AGE OF WONDERS
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, Michael is writing a four stage work which begins as a piece for violin and piano, and evolves through string quartet and string orchestra to a work for full orchestra.
I The Man Who Walked With Henslow (violin and piano)
II String Quartet No.2 (The Beagle)
III An Entangled Bank (string orchestra)
IV Transmutations (full orchestra)
An Entangled Bank
The section titles of this three-movement work are Down House; Origins; Publication. After Darwin's return from his round-the-world voyage in 1836, he married and settled in Down House, Kent. His routine of family and work culminated in his famous publications, notably On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. While the first movement of this work reflects the character of the house, family life and the bells of Downe village, the second explores further the material of The Man Who Walked With Henslow and the string quartet. The third movement takes as its basis the panic of Darwin when Wallace introduced a similar idea of evolution, the controversy of publication ("…a sorry contribution to knowledge": The Times), and the subsequent attacks on Darwin's writing. The most famous occasion was undoubtedly the 1860 debate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, where the main opponent to Darwin's theory was Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford. However, years after Wilberforce's death, a poem was found (written by Wilberforce) which indicated that his views were perhaps not so rigidly antagonistic to Darwin. The overall title, Age of Wonders, is taken from this poem.
