Hovenweep is an ancient, highly developed, and well-preserved village on the Utah-Colorado border, occupied by the Anasazi from 500 BC to 1300 AD. Joan Tower, curating a series for the St. Luke's Chamber Players, had asked me for a piece on an American theme, and you can't get any more American than Hovenweep: a city where Americans lived during Julius Caesar's time, and which had been long abandoned by the time Columbus arrived. I envisioned a meeting of spirits, which should be clearly audible, and the rhythms (as in most of my music) are derived and abstracted from my study of Hopi, Zuni, and Pueblo Indian musics. The work is dedicated to a hero of American musicology, H. Wiley Hitchcock.

Available on the CD Private Dances, New Albion NA 137

Selected Performances:
World premiere: February 3, 2001, Dia Center for the Arts, New York City, by the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble, as part of the "Second Helpings" series
April 26, 2003, by Da Capo and Melvin Chen at the Fisher Center, Bard College
April 25, 2004, by Da Capo at the Knitting Factory, NYC
October 13, 2006, by Da Capo at Hofstra University
April 15, 2007, by Da Capo at Wolfensohn Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Duration: 11 minutes

PDF score here

- Kyle Gann

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