#1146 in 10:11 Scored for Wind Symphony of the 3rd Millennium™ and optional Chorus by © Stephen Melillo, IGNA Christmas Day, 25 December 2016
Commissioned by Das Musikkorps der Bundeswehr (Concert Band of the German Armed Forces) Oberstleutnant Christoph Scheibling
"Festival of Light" was written in 1995. A year earlier, SYNC with this work and also written on Christmas Day 1994, the piece "David" was composed. Now, 22 years later (in 2016), also at Christmas and this time again on the 1st day of Hanukkah, the piece "Ark of the Covenant" completes an unintended trilogy of works (Festival of Light, David, Ark of the Covenant ), which together make a 33-minute "story".
In composing "Festival of Light" there was a mathematical connection to certain "instructions" in the Bible. The vertical, horizontal, and temporal dimensions were derived from the recorded dimensions of the stones used in Solomon's construction of the Temple of Jerusalem. Interestingly, its purpose was to house the Ark of the Covenant. In the composition "David", cubits are used as a measure. With an explanation, the drummers are shown how to construct the 'slings' used in the last movement. Also the composition "Ark of the Covenant" (Ark of the Covenant) was built according to the proportions of Ellen. As is so often the case throughout the Bible, the Ark of the Covenant is proportioned in the Fibonacci series.