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Symphony No. 1 in D-Minor (Pandemic), Op. 14
Camilo Aybar

I. Outbreak

Symphony No. 1 in D Minor “Pandemic” (Op. 14) was composed by Camilo Aybar when he was fifteen and sixteen years old during the years of 2020 and 2021. It is his most substantial and ambitious work yet, having only composed self-taught for two and a half previous years. It is undoubtedly his most emotional work as well, a piece of wide scope which captures the entirety of the COVID-19 global pandemic from start to finish. 

Initially, he planned to make this work a short overture, until months spent in lockdown cemented the reality that this pandemic would not be over for quite a while, and that it would leave a profound mark in human history. Aybar did not wish for what some would call his “prime years” to be squandered in this boredom and loneliness, barred from his usual musical performances and engagements. As such, he set off to find purpose during the pandemic by depicting the experience, on both a personal and global level, in a five-movement symphony, each movement representing a different stage of the pandemic. He starts this symphony with “outbreak”.

From a solo horn announcing the first case to the eruption of an orchestral tutti of death and disease, the "outbreak” movement captures the inception of this arduous era. The D minor “outbreak” theme appears throughout the movement, and grows in intensity and orchestration every time it is restated, akin to the uncontrollable spread plaguing humanity. 

This tragic theme is paired with a sweet waltz in E-flat major featuring a solo piccolo. This section represents the innocence in North America: despite an alarming spread of a novel coronavirus, life continued as normal, and what was happening on the other side of the world posed little to no relevance to us. After a chromatic development, this once sweet theme is now pounded by the orchestra, and we are launched back into the “outbreak” theme after a dark interlude by the lower strings. Eventually, we reach the innocence theme again, but we are promptly taken into the development where a new fanfare theme is introduced. After a modulation to C Minor, where a motif spelling C° V-I D 1-9 is played, the climax of death and pandemonium is reached as the orchestra plays violent tension-filled syncopations to the rapid ascending baseline of the lower strings and brass. Once the climax ends, the orchestra is reduced to the faint rumbling of the cello and bass, where the recapitulation replaces the horn with a solo cello announcing the “outbreak” theme once more. The outbreak theme, even heavier in orchestration, is restated. In lieu of the innocence waltz, we continue the suspense in D minor. A solo clarinet gently plays a variation of the fanfare introduced in the development, and this section ends with a sigh, the horns announce the start of the coda, which is a fugato played by the strings to a “marchified” version of the outbreak theme. The fugato ends with other sections of the orchestra entering and bringing about more tension and build-up, until the “outbreak” theme is blasted slowly in its maximal glory, with the fullest orchestration. As the violins rapidly descend chromatically, the tempo increases, and a marchified version of the theme is pounded repeatedly, taken apart, put back together again, and descends until the final three notes of the movement.

 

Symphony No. 1 in D-Minor (Pandemic), Op. 14
Camilo Aybar

I. Outbreak

Symphony No. 1 in D Minor “Pandemic” (Op. 14) was composed by Camilo Aybar when he was fifteen and sixteen years old during the years of 2020 and 2021. It is his most substantial and ambitious work yet, having only composed self-taught for two and a half previous years. It is undoubtedly his most emotional work as well, a piece of wide scope which captures the entirety of the COVID-19 global pandemic from start to finish. 

Initially, he planned to make this work a short overture, until months spent in lockdown cemented the reality that this pandemic would not be over for quite a while, and that it would leave a profound mark in human history. Aybar did not wish for what some would call his “prime years” to be squandered in this boredom and loneliness, barred from his usual musical performances and engagements. As such, he set off to find purpose during the pandemic by depicting the experience, on both a personal and global level, in a five-movement symphony, each movement representing a different stage of the pandemic. He starts this symphony with “outbreak”.

From a solo horn announcing the first case to the eruption of an orchestral tutti of death and disease, the "outbreak” movement captures the inception of this arduous era. The D minor “outbreak” theme appears throughout the movement, and grows in intensity and orchestration every time it is restated, akin to the uncontrollable spread plaguing humanity. 

This tragic theme is paired with a sweet waltz in E-flat major featuring a solo piccolo. This section represents the innocence in North America: despite an alarming spread of a novel coronavirus, life continued as normal, and what was happening on the other side of the world posed little to no relevance to us. After a chromatic development, this once sweet theme is now pounded by the orchestra, and we are launched back into the “outbreak” theme after a dark interlude by the lower strings. Eventually, we reach the innocence theme again, but we are promptly taken into the development where a new fanfare theme is introduced. After a modulation to C Minor, where a motif spelling C° V-I D 1-9 is played, the climax of death and pandemonium is reached as the orchestra plays violent tension-filled syncopations to the rapid ascending baseline of the lower strings and brass. Once the climax ends, the orchestra is reduced to the faint rumbling of the cello and bass, where the recapitulation replaces the horn with a solo cello announcing the “outbreak” theme once more. The outbreak theme, even heavier in orchestration, is restated. In lieu of the innocence waltz, we continue the suspense in D minor. A solo clarinet gently plays a variation of the fanfare introduced in the development, and this section ends with a sigh, the horns announce the start of the coda, which is a fugato played by the strings to a “marchified” version of the outbreak theme. The fugato ends with other sections of the orchestra entering and bringing about more tension and build-up, until the “outbreak” theme is blasted slowly in its maximal glory, with the fullest orchestration. As the violins rapidly descend chromatically, the tempo increases, and a marchified version of the theme is pounded repeatedly, taken apart, put back together again, and descends until the final three notes of the movement.