Taking the 71
Duration
c. 3 minutes
Written as part of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s Composers’ Hub 2018:19.
Programme Note
The Vienna Central Cemetery is home to the final resting places of the ‘who’s who’ of the classical canon including: Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Gyorgy Ligeti, Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Schubert, and Johann Strauss.
Taking the 71 takes its name from the Viennese idiom for “someone has died”: “er hat den 71er genommen” (“they have taken the 71”).
Instrumentation
Chamber Orchestra
Score and parts available from Composers Edition
