By Luna Pearl Woolf | For Solo Cello and SATB Choir a cappella | 26′

Format: Full Score (with rehearsal piano). For bulk orders a cello part will be included.
Page Size: Letter
Catalog Number: OM0121

Format: Cello Part only
Page Size: Tabloid, portrait (11″x17″)
Catalog Number: OM0121P

Choral materials (including cello part) are available for rental (OM0121R).
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From the composer:

Après Moi, le Déluge is a concerto for cello and a cappella choir written in the weeks and months after Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the United States’ Gulf Coast in late August 2005. The piece was originally conceived with an entirely different text, but in our grief, rage and shame at the betrayal of the hurricane’s aftermath, the poet Eleanor Wilner and I decided to scrap those plans and begin anew.

A note on the title:
“Après moi, le déluge” are reputed to be the last words of Louis XV, king of France from 1715- 1774 and the heir of Louis XIV, the king for whom Louisiana was named. Louis XIV’s legacy to Louis XV was a nation bankrupted by war and imperial ambition, a debt levied on the peas- antry while the nobility lived tax-free. Louis XV ruled ineffectively, lived luxuriously, and died the most unpopular king in French history. “The words ‘après moi le déluge’,” according to Paul Jay of Independent World Television News, “have come to epitomize the psychology of those who ruin people and the earth with no thought for tomorrow.” Après Moi, le Déluge was commissioned by cellist Matt Haimovitz as part of his “Buck the Concerto” series of commissions for cello and unusual ensembles. It was premiered in 2006 by Haimovitz and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Concert Choir, under the direction of Beverly Taylor, and recorded live for Oxingale Records. Matt and the choir later took Après Moi, le Déluge on tour, performing in New Orleans November 2006. Après Moi, le Déluge also forms half of a fine-press book entitled Waterlines, with woodcuts and etchings by Michael Kuch, from Oxingale Press and Double Elephant Press.

Commission/Dedication: Commissioned by cellist Matt Haimovitz as part of his “Buck the Concerto” series of commissions for cello and unusual ensembles.
Premiere: First performed April 9, 2006 in Madison, WI by Matt Haimovitz and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Concert Choir, conducted by Beverly Taylor.
Recording: This work is recorded on Oxingale Records’ album Après Moi le Déluge, and on the PENTATONE album LUNA PEARL WOOLF: Fire and Flood. Click here for the Smart URL with all the listening options.

Listen to excerpts of Après Moi, le Déluge performed by Matt Haimovitz, cello, the University of Wisconsin, Madison Concert Choir, conducted by Beverly Taylor: