Patmos

In 1988, I began composing a group of 7 works inspired by the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. This cycle, originally conceived as a musical evocation of the prophecies contained in that book, expanded its context into a personal reflection, transposed into music, on the mystery of artistic creation and its deepest origins.

The word “Apocalypse” itself conveys the idea of “revelation,” as something not created by human hands/mind, but personally transmitted (revealed) by God.

In the program notes for another piece in this cycle, titled Visão, I wrote the following considerations:

I consider that the act of creation in its essence, and as I conceive it, does not exist in itself but is the result of a revelation that proceeds through our Spirit to our Mind, and whose origins we cannot determine. For the atheist, perhaps it is considered the result of an entire musical life experience, all the knowledge and understanding of a past and present, a reflection of lived experience. For the believer, that revelation comes from God. However, there is a common characteristic in both cases, which is the fact that the creator’s ego is somehow destroyed by this revelation, having to submit to it.

The nature and essence of this revelation are somewhat ephemeral. It can come during a dream, a moment of anguish or joy, a moment of reflection, etc., and can consist of a sound, a musical gesture, a timbre, a phrase, an image, etc. From there, the creator must give body to that moment, building around it an entire rhetorical-musical complex that justifies and strengthens its essence.

This cycle is complete. The works that constitute it, to date, are as follows:

A Cidade Eterna (electroacoustic music, composed in 1988);

Patmos (opera, composed in 1990);

Tessares (for orchestra, composed in 1991);

Visão (for soprano, orchestra and electroacoustics, composed in 1992);

Requiem (for soloists, choir, orchestra and electroacoustics, composed in 1994);

ris (for violin, clarinet, cello, piano and electroacoustics, composed in 2000);

The 70th Week (multimedia opera, composed in 2022).

Each of these pieces aims to address an aspect of revelation. Patmos, which is based on the first four chapters of the Book of Revelation, refers to the necessity, in terms of spiritual experience, of that revelation.