Veturnaetur (2003)

string orchestra
duration 4:00

note from composer

Veturnaetur, "winter nights," was the Old Norse festival at the beginning of winter, a night of drinking and feasting, but also of animal sacrifice.

A short programmatic work for string orchestra, Veturnaetur is alternately foreboding and celebratory, evoking the onset of winter weather, the violence of sacrifice, and culminating in a vision of a dancing festival.

This is one of my very first compositions, composed November 2003, while studying with Mary Ellen Childs at St Olaf College.

- Matthew Peterson, 21 June 2016, Lovö 

acknowledgment

With thanks to Steven Amundson, who conducted the first recording and public performance,, and to Mary Ellen Childs, who guided me through my very first compositions. 

PERUSAL SCORE

PERFORMANCES

premiere: St. Olaf Orchestra string section, December 2003

additional performances: St Olaf Summer Music Camp Orchestra, July 2004