The gift of music

Composers have long marked occasions in their own lives, the lives of their loved ones, and the lives of their patrons with significant new works. British composer Edward Elgar used his Salut d’Amour for violin and piano to mark his engagement to his fiancée; Richard Wagner composed his Siegried Idyll as a birthday gift to his second wife, Cosima; and Heinrich Schütz composed his Musikalische Exequien for his friend and patron, Prince Heinrich II of Reuss-Gera.

While composers are specialists in the art and technique of writing music, a recipient of a new commission can engage in the process of creating a work too. In the case of Schütz and his royal patron, Heinrich II specified the texts he wished to be used in the event of his death, giving Schütz a framework within which to create the requiem music.

A musical commission need not include vocal music for a patron to provide some inspiration for the work. A composer can guide the commissioner in choices including parameters such as:

• tempo (how fast or slow the piece should be performed);
• the home key for the piece (the fundamental note, or tonic, and the mode of the piece, such as major or minor);
• the structure of the piece (how many movements, the relationship between parts, even the form of the piece);
• duration (how long the piece should be in minutes); and
• instrumentation (what instruments or voice types should perform the piece).

Often, a composer can infer these musical parameters from a conversation with someone commissioning music, by asking about the intended mood, feel, and intensity of the music requested.

At Mount Helicon, we can work with you to shape the piece you would like us to create. While the creative process is ultimately the domain of the composer, you can do a lot to influence the process by choosing a composer whose style you find compatible with your taste, and by working with the composer to set these initial parameters.

The result will be a unique and memorable gift for your special occasion. Music’s vast capacity for variation and permutation and the endless flexibility of the art form mean that works of the kind we can create will be completely bespoke. In particular, the classically inspired music we write at Mount Helicon is much more open-ended and individuated than a typical pop or rock song, making it the ultimate way to convey your emotions in sound.