William Susman
Aria
Duration: 12'
Instrumentation details:
piano
violin
Aria
Translation, reprints and more
William Susman
Aria
Available digitally
Orchestration: for Violin and Piano
Type: Dirigierpartitur
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Work introduction
The first performance of Aria was given at Spectrum NYC in 2013 with Karen Bentley Pollick, violin and William Susman, piano.
Aria is adapted from a larger work-in-progress, an opera, called Fordlandia about the struggle for succession of power between Henry Ford and his son Edsel at the Ford Motor Company. The title comes from an aria sung in the opera by Evangeline, Henry’s secretary and mistress for several decades. Henry built her a home down the road from his that included a secret passageway to her room.
In this five-part work for violin and piano, the first four sections imagine a dialogue and interaction about their complicated relationship. The fifth and final section of Aria reveals Evangeline’s expression of love and triumph.