I wished to revisit the musics of the early polyphonies (Ars Antiqua, Ars Nova, up to the 16th century). My idea was to make this world of intervals and concords cohabit with that much vaster one of noises. That world of noises would somehow become a framework to present or rather evoke poetically fragments of the first moments of western music. The world of noises would rest on a fascinating phenomenon of Christian history: the hermits or “Desert Fathers” of the first centuries of the Christian era. These men had deliberately chosen to isolate themselves, to break with the society of their time as they believed that only outside could they find the answer to the problem of human destiny. They intended to create on the fringes of the profane world an ideal and holy society. Through several scenes I would like to evoke the astonishing life of these men, their religious fervor (the very fervor which gave birth to the first polyphonic musics) through the evocation of physical places of course, of the arid and menacing desert, and above all through their fabulous spiritual imagination.

Gilles Gobeil (CA), born 1954. Musical studies at the Université de Montréal (Mmus in Composition). Laureate on the international scene: “Métamorphoses” Biennal Acousmatic Composition Competition (Belgium, 2002, 2000); CIMESP (International Electroacoustic Music Contest of Săo Paulo, Brazil, 2001, 1999, 1997); Ciber@rt (Valencia, Spain, 1999); Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition (France, 1999, 1989, 1988); Stockholm Electronic Arts Award (Sweden, 1997, 1994); Ars Electronica, Linz (Austria, 1995); Luigi Russolo International Competition, Varese (Italy, 1989, 1988, 1987); Newcomp Computer Music Competition (US, 1987); and Brock University Tape Music Competition, St Catharines (Canada, 1985). Other honors in national competitions: “1993 Grand Prize” from SOCAN; “1985 Robert Fleming Prize” from the Canadian Music Council; and “Composition Award” from SDE in 1984. His works have been performed in concerts throughout Canada and abroad. Gilles Gobeil is a member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC), Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) and co-founder of the concert organization Réseaux.