Clarinetist F. Gerard Errante commissioned a clarinet score and video from Reynold Weidenaar as a "centennial tribute to the Brooklyn Bridge" in 1982. Musical America described Love of Line, of Light and Shadow: The Brooklyn Bridge as "a strangely moving, evocative work ... visually spectacular ... with an equally fascinating soundtrack of traffic resonances and other image-laden sonoritites." At the Center for Brooklyn History, all we have of this work is a postcard in our Postcard Collections but I would love to see the full piece someday. Its score is published online, showing Weidenaar's synesthetic notations for "bridge sound" as illustrations in light and dark, from different angles and with boats sailing beneath. The score combines sounds of the bridge with clarinet and synthesized music with visual "elements of light and heavy materials".
Weidenaar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1945 and is not the Reynold Weidenaar born in Grand Rapids in 1915, who was famous for his mezzotint prints, though perhaps they are related. They both show fascination with bridges in their work. Weidenaar worked primarily with video and electronic sound and collaborated with WNYC's Brian Lehrer on a history of the first music synthesizer in 1998.
Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge began 155 years ago today, on January 2, 1869.
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This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.
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