Origin Story
for orchestra (2019)
Our origin story has been told in many versions over millennia and continues to be told, with new threads being added to its vast tapestry even today. The movements of this piece draw inspiration from the richness and interconnectedness of our story, as well as our common fate.
III. Chaos Monsters
As Indra approached, the dragon Vritra exhaled a foggy mist, shutting out the rays of the sun and shrouding the Earth in blackness. Then he spewed forth blinding lightning, deafening thunder, and a cutting storm of hailstones. Indra showed no fear. The young god calmly hurled his great thunderbolt at Vritra. The blow crushed the demon’s spirit and shattered his body with one stroke. Indra now freed the imprisoned waters. With his weapon he split apart the mountainside, opening the sealed outlet and releasing the seven rivers. Moisture soaked the parched soil and famine retreated from the land. This stylized retelling of Rigveda 1.32.1-2 depicts the defeat of a Chaos Monster, Vritra, by Indra, the King of Heaven. In Greece, it was Zeus vs. Typhon. In Mesoamerica, the deities Quetzalcoatl and Cipactli battled. In the Babylonian epic of the Enûma Elish, Marduk forms Earth’s features from Tiamat’s slain corpse. The monsters that embody chaos in this violent chapter of our story must be subdued in order for life to begin, or begin again.