Christopher Coleman

The Ventricle of Memory (1987) 

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published by the Teacher-Composer Alliance of the American String Teachers Association; Chicago-Area Chapter, 1988 (out of print)

duration ca. 8:00

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Instrumentation

for three solo violins and string orchestra ​

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Program Note

The Ventricle of Memory takes its title from William Shakespeare's play Love Labour's Lost, "This is a gift that I have, simple, simple -- a foolish extravagant spirit, full of forms, figures, shapes, objects, ideas, apprehensions, motions, revolutions.  These are begot in the ventricle of memory, nourished in the womb of pia mater, and delivered upon the mellowing of occasion. But the gift is good in those in whom it is acute, and I am thankful for it."

The piece was commissioned by the Teacher-Composer Alliance of the American String Teachers Association; Chicago-Area Chapter for the District 211 North (Illinois) Orchestra, Nelson Cleary, director​, and later published by that organization.

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Premiered April 29, 1987 at the Diller Street Theatre, Chicago, with Christopher Coleman guest conducing the District 211 North (Illinois) Orchestra.

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