Fountain of music

Jeffrey Prater's latest composition helps open the new Petersen Museum.

There was little time that Jeffrey Prater could devote to the project.

But then again, he was so taken by the idea there was no way he could say no.

"There was a short turnaround time on this commission, and I was preparing to travel professionally to Russia for several weeks," the professor of music says. "But I couldn't say no."

Prater accepted the commission from University Museums for a musical composition to premiere at the opening of the new Christian Petersen Art Museum in Morrill Hall on Thursday, March 22. Two separate performances of Prater's original composition, Footprints of the Seasons were featured.

"As an undergraduate music major at Iowa State, I took many classes in Morrill Hall and I have a lot of fond memories of the building from those days. Between that and my interest in Christian Petersen's artwork, I enjoyed working on this commission very much," he said.

The composition sets to music the Osage Nation text that originally inspired Petersen to install the Fountain of the Four Seasons at the north entrance to the Memorial Union. Prater's piece attempts to represent with music and dance, aspects of the Native American love and reverence for the seasons of the year.

Prater says that the music, which is scored for four women vocalists, four modern woodwind instruments and tom-toms, "attempts to evoke a sense of Native American aesthetics without attempting to directly imitate the style or materials of Native American music."

"Each of the four seasons is portrayed in a different way," Prater says, "and the principal sections of the work attempt to reflect the aesthetic differences of the seasons as set forth in the Osage text. I employed a single woodwind instrument and a single female voice to represent each season.

"Each of the four principal sections of the piece and the refrain that connects them also features a prominent part of the tom-toms."

Prater chose "dark and chilling colors" for the "Winter" movement to portray the quiet cold and loneliness of that season, combining the thin sound of the bassoon in its high register and the alto voice with a simple repeating pattern in the tom-toms. He wanted a more youthful dance-like sound in the "Spring" movement so he chose the flexible sound of the flute with a light soprano voice.

A more sultry sound (soprano and oboe) is employed in the "Summer" movement, "Autumn" takes a joyful approach to the time of harvest by featuring coloratura soprano singing with the agile sound of the clarinet.

Each of the short movements in Footprints of the Seasons includes an important interpretive dance component, choreographed and directed by Valerie Williams.

"The dances add powerful visual and kinesthetic components to the work, " Prater said. "Both music and dance provide a close sense of connection between Petersen's Fountain of the Four Seasons and the Osage Nation text."

Prater says he decided to use both Petersen's fountain and the Osage text as points of inspiration and departure for this new musical work.

"The fountain seems to be a central focal point of Petersen's many artworks on campus," he said. "In my opinion, the fountain is the most familiar Christian Petersen artwork on campus. It is a place where so many students, alumni, faculty and staff have gone to sit, read a book, enjoy the day or simply meet friends."

Performers of Footprints of the Seasons included vocalists Katie Mozak, Elizabeth Neuerberg, Catherine Compton and Sarah Thompson. Instrumentalists were Thomas Julstorm, bassoon; Elizabeth Jordan, flute; Kevin Schilling, oboe; and Joseph Messenger, clarinet. Daniel Krumm plays the tom-toms.

Dancers included Taryn Packheiser, Elizabeth Williams, Janice Baker and Valerie Williams.