Dakota Summer

Dakota Summer: Scenes from the Prairie for Mixed Flute Quartet by Jonathan D. Campbell

Published by Falls House Press
Includes score and parts

Duration: 9:00

Instrumentation: (2c flutes, alto flute, bass flute – flute 1 doubles on piccolo; alto flute doubles on c flute 3; bass flute doubles on c flute 4)

Contents:
1. Summer Sky
2. Fields
3. Country Church (Bred Dina Vida Vingar)
4. Dakota Dance (A Kiss for a Fig)
5. Cemetery and Sky

Program Notes:
DAKOTA SUMMER is a program work that protrays the landscape of a summer afternoon in the Midwest. I attempted to create musical poetry that would evoke not only the moods and feelings of a hot summer day, but also visual imagery. Summer haze, insects, clouds, birds, tractors, waving fields of crops, Sunday prayer, a barn dance, and a silent cemetery are all portrayed.

1. Summer Sky: Clouds hang in the bright, blue sky. The horizon stretches in endless prairie. A flock of birds erupt from the grass, insects swirl in the sunlight. The calm returns, the heat intensifies.
2. Fields: Farmers busy themselves with machinery. The sun shines on crops waving in the breeze.
3. Country Church: An old church stands in the prairie. A bell calls the people to worship, and they sing a Swedish hymn.
4. Dakota Dance: A single dancer is joined, one by one, gradually breaking into a kaleidoscope of movement.
5. Cemetery and Sky: Behind the church lies an old cemetery. The headstones bask silently in the sun. Our attention returns to the vast sky, filling the prairie with quiet light.
– Jonathan D. Campbell