Untinctur'd by Art was composed for and is dedicated to my dearest of friends, Diane Soelberg, upon her retirement from director of bands at Brigham Young University–Idaho, for her 'patience and toil' and 'goodness, grace, beauty, and dignity too…' The piece was premiered by the BYU–Idaho Symphony Band on July 11, 2023 in Rexburg, Idaho at Diane's retirement concert.
When Diane and I discussed her impending retirement, I felt a desire to present her with the gift of a composition for her retirement concert. Oddly, composing such a work proved surprisingly difficult, one of the most difficult compositions I have ever composed. This was not because of a lack of compositional ideas, but because settling on the right idea, the perfect idea for someone that I love and respect so deeply, seemed an impossible task. (Special shout-out to my amazing wife for regularly telling me how bad some of my original ideas really were!) As I wrestled with my personal musical vernacular, the way slowly became more and more clear, and the piece unfolded the way it was always supposed to unfold.
The musical genesis of Untinctur'd by Art was born out of a hymntune I had written a decade ago to a provided text not of my choosing, which led to original music that I composed but never really used, and had therefore been lying dormant in the recesses of my musical memory. Once I decided on this material as the basis for the piece, I began to knead the odd little binary-formed hymn. I soon realized that my 'composer' muscle was a little more atrophied than I initially thought and it needed some reawakening. And trying to write a meaningful, personal dedicatory piece required the best of me. After getting courage from several deceased musical luminaries, I became inspired and the piece unraveled itself.
Often my compositions are born out of a clever title or extra-musical idea that inspires me and sends me down the compositional rabbit hole, but since this piece was specifically for Diane, I started with the music's emotional content first and foremost. When it came time for a title, I knew that the original hymn text offered nothing usable (I had long divorced myself from any connection to the original text…). One of my heroes from this world is the powerhouse poet Eliza R. Snow (1804–1887), so turning to her words felt like the 'right' way to discover a title for the work. As I poured over "Roxcy's" poetry about friendship, I was moved by her words: her eloquence, her emotion, her fire…and I ultimately felt like I had too many options for great titles! Once again, I found myself wrestling to hone [sic] in on that perfect title that encapsulates the special relationship that I have with Diane, that ties in with the music, that commemorates her awesome career that has inspired SO. MANY. LIVES., and that brings it all together.
Not to fear: Eliza's charm hit the nail on the head! Her poem #198 To Mrs. Leonora Taylor from 1848 wonderfully expresses both the friendship that Eliza shared with John Taylor's wife (from the Isle of Man) and a fantastic little tête-à-tête between the two of them. As I was reading her poetry, I kept coming back to this particular poem. Its lightheartedness, cheeky wordplay, and heart-felt subtext reeled me in, plausibly because the relationship between Eliza and Leonora is like the relationship between Diane and Darrell.
The title – Untinctur'd by Art -- is taken directly from the juxtaposing couplet of lines 3-4: "'Tis a fountain's free gush that proceeds from the heart By simplicity prompted, untinctur'd by art." The irony that two musicians, nay, two artists can be 'simplicity prompted' and 'untinctur'd by art' is such fantastic irony. And that is the special relationship that Diane and I share: our love and mutual admiration come before the pretensions of our musical careers. That is one of the many reasons why our friendship is enduring.
Might I also just add one other wonderful connection? The music building at BYU–Idaho is called the Snow Building. While many might think that the name has just to do with the local weather (and the copious amounts of snow they get each year!), it is actually named after Eliza Roxcy Snow (there is even a statue!). So the perfect "wrap-up" to a successful career in the Snow Building takes its title from a work by its namesake!
Diane, here's to you, to celebrating your successes in Idaho, and to your esteemed career. It's not an ending, but the beginning of new adventures!
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