Other movements:  I. The Incantations of the Prophets of Baal    II. The Prayer of Elijah
Click on movement titles to hear audio of each

Fire of Living God performed at  international festival

September 2003. Jesse Ayers is one of six American composers whose music has been selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music to represent the United States at the prestigious World Music Days festival.  His work, The Fire of the Living God, was selected by an international jury of distinguished composers.

Professional Opinion

Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler, conductor
Past President, Indiana Music Educators Association

The musical and spatial effects employed in this work allow the listener to experience the Biblical story on which it is based. Although it is a very exciting work in its entirety, each movement can be played separately. I especially appreciate how motives from all three movements are related. I have conducted this work on several occasions, including a concert tour, and it always blows the audience away.

Program Notes

The Fire of the Living God is the last movement from "... and they gathered on Mount Carmel," a surround-sound musical depiction of the great confrontation between the Old Testament prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal recorded in I Kings 18.   The brass are split into two antiphonal choirs on either side of the audience and other performers are behind the audience.  The work was begun in March 1994 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, while the composer was an artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was completed in Knoxville, Tennessee, the following March. The work received its premiere in 1995 by the University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Richard Clary and has been recorded by the Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler.

After the day-long, fruitless incantantations and self-mutilation of the propherts of Baal, a nervous tension fills the air as all await the outcome of Elijah's short, simple prayer. A blazing light appears in the sky, speeding earthward; intense fire falls on the altar, consuming not only the sacrifice, but the very stones of the altar itself. The people fall on their faces in awe of the true God, and the false prophets are slain for their wickedness. Contrast of texture is the predominant parameter in this final movement. Massive blocks of sound, some static and others rhythmically active, are juxtaposed against each other. In the closing seconds of the piece, the two brass choirs join forces to play the last phrase of Martin Luther's Ein Feste Berg (A Mighty Fortress), which is quoted as a benediction to Elijah's deliverance and vindication as he stands alone against a host of 450 adversaries.

Instrumentation

1 Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
1 Eb Clarinet
3 Bb Clarinets (9-12 players)
1 Bb Bass Clarinet
1 Eb Contra Alto Clarinet (optional part)
1 Bb Contra Bass Clarinet
2 Bassoons
1 Contrabassoon

2 Eb Alto Saxophones
1 Bb Tenor Saxophone
1 Eb Baritone Saxophone

Piano (or high quality electronic keyboard to simulate piano if touring)
Electronic Keyboard (very easy one-hand part)

 Timpani
6 Percussionists (reduced version uses 3 perc.)

Several extra people to twirl "whistling" tubes behind audience