Hagiography

for string quartet and electronics

Hagiography, literally “holy writing,” was originally a term for the biographies of the saints, but it has come to be applied to any piece of writing that praises its subject in a fawning or idealized way, omitting unflattering or damning details. As a piece of music, Hagiography smears its musical materials with cyclical canons and electronic processes that swathe the strings in harmonic haloes. When details emerge, it is not always pretty. But when they fade from view, we may remember them fondly.

Hagiography was commissioned by and written for the Friction Quartet.