[Winter at Cap Blanc Nez (Cape White Nose), near Berneville, France]
Gillebert de Berneville (1225-1280) (Trouvere) - Ballad "De moi dolereus" (Cowhorn)
The Swedish cowhorn is a primitive musical instrument constructed from the natural horn from livestock. The instrument has no mouthpiece, and possesses 0 to 5 holes. The cowhorn was used in the Swedish Fäbodskultur (type of shepherds' culture), mostly by women, both for communication and to scare other animals, like wolves and bears. The bigger the cowhorn is, the easier it is to play.
Mark Alburger (b. 1957, Upper Darby, PA) is an award-winning, eclectic ASCAP composer of postminimal, postpopular, and postcomedic sensibilities. He is Music Director of San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra and San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Editor-Publisher of 21st-Century Music and New Music, and Professor Emeritus in Music Theory and Literature at Diablo Valley College. His principal teachers were Gerald Levinson, Joan Panetti, and James Freeman at Swarthmore College (B.A.); Jules Langert at Dominican University (M.A.); Christopher Yavelow at Claremont University (Ph.D.); and Terry Riley. Dr. Alburger has composed 406 major works over the past 48 years, including chamber music, concertos, oratorios, operas, song cycles, and symphonies. His complete catalogue is being issued on discs from New Music. Alburger's multiple blogs include: markalburger.blogspot.com,
markalburger2022.blogspot.com,
markalburgerworks.blogspot.com, markalburgerevents.blogspot.com, markalburgermusichistory.blogspot.
com, 21st-centurymusic.blogspot.com