Jefferson's own words, set to Shatin's own music

Judith Shatin hears music everywhere. It can arrive on a breath of wind, or find cadence in the tender words of Thomas Jefferson. The University of Virginia William R. Kenan Jr. professor of music is renowned for her ability to translate these subtle murmurs of nature and imagination into exquisite musical compositions.

Shatin’s most recent effort is “Jefferson, In His Own Words.” The East Coast premiere of the work will be performed by the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra at 8 p.m. Saturday in UVa’s Cabell Hall Auditorium and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Monticello High School.

The concert, “The New World,” concludes the Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra’s 2009-10 season. In addition to Shatin’s new piece, the program also includes performances of Samuel Barber’s “Essay No. 2 for Orchestra” and Antonin Dvorak’s “Symphony No. 9 in E Minor.”

Shatin’s piece was commissioned by the local orchestra, as well as the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Richmond Symphony and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, which recently performed the piece for the first time.

“I was able to hear a recording of the premiere performance by the Illinois Symphony, and that was really fun,” said Shatin, who has been teaching at UVa for 30 years.

“It’s at the point when the music is being shared with others, and is alive in performance, that the process feels complete.”

Shatin’s latest composition is scored for orchestra and the spoken word. Gerald Baliles, former Virginia governor and current director of UVa’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, will serve as narrator.

Shatin has composed two previous works that focus on UVa and Jefferson. The first was “We Hold These Truths,” scored for chorus, brass quintet and tympani, and was commissioned by UVa in recognition of Jefferson’s 250th birthday.

The second was the music for the 2005 Robert Arnold film “Rotunda.” The score for the most recent work fills 130 pages, but the effort required much more than writing music.

“When presented with the commission, I was given the opportunity to choose the text for the narrator, and to organize it in a way I saw fit,” Shatin said. “What I was very eager to do was find a way to capture not just Jefferson’s main political writings, but also get at some other aspects of his life, conflicts and personality to give a more intimate portrait of him.

“In order to accommodate that, I decided to divide up the piece into four sections. Each section focuses on a different aspect of his life, thoughts and personality.”

The first movement is titled “Political Passions.” One of the subjects it touches upon is Jefferson’s unwavering belief in the importance of religious freedom.

“There is a Jefferson quote in the first movement that I think is incredibly timely and powerful,” Shatin said. “The quote is, ‘It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my legs.’

“For Jefferson, freedom of religion was one of his absolute fundamentals, and one of the things he wanted to be remembered for. Of course, that was the Statute of Religious Freedom in Virginia, which he did manage to get through.

“The second movement is called ‘Head and Heart,’ after a long and amazing dialog he wrote between his head and his heart as part of a letter to a woman named Maria Cosway, whom he seems to have had quite a crush on. This movement has excerpts from two letters he wrote.

“One is to his daughter Patsy, and one is to Cosway. They show, I think, to his daughter, a combination of practicality, sternness and affection. And, to Maria Cosway, an astonishingly romantic side of him.”

The third movement is titled “Justice Cannot Sleep.” Shatin said this segment counterpoises Jefferson’s abolitionist sentiments with quotes from his farm book that detail his slaves as if they were pieces of property.

The fourth part is called “Freedom of Reason” and deals with the founding of UVa and the hopes Jefferson held for its future.

“The final movement contains a quote heard a lot at UVa, and I feel it’s an important one,” said Shatin, who graduated with honors from Douglass College, and went on to earn her master’s at Julliard School for the Performing Arts and a doctorate from Princeton University.

“The quote is, ‘This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.’

“The rhythm and content of the text are musically suggestive. In addition, I have used in a few places some small quotations from music that Jefferson knew and was fond of.

“I’ve done very little of that, but there are a couple spots where the audience will notice that flavor. Whenever I set text, whether it’s spoken or sung, my goal is to try through the music to amplify the meaning and the shape of the text through the music.”

Free pre-concert lectures will be held 45 minutes before each concert. Saturday’s lecture will be in Minor Hall and Sunday’s in the Forum at Monticello High School.

The concert’s music director, Kate Tamarkin, will present “Noon Notes” at noon today at Northside Library. Shatin will join the director to discuss the process of composing “Jefferson: In His Own Words.”

Adult tickets for “The New World” concert at 8 p.m. Saturday at Old Cabell Hall and 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Monticello High School range from $20 to $35, and they’re $10 for students. UVa students may request one complimentary ticket in advance. WHTJ, WVPT and WMRA Public Broadcasting MemberCard holders can get two tickets for the price of one using benefit No. 261. Tickets are available at UVa’s Arts Box Office, or online at www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu.

AT A GLANCE

Charlottesville and University Symphony Orchestra

8 p.m. Saturday at Cabell Hall Auditorium

3:30 p.m. Sunday at Monticello High School

$35-$20; $10 students

www.artsboxoffice.virginia.edu

924-3376