The tarot, also known tarocchi or les tarots, is a deck of cards that dates back to the fifteenth century. Used to play a variety of games, the tarot in some ways resembles a standard fifty-two-card deck with four suits known as the Minor Arcana. The tarot is more widely known for its twenty-two-card trump suit, the Major Arcana, which features highly stylized cards depicting figures such as the High Priestess, the Devil, and the Fool. In the eighteenth century, the tarot became increasingly associated with cartomancy and divination. A tarot teller, or cartomancer, would use the cards to predict an individual’s future by arranging the trump suit in a variety of patterns. The order in which the cards are dealt may portend events, obstacles, or love interests for those having their futures read.
Tarot Teller for chamber ensemble taps into the symbolism and patterning of the tarot, as well as its supernatural overtones. Certain passages are associated with cards from the Major Arcana such as the Hermit, the Hanged Man, and the Magician. The seven instruments play into the layout of tarot readings, in which commonly seven cards are dealt at a time, sometimes until all twenty-one cards (the Fool stands apart) are present. Tarot Teller reflects these various layouts with an assortment of instrumental textures that fluctuate throughout the work.
Tarot Teller was inspired by the poem “Tarot-teller” by Nathaniel Mackey, which appears in his first collection of poems from Eroding Witness (1985). The piece was commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival and School for the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble’s First Glimpse concert series.