Ouroboros

Written for flutist Sarah Busman, this piece juxtaposes elements of Paul Hindemith’s “8 Stücke Für Flöte Allein” and Jacques Ibert’s “Pièce pour flûte seule” to reflect on the cycles of life, as encapuslated by the symbol of the ouroboros, a snake eating its own tail.

Program Note

The ouroboros is an ancient symbol found in many cultures, depicting a snake eating its own tail in a closed loop. Across time and space, people have used this image to convey a sense of the never-ending and cyclical, often as an invocation of the concept of cyclical time.

In a world where much human thought is currently organized linearly, with a sense of continuous forward progression, how does a recognition of cycles fit in? One possible answer is geometric: follow a straight line path that happens to be around the edge of a circle, and you will end up exactly where you started. Through juxtaposing elements inspired by Paul Hindemith’s 8 Stücke Für Flöte Allein and Jacques Ibert’s Pièce pour flûte seule, Ouroboros explores structural circularity, attempting to break away from it by blazing a linear path, and yet finding yourself back at the beginning of the journey.