MASTER MUSIC COMPOSITION: “METAMORPHOSIS” FOR STRING ORCHESTRA

Abstract

The master music composition “Metamorphosis” for string orchestra is considered as a creative work on the composition of descriptive music with a duration of approximately 17 minutes. The music composition integrated the concepts of literature, biology, and psychology. In biology, the term metamorphosis is referred to a process by which a living being physically goes through developmental changes chronologically. In this piece of music, the composer specified butterfly, which is associated with spiritual meanings in the literature, as the main idea. The music composition includes the selection of string extended techniques, articulations, and the form of 4 movements according to each biological stage of butterfly development (i.e., starting from egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, until it reaches maturity and turns into a butterfly). Furthermore, the composer interpreted the general meaning of the metamorphosis which is not related to biological sense as a transformation, specifically a change in the mental state. By determining the tempo, harmony, as well as selection of different tonal centers in the forms of atonality and tonality, the composer exhibited the transformation of the mental state from anguish to contentment.