Program Notes – Enigma Variations: The Rose of Sonora, January 27, 2024

NOTES ON THE PROGRAM BY JOHN P. VARINEAU

The Rose of Sonora
George S. Clinton (1947–)
Written: 2019
Movements: Four
Style: Contemporary American
Duration: 20 minutes

“As a film composer I am used to composing to a story,” writes George S. Clinton.  “After researching the lives of outlaw women of the old west, I decided to create my own story and heroine, The Rose of Sonora.” This violin concerto is the result of a collaboration between tonight’s soloist and the composer:

I first met Holly Mulcahy in Chattanooga, Tennessee where I was co-producing a film music festival with the symphony there and she was concertmaster. We hit it off immediately and I have been a big fan ever since. When she approached me to compose a concerto for her, but in the style of an epic Western, I knew we were kindred spirits.

I was delighted to discover she loves film scores and, like me, feels that there is a big need to find a way for orchestral concert music to become more relatable to today’s audiences. She is also a big proponent of new music by living composers and since, at the moment anyway, I am one, I couldn’t agree more!

It was going to be a Western, but we wanted it to be about a female heroine as an antidote to all the male dominated Westerns out there. After researching the lives of women of the wild west, we created our own heroine and decided upon a narrative that we called ‘The Rose Of Sonora”. Rather than a concerto in 5 movements, this would be a concerto in five scenes with each scene telling part of Rose’s story.

Scene 1: Escape. The full moon has turned the Sonora desert an eerie blue.

Rose rides quietly into town and makes her way to the jail house. She quickly subdues the guard and frees Jed from his cell. Together at last, they ride off into the night, the ill-gotten gold stashed in her saddle bags.

Scene 2: Love and Freedom. They make their way to their idyllic mountain hide-out where they share the love and freedom denied them for so long.

Scene 3: Ambush. The members of their old gang have tracked them down and sneak up on the cabin. Rose senses something is wrong, but before she can react, in a sudden flash of gunfire, they attack. Jed is fatally wounded and Rose is left for dead as the killers ride out into the night with the saddle bags of gold.

Scene 4: Death and Healing. The pain of her own wounds can not compare to the pain of losing Jed. She holds his lifeless body in her arms, gently kisses him, and weeps.

Scene 5: Vengeance. Rose buries Jed beside the cabin. She places a single yellow rose on his grave, loads her guns, saddles her horse and sets out to find his killers. Showing no mercy, Rose hunts them down, out-riding and out-shooting them all. In a final act of vengeance, she shouts Jed’s name, grabs the saddle bags of gold, and triumphantly rides off into the red Sonora sunset.

George S. Clinton is an award-winning composer who has scored over 100 films, most notably Austin Powers International Man of Mystery and it’s blockbuster sequels; Disney’s hit Santa Clause sequels; Mortal Kombat 1 & 2; Wild Things, Red Shoe Diaries, John Water’s A Dirty Shame and the Emmy Award winning Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he began his professional musical career as a singer/songwriter in Nashville, while earning degrees in music and drama at MTSU. Upon moving to LA, he became a staff songwriter for Warner Brothers Music, with songs recorded by the likes of Michael Jackson and Joe Cocker. It was the music from Clinton’s last album as a recording artist that attracted the attention of Cheech and Chong, giving him the chance to score his first film. Awards include Grammy and Emmy nominations, the SCL Ambassador Award, the Spirit of Tennessee Award, and nine BMI Film Music Awards, including their highest honor, the BMI Icon Award for career achievement.

©2024 George S. Clinton, compiled by John P. Varineau