The Conference of the Birds (2018) for string quartet

I. The Valley of Quest
II. The Valley of Love
III. The Valley of Unity
IV. The Valley of Knowledge
V. The Valley of Detachment
VI. The Valley of Wonderment
VII. The Valley of Poverty and Annihilation

Duration: 15 minutes

The Conference of the Birdsis a 12th Century Sufi allegorical poem by the Persian poem, Attar of Nishapur, and tells the story of the seeker’s journey toward God. In the allegory, all the birds of the world convene and determine that they need a ruler. Such a leader is known in the form of the mythic and divine bird, Simorgh, who resides in a distant land, and the journey to it passes through seven valleys of understanding, the first of which requires the birds to cast off all the preconceived ideas and dogma in their thinking, and the final of which requires annihilation of the self in order to attain complete communion with the divine. The valleys are:

The Valley of Quest
The Valley of Love
The Valley of Unity
The Valley of Knowledge
The Valley of Detachment
The Valley of Wonderment
The Valley of Poverty and Annihilation

My piece traces this metaphoric journey in seven short character pieces, each lasting between 1 and 3 minutes, and each focusing on a highly defined musical personality evoked by the corresponding valley. Much of the string writing is inspired by the flocking movement of birds; that is, there is a ‘group logic’- a kind of unity of movement and purpose in which all the parts are highly interdependent.

The Conference of the Birds was commissioned by the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester for the Ying Quartet.

—Christopher Theofanidis