{"id":42364,"date":"2022-07-20T13:35:23","date_gmt":"2022-07-20T13:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=42364"},"modified":"2025-02-03T11:30:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T16:30:16","slug":"the-sound-of-love-on-the-lake","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/the-sound-of-love-on-the-lake\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sound of Love on the Lake"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The Sound of Love on the Lake\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Music Professor composes string quartet as a unique gift between Carleton sweethearts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Nick Ward<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Professor of Music James Wright was asked by his friend David Cray, a retired professor in the Sprott School of Business, to compose a piece of music as a gift for his wife, Ellen Cray, a former Carleton Professor of applied linguistics, Wright challenged himself to create something personal, powerful, and also universally relatable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr. James Wright<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

“I have such a deep respect, admiration, and affection for both Ellen and David, and was profoundly honoured and grateful to receive this lovely \u2013 if initially somewhat daunting \u2013 commission request from them,” says Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright agreed to take on the project after spending time with the Crays at their beloved cottage on Lac Scattergood in the Outaouais region of southwestern Qu\u00e9bec.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Situated close to Lac McGregor and the nearby town of Val-des-Monts, less than a one-hour drive from Ottawa, Lac Scattergood is named after the British Scattergood family that first settled there in the nineteenth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crays have cherished every moment spent together at their cottage since they purchased the property in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The dock at Scattergood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The bond between David and Ellen, and their love of this peaceful place, surrounded by the rugged natural beauty of the McGregor Highlands region, shone through during our visits,” says Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright would use the tangible sentiment and ambience of the serene lake and his understanding of the many moods and textures of Ellen and David’s life at their cottage to inform his creative process and inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, his work would culminate in a four-movement string quartet titled String Quartet No. 1 (“Ellen at Scattergood”)<\/em>, an intimate composition that Wright feels should be accessible to all music lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The majority of the quartet\u2019s basic thematic ideas and their development are purely musical in nature, without extra-musical associations. However, the emotional character, texture, tempi, and rhythmic animation of each movement are inspired by Lac Scattergood and David and Ellen,” says Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright has been described as an \u2018unrepentant melodist,\u2019 and so the quartet’s themes came to him quite spontaneously with the beauty of Lac Scattergood in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“I have held a lifelong love and fascination with the close relationship between music, movement and dance, and I hope the quartet\u2019s various moods \u2013 including joy, romance, playfulness, celebration, energy, vigour, drama, transcendence, nostalgia, serenity, peace and tranquillity \u2013might be suggestive of choreographic interpretation at some point.”<\/p>Dr. James Wright<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Compellingly, the fugato of the opening movement features a subject and countersubject that Wright conceived as Ellen and David in conversation. Then, at the end of the fugato section, Wright offers a momentary stylistic tip of the hat to Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1826), whose 250th anniversary was celebrated internationally in 2020, when the first movement was written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fourth movement, the opening motives of the Canadian and American national anthems can be heard subtly intertwining in the Rondo’s second theme \u2013 a clever nod to David and Ellen, who would pursue their careers and raise their family in Canada but were both born and educated in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wright was eager to fulfil David’s lofty wish of creating art that rightly captured both Ellen’s essence and the spirit of the Crays\u2019 cottage life together, and so he was rather apprehensive about receiving their response to Ellen at Scattergood<\/em>. He gave the Carleton couple a sneak preview of the quartet, and they were delighted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lake Scattergood at dusk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“The good news is they have given me all four thumbs up, which has been deeply gratifying. I can only say that I hope they feel that I have captured, musically, at least some aspects of their serene yet exciting and intellectually-energized life together at Lake Scattergood,” says Wright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe piece was the best birthday present ever, particularly wonderful because it was presented to me on the dock at Scattergood on a perfectly beautiful day, my birthday,\u201d recounts Ellen, who listens to the piece often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring the winter, it reminds me of being at the cottage and evokes all the pleasure of being in such a beautiful and peaceful place. I play it at the cottage and appreciate how perfectly James has captured the experience of being there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellen at Scattergood<\/em> was just as meaningful to David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis quartet means a great deal to me for three reasons,\u201d he explains. \u201cFirst, this is the only piece of art that I have commissioned, so seeing how it was accomplished has been fascinating. Second, James has produced such a lovely composition that has a life of its own. Again, being a part, even a small part, of that evolution provides a real sense of satisfaction. Third, and most importantly, James has beautifully captured the peace and tranquillity that we enjoy at our cottage on Lake Scattergood. Every time I listen to the piece, I am transported back there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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