggested by the music. Stitch is like a handicraft sampler, featuring six sections, each based on a specific needlework pattern:

Half-Cross Stitch*
Half-Cross Stitch*

Byzantine Stitch
Byzantine Stitch

Bargello Stitch
Bargello Stitch

Continental Stitch*
Continental Stitch*

Web Stitch
Web Stitch

Star Stitch
Star Stitch

(*Identical from the front but worked in a different order)

These are actual stitches included in a larger sampler tapestry I completed in 2002, sourced from a 1975 Bucilla brand instructional pamphlet: Canvas Embroidery Stitches. For this composition the stitches were mapped onto graph paper then the two-dimensional properties of each stitch were shaped into music, taking into account the order of working the thread onto canvas as well as the look and texture of each. The musical texture in each section moves from thin to thick, like more and more stitches and rows being added to a square of tapestry canvas that starts out bare.

P.P. 2007

Awards

The proposal for this composition won the Canberra International Music Festival Young Composer’s Competition 2006 (which later became the Sprogis Woods Composition Prize).  As a result, Stitch was composed for and premiered at the 2007 Festival.

Performance

First performance: by Lisa Moore, Canberra International Music Festival, 9 May 2007.

 

The tapestry sampler in its entirety:

sampler