An idea for a musical challange...

[Sfan00]

I've posted this to off-topic because it relates to possible original works by IMSLP members
(some of whom appear to be actual musicians and composer themselves) as opposed to works by existing composers.

The 'challange' as such (but it's one of honour, not reward), is to compose a musical work to represent Pluto, a 'dwarf' planet that was not included in the original Planets Suite, or alternatively another solar system entity.

Before I post this more widely (such as on MuseScore's forum) , I'd like to ask if anyone here would be interested in such a challange.

I am of course aware that there is an 'official' Pluto for the Planets Suite written around 2000.

[KGill]

Does it have to be for orchestra? And what's the time frame? I would theoretically be willing to write such a piece

[pml]

There’s currently about 700 known exoplanets and several other dwarf planets (Ceres, Eris, and some that should be, such as Sedna, Haumea, Quaoar, etc.) in our solar system — why would you have someone duplicate Colin Matthews’ work on scoring a movement for Pluto with all those others ignored? It’s been done already.

PML

[Sfan00]

This isn't yet a firm proposal, but in response to the queries,

i) It doesn't have to be for Orchestra . It does however have to be 'playable' . As this is not a formalised proposal yet, just an idea, there is not currently
a timeframe.

ii) I'm well aware of the 'official' Pluto ( by Collin Matthews), What would you consider a more appropriate solar system body to consider? (Jovian moons perhaps?)

[pml]

Putting on my amateur astronomer hat…

My 2005 submission to the International Astronomical Union’s planetary Working Group, prior to their issuing of the current definition, suggested using an intermediate term such as planeta (as opposed to other forms such as planemo, planeto, planetism) to denote a planetary body of sufficient mass to be rounded by gravity and rotation to a (more or less) equal-potential surface, and then to define the term planet with a little more subtlety to rule out satellites, and minor planets that are a members of collection of bodies sharing the same orbital region without establishing gravitational dominance.

Under that suggested definition, the category of “planetas” would have been enlarged by not only Ceres, Pluto, and several dozen or so various trans-Neptunian bodies, but also by a variety of natural satellites down to about the size of Enceladus (Saturn II): the lower mass limit for gravitational rounding to work a planetary mass into a rounded shape can be estimated using the Boltzmann constant to be approximately 10²¹ kg. As it transpired, they decided to use a mass criterion and a measure of gravitational dominance to establish a definition for “dwarf planets” that separates them from the eight [major] planets and also excludes natural satellites: candidates must be in solar orbit. There are five bodies which are intrinsically large and bright enough to be more or less automatically regarded as dwarf planets, and have been defined so: Ceres, Pluto, Haumea, Makemake, and Eris. There are arguably many more which could fit the definition if the IAU were inclined to categorise them: about 390 trans-Neptunians have been listed as meeting the “possible” criteria, the largest of which are 2007 OR10 (an official name is presumably pending), Orcus, Sedna, and Quaoar.

The 19 natural satellites which would have satisfied the criteria for “dwarf planets” provided they had been in solar orbits are the earth’s moon; the four Galilean satellites Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto; seven moons of Saturn (Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Rhea, Titan, and Iapetus); the five large moons of Uranus (Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon); one moon of Neptune (Triton); and the largest moon of Pluto (Charon). Plenty of scope for musical treatment without covering old ground.

Eris seems particularly worthy of musical attention, in the sense of Holst’s suite where the characters of the mythological gods associated astrologically with the planets suggested musical expression to him: in the ancient Greek pantheon, Eris was the goddess of strife and discord. Eris has one small moon named Dysnomia (for Eris’ daughter, who was the goddess of lawlessness) which also references the in-joke that the discoverers’ stand-in names for the two bodies were “Xena” and “Gabrielle” (X standing for tenth planet; and the actress playing Xena was Lucy Lawless).

PML

[Peterdyson49]

Wandering slightly away from the thread... I was at a birthday concert where the composer (Shchedrin) had a star named after him by the Academy of Sciences (or whatever body has the ability to do that)... it was a nice moment and I really think he did not know it was going to happen. I am not sure what that might do to this proposed project though!
Peter Dyson
PS Enjoyed PML's reply.

[Melodia]

I still don't get why people seem to think Matthews was the only one to write a Pluto movement.

[pml]

It’s the only one that has been given the oxygen of publicity.

[Sfan00]

ON the subject of Pluto - I actually like this one over the Matthews one...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vVCwJJT ... er&list=UL