Danaus - Thomas Meinzen

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Danaus - Kai Frueh (Piano) - Ben Frueh (Violin) - Isabelle Olsen (Clarinet)

Composer: Thomas Meinzen

Skyward

Released on: 08/01/2025

Available for purchase on Bandcamp: https://thomasmeinzen.bandcamp.com/album/skyward

Danaus is a tribute to the near disappearance of the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, in the West. In the 1980s, western North America was home to an estimated 4.5 million monarch butterflies. In 2024, fewer than 10,000 migratory western monarchs were recorded. As an ecologist studying the tiny percentage of western monarch butterflies still living, I composed Danaus to convey the emotional impact of this remarkable creature—both the wonder of its migrations and the pain of its disappearance. A trio for clarinet, violin, and piano, Danaus tells the monarch population’s story in one season, starting with an individual monarch awakening from winter and rousing its brethren in their colonial roost. Arpeggiated figures derived from the original monarch theme represent the awakening of the colony, and the three instruments unite in a joyful melody as the monarchs migrate north to breed. As time passes, however, the melody begins to break down and simplify, losing its symmetry and becoming darker. The arpeggios return with a dissonant modulation as monarchs are killed, one by one, by herbicides, habitat loss, traffic, and the vagaries of a rapidly changing climate. Those that remain regroup to generate a new, simpler, more urgent theme as they return south for winter. Again, however, the theme thins out as monarchs are lost, and finally, a clarinet cadenza represents the descendant of our first monarch, returning to her wintering grounds—alone.

This EP is performed by Kai Frueh (piano) and Ben Frueh (violin), featuring Isabelle Olsen (clarinet). Composed by Thomas Meinzen. Original cover art of Red Crossbill and monarch butterflies by Melissa Orozco (melissaorozco.com). Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Brent Hauer.

Bird songs featured in Headland include field recordings made by Andrew Spencer, Barry Edmonston, Andy Martin, Scott Olmstead, Bruce Lagerquist, Anthony Gliozzo, Paul Marvin, Richard Webster, Bill Pyle, Thomas Meinzen, and Kai Frueh. Recordings were sourced and adapted from Xeno-Canto (xeno-canto.org) under the BY-NC-SA Creative Commons license: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Special thanks to the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology (sitkacenter.org) for their support. Headland was written during an artist residency at the Sitka Center, inspired by the surrounding Oregon coast and Cascade Head.

Special thanks also to the West Scholarship for making this project possible, Lawrence University for lending the Guarneri violin used to record Farewell to the Valley of Flowers, and Ellie Lutterman and Leo Rivera Chen for their feedback during the recording sessions.

Finally, gratitude to the wild creatures that inspired these works: the birds of the Oregon coast (featured: Marbled Murrelet, Western Gull, Common Raven, Ruffed Grouse, Short-billed Gull, Hairy Woodpecker, Bald Eagle, Red Crossbill, Snowy Plover, Killdeer); the imperiled monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus); and the many wonders of the Valley of Flowers (Bozeman, Montana).

Composer's proceeds will be donated to the Gallatin Valley Land Trust, Xerces Society, and McKenzie River Trust to help conserve the creatures and places that inspired the music.

We hope you enjoy!

Some rights reserved. Please refer to individual track pages for license info.