Arrowhead

Arrowhead is the historic home of author Herman Melville located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, not far from the grounds of Tanglewood. It was here that Melville completed many novels and poems, most famously Moby Dick. Arrowhead for violin and viola springs out of imagery taken from the titles of the chapters of Moby Dick, and from the atmosphere of the grounds of the Arrowhead estate. The shape of the piece is derived from two wedges meant to evoke the outline of an arrowhead: the voices begin far apart in terms of register and work their way towards common ground.Arrowhead was written at the Tanglewood Music Center in partial fulfillment of the composition fellowship program’s Piece-a-Day project.