Three Illusions for Orchestra

Elliott Carter: Three Illusions for Orchestra (2004)

1. Micomicón
2. Fons Juventatis
3. More’s Utopia

• Programme Note •
Micomicón
Micomicón, invented by Sancho Panza and his friends to cure Don Quixote’s “madness”, is said to be a kingdom near Ethiopia stolen by a giant from its queen, Micomicona, who beseeches the adventurous Don Q. to put her back on the throne (in Cervantes’ great novel, chapters 29-30, book 1). This brief score was commissioned by the Boston Symphony as a present to the extraordinary James Levine. It was composed in New York in 2002.

Fons Juventatis
According to a Roman myth at recurs in medieval French literature, Jupiter fell for the nymph Juventas (Youth) and turned her into a fountain, whose waters rejuvenate all who bathe in it.

Utopia
Thomas More invented the word Utopia ( Ou Topos – no place ), the name for his imagined completely happy society with no central government, which followed draconian laws that governed almost all human activities. For example: every able bodied person had to spend 2 years living and working on a farm, and was allowed to occupy the same house for only a period of 10 years before being forced to move.
Sir Thomas More, a devout Catholic, who was Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII and opposed the King’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, was beheaded.

Elliott Carter