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Abstract
Sydney Hodkinson has written over 280 pieces in a wide variety of genres, including 20 works
for wind ensemble. "Duae cantatae breves" is the second of three pieces written in memory of
deceased friends. It is made up of two movements, or cantatas, based on the same source
material: a 16th-century madrigal by Carlo Gesualdo titled "Resta di darmi noia" or "Cease now,
no longer plague me." "Duae cantatae breves" draws its pitch material from the melody in
measures 1-6 of "Resta di darmi noia." The second phrase of the madrigal is exactly the same as
the first, but transposed up a major second. By eliminating rests and treating the first measure of
each phrase as a single pitch, a 12-note resultant series emerges. From this series, Hodkinson
eliminates the repeated pitches and creates a second series of nine notes. This series is references
in the preface to the score and is fully chromatic. Although this reduced nine-note series is
clearly identified in the score as the genesis of the piece, it is only used as a brief harmonic
device in the second movement and, even then, appears in an expanded form. This likely because
it would be almost impossible to aurally recognize the nine-note collection as a Gesualdo
reference without the three repeated notes. Instead, Hodkinson uses the 12-note series throughout
the piece to keep the aural reference to "Resta di darmi noia" intact.