Leonore

(for acting trombonist)

Table of Contents

1. General Description

2. The PDF text and Score

3. Audio Files

4. Commentary

1. General Description

For acting trombonist with a text by the composer. (15 minutes)  Premiere: Munich - Nacht der Experimentelle Musik, November 1983)  Abbie Conant: actress, trombonist, text, music.

William Osborne: text, music, direction.  The premiere was recorded by the Bavarian State Radio, but shortly afterwards the tape was destroyed.

An old woman sits on a park bench.  She talks to the pigeons about her thirty years as an orchestra musician.  She occasionally plays a passage for the birds, and ends trying to create her own piece.

Leonore was written in reaction to Abbie's experiences in the Munich Philharmonic.  

2.  The PDF Text and Score

To download the PDF text and score in English click here.  (128 KB)

3. Audio File

To stream an mp3 file of the work click on the preferred language: English, German, French.

To download the audio file click on the preferred language: English, German, French.  (MP3, )

4. Commentary

William has written a musicological analysis of orchestral patriarchy related to Leonore.  It is entitled "Symphony Orchestras and Artist-Prophets: Cultural Isomorphism and the Allocation of Power in Music" printed in Leonardo Music Journal published by the M.I.T. Press.   You can read it here.  For a German version of the article click here.