This recital was in parallel relation to Klear’s Honours thesis, specifically regarding the
relationship between “Trans-historicity” as described by aesthetician Derek Allan and “allusion” as defined by musicologist J. Peter Burkholder. However, instead of focusing on and analysing the trans-historicity of other composers’ works, this recital explored the capacity to which trans-historicity can be applied during the compositional practice itself. Much like the thesis, trans-historicity was applied and related to specific forms of allusion when composing the works, including “modelling” and “stylistic allusion”. Burkholder describes a modelled work as a “work or section on an existing piece, assuming its structure, incorporating part of its melodic material, imitating its form or procedures, or using it as a model in some way”, and defines stylistic allusion as “alluding not to a specific work but to a general style or type of music.” Though accomplished in varied ways, all featured pieces were composed as explorations of modelling and stylistic allusion as a means of revealing the trans- historicity of the musical styles they were inspired by.
In addition to integrating musical styles in a trans-historical manner, the pieces also examine philosophical and theological notions developed in the past and contemporaneously. The notions included are primarily those purported by Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC) in his Metaphysics (335 BC – 322 BC), Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) in his Ethics (1661 – 1675) and original koine Greek verses of The New Testament (John 14:6 and 2 Peter 1:4), and are emphatically presented in Henousia Cantata as lyrics in the Solo Soprano part.
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