Program notes:
In the classical treatise The Ten Books of Architecture by Vitruvius, the Roman architect and engineer provides detailed instructions for building many ancient machines of warfare for both attack and defence. The Roman ballista was a double-armed artillery machine, essentially a large, mounted crossbow whose cords of twisted sinew or hair were pulled back by a winch. It could hurl heavy rocks with great force for considerable distances. The circumstances, construction and operation of ballistae shape all aspects of the work. The aggression and fear of waging war, the organization and effort required to build war machines, and the preparations of the distant enemy are all ideas that contribute to the piece. In a more concrete manifestation of a ballista, twelve instruments are divided into two “arms” of the machine, leaving the largest, heaviest instrument to be moved into its aural central position with considerable effort. The strings provide the appropriate sinews to be tightened and tuned, finally achieving sufficient tension to launch the heavy missile. After following a musical approximation of the missile’s flight, the work concludes with its sudden, violent impact.
Arlene Sierra's piece Ballistae premiered with the Grossman Ensemble on September 30, 2023.