While Time Quietly Kills Them - original version

Inspired by the skeletal figure of Death on the Astronomical Clock in Prague's Old Town, While Time Quietly Kills Them explores both the organic and the mechanical.

The Astronomical Clock dates back to the 15th Century and is littered with clockwork figures that move and turn at every hour: Christ leads his Twelve Apostles past an open window whilst below stand representations of Vanity, Greed and the Infidel. The figure of Death acts as the catalyst to this motley procession, turning his hourglass and ominously ringing a bell.

Although pregnant with religious doctrine (and an unsettling amount of stereotypical racism) I found the Astronomical Clock almost life affirming. It tells us that from death comes new life. This is represented through the hourly ritual of the clockwork models which is echoed throughout the natural world: from the decay of plant life compost is formed; at the death of a star a new galaxy is born. However, the clock also acts as a cautionary tale, reminding us of our own mortality and that Death is always near, incessantly turning his hourglass.

In this work I have tried to combine organic worlds (sinuous wind lines and string passages) and the mechanical rhythms of the clock (bell-like brass fanfares and pounding timpani passages). The wind lines 'evolve' throughout the work while reflective strings themes evoke faded memories. The brass and percussion explosions are persistent (though not always aggressive in timbre) and hark back to the figure of Death.

The title comes from the period comedy, London Assurance, by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault:

COURTLY: How can you manage to kill time?

GRACE: / can't. Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them.