Transit Of Venus : 1769-2004

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© John Wesley Barker 2004 All rights reserved.

This page last updated:
Tue, November 23, 2004 23:23

I found the title 'Transit Of Venus' by a strange route. The opening waltz feel of the music reminded me of Sir Partick Moore. I knew he oft' wrote waltzes in relation to astronomic events. In June 2004, there was much anticpation of a rare astronomical event, a Transit Of Venus. The first observed Transit of Venus predicted by Jeremiah Horrocks was in 1769, which enabled Captain James Cook to discover Australia and measure the size of the world. Then a further surprise. I found a drawing of the observation of the transit by the Cook expedition which shows a 'native' playing a flute beneath a tree, then also a bamboo nose flute from the Society Islands, probably collected on Captain Cook's first expedition. So there IS a strong historical association between the flute and the transit.

Playing between the 'open' c sharp and 'closed' d uncovers intriguing problems for me on the flute. To aim to match the tone of each note to each other and oscillate between the open and closed qualities and at the same time making the minimum of adjustments to the embouchure. The play between the two pitches and qualities gives rise to very playful music. In my mind I likened the comparison of these two notes to the two orbits of the Sun and Venus.

The solo study gave rise to a version for flute duet then a concerto version for 2 solo flutes, piccolo, 1st, 2nd & 3rd (one note) flutes, solo Alto flute doubling 4th flute, 2nd Alto flutes & Bass flutes. Almost anyone can play 3rd flute in Transit Of Venus 3 because it has one note throughout, the 'open' c sharp, perhaps this part could even be played on a 'nose flute' provided it produces the correct pitch.

I hope you enjoy this piece and contact me for more information. I can send you printed score and parts of any of my music on request, for a contribution. Who wants to play and record this?