On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. a forty-eight-hundred-pound ammonium nitrate-fuel oil bomb exploded in a Ryder truck parked at the north entrance of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring approximately 850. The governor's office reported that thirty children were orphaned, 219 children lost at least one parent, 462 people were left homeless, and seven thousand people lost their workplace.
Program Notes from the score:
A Light Unto the Darkness David R. Gillingham
The work is an homage to the 168 victims of the Oklahoma City bombing disaster on April 19, 1995. The work is in three main sections, each alluding to a different idea, setting or emotion associated with the disaster. The first section deals with the everyday routine of Oklahoma City which is completely unsuspecting of the terrible fate which is knocking at the door. This fate interrupts the music several times during this section. The cosmopolitan nature of Oklahoma City is suggested through the music with references to the hustle and bustle of traffic, country western music, jazz music and the mechanistic drone of oil wells in the surrounding countryside. The ensuing section depicts the disaster itself with loud explosive articulations in the percussion, sinister motives, driving rhythms and unyielding dissonance. The final section begins with a lament by the English horn and a mournful call by the flugelhorn followed by a warm, reassuring melody which culminates the movement. This final theme is significant in that it is the key to understanding this work. We must all seek to be a "light unto the darkness" - to find good amidst the evil. The "light" is within the final melody of this work and seeks to call our attention to 168 special, individual, and beautiful souls who are now at peace. They are our "lights unto the darkness.".
Photo Credit: Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum
Негізгі бет Музыка Foothill Wind Symphony 2023 / A Light Unto the Darkness by David R. Gillingham
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