Composer Nell Shaw Cohen describes how Thomas Cole's The Course of Empire inspired her music.
Download mp3s of the complete string quartet and images of the paintings.
Learn how Cole's paintings inspired a range of musical styles.
Follow the transformations of a single recurring musical motif over the course of the five movements.
About the composer of The Course of Empire string quartet.
The bold imagery and compelling story depicted in Cole's five paintings inspired composer Nell Shaw Cohen to create music that reflects the visual and narrative aspects of these paintings.
Using the paintings as guide and inspiration, Cohen made musical decisions that were affected on multiple levels by what she saw in the paintings.
VIDEO: The Creative Process
VIDEO: Making Music from ArtWhile it also serves as a stand-alone piece of music, The Course of Empire is intended to be heard in the context of the artwork, and to bring insight to the viewer's interpretation of the paintings.
Check out Look and Listen to hear the music while looking at digital images of the paintings.
Click each of the titles below to hear complete recordings of The Course of Empire, and click the buttons to the right to download a medium-resolution .jpg file of the painting to look while you listen.
This performance was recorded live at New England Conservatory on February, 24, 2009 by Tetrachord (Quan Yuan and Jennifer Wey, violin; Matthew Davis, viola; David Meyer, cello).
The five movements total about 15 minutes.
Note: these links will give you the option of viewing the file in your browser, or downloading them to your hard drive.
Just as Thomas Cole referenced earlier painters in his work (see this video to learn about Cole's influences), composer Nell Shaw Cohen references historical musical styles to tell a story in The Course of Empire.
I. The Savage State II. The Pastoral State III. Consummation IV. Destruction V. Desolation Thomas Cole's paintings depict the transformation of a single landscape through the evolution of a civilization. Landmarks in the landscape create continuity between the paintings - most prominently, a mountain cliff with a boulder perched on top appears in the upper right of each composition. The mountain may be seen as a representation of the forces of nature that will outlast fleeting human life (as seen in Desolation).
The mountain is reflected in the music by a recurring motif made up of the notes C Db G F C, which is transformed according the mood of each painting. See below for descriptions and audio excerpts showing how the mountain is represented in each of the movements.
First, hear the mountain theme out of context:
Hear it in context:
Here the mountain motif acts as a "cantus firmus": a technique originating in Medieval music in which one or more parts are composed over a pre-existing melody, which has been lengthened considerably (a technique called "rhythmic augmentation"), and appears in a single part (in this case, the cello). While the theme takes about 5 seconds to be played in its entirety in Savage State, here it lasts for roughly 1 min, 20 secs!
This excerpt from the score shows the contrast in duration between the cantus firmus (in the cello, the bottom line) and the parts above:
The theme is not immediately perceived by the listener because it is disguised and distorted by elongation, but it provides a subtext and lends a familiar character to the movement.
The mountain motif opens this movement loud and strong, and is considerably transformed from the placid character of the first and second movements. Fire, smoke, and barbarians overtake the city, and nature is out of balance. Here the motif is ragged and violent.
Hear the theme isolated:
In "Desolation", nature fully reclaims the land that was once dominated by man. This movement opens with eerie sul ponticello (bowed close to the bridge of the instruments, producing a nasal, wispy timbre). The mountain motif is heard immediately in the cello. It is momentarily extended, leading into otherwordly music.
Hear the theme isolated:
The string quartet closes with the most prominent statement of the mountain motif, the representation of the everlasting powers of nature. The motif is traded between instruments and transposed in an extended sequence. The piece closes on an unresolved note, hinting at a future era of uninhabited nature.
Hear the final statement of the mountain motif:
The intersection between music and visual art is an ongoing source of inspiration for Nell Shaw Cohen (b. 1988), who currently studies at the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA, with Michael Gandolfi and John Mallia. Cohen composed a string quartet based on The Course of Empire after seeing the series of five paintings in the permanent collection of the New-York Historical Society in 2008. Fascinated by the artworks, Cohen was inspired to express Empire’s allegorical narrative through music.
The string quartet was premiered at New England Conservatory in 2009, but the presentation at the Peabody Essex Museum on July 30, 2011 will be the first time the string quartet has been heard live alongside the paintings themselves. “I believe that music has the potential to have a profound effect on the way that we see and understand visual art,” says Cohen. “My goal has always been to bring together the music and the paintings.”
To learn more about Cohen's other music, which includes chamber, orchestral, and vocal works inspired by visual artists such as Charles Burchfield, Georga O'Keeffe, and Michelangelo, visit www.nellshawcohen.com.
VIDEO: Music and The Course of Empire 
VIDEO: A Film Score for Paintings