A Page from the Book of Nature - for percussion quintet

Year: 2021

Duration: ca. 4:30

Purchase: To be published by C. Alan

"The book of nature is written in the language of mathematics." - Galileo Galilei

Although Galileo was not referencing a literal book when he said this during his life in the 1500-1600's, this quote can easily be connected to a manuscript written a few hundred years before his time: the Liber Abaci ("The Book of Calculation"), written by Italian mathematician Fibonacci. This book's (arguably) most important feature is a description of what has come to be known worldwide as the Fibonacci sequence - a sequence of numbers in which, after beginning with 0 and 1, each successive number is the sum of the previous two: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, etc. Knowledge of this sequence, famously featured in The Da Vinci Code, can be found much earlier in the work of several Indian mathematicians including Pingala and Hemachandra (for which reason the sequence is also rightfully known as the Hemachandra sequence). There is a reason that great mathematicians independently came upon this sequence: it appears naturally in the world in numerous ways, including the way in which flowers grow petals and the way that snails' shells spiral outward.

A Page from the Book of Nature is a reflection on this crossroads at which the deep relationship between nature and mathematics can be observed. The work explores this in many ways - rhythms and phrases are derived almost exclusively from Fibonacci numbers (though parts are also based on the first numbers of the Lucas numbers, a similar sequence named after Édouard Lucas, a French mathematician known for his study of the Fibonacci sequence: 2, 1, 3, 4). The seven-pitch-class set used in the work is derived from the Fibonacci number 2,971,215,073, which, when translated to pitches, yields the set C, C#, D, Eb, F, G, and A. The work also utilizes a driving bassline in the marimba, respectfully borrowed from the song Lateralus by rock band Tool, which is also based heavily on the Fibonacci sequence.

Stylistically, the work explores several moods inspired by the wide and mercurial range of expression that can be found in the natural world, ranging from quiet serenity to wild intensity. Eventually, the end of the figurative page is reached, and the work ends with the slamming shut of the book.