Hearing Stars - Celeste Forma (Protostar) by Bobby Ge
‘Celeste Forma’ is about the process by which stars form. For Bobby Ge, stars have always held a paradoxical blend of beauty and violence: as wondrous as they are to behold from afar, up close they are raging thermonuclear explosions held together by their own gravity. As such, throughout his piece, the music veers between scratchy noises, nasty dissonances, and beautiful melodies.
Cast in a broad, three-movement structure, the music begins nebulous and hazy, depicting the floating emptiness of the void. Slowly, as dust particles gravitate toward one another, the music increases in activity and introduces a three note, rising stepwise ostinato. Eventually, these swirling dust clouds collapse into protostars, and the viola introduces a hymn-like melody to herald the event. The music continues to intensify as infalling matter increases the protostar’s size, evolving into a rapid series of sequential modulations. The hymn reappears, threadlike and inchoate. As the protostar reaches T-Tauri phase and becomes increasingly unstable, the music disintegrates into violent slashes and scratchy effects. Finally, once enough mass has been cast off, the star stabilizes into its main sequence. The viola’s hymn recurs once more, this time in numinous grandeur. Stars begin to emerge throughout the universe - they are as terrifying as they are beautiful. The piece culminates in a grandiose, incandescent C major chord to celebrate the birth of the stars.
Bobby Ge wants to extend my sincerest thanks to Space Telescope Science Institute researcher Massimo Robberto, whose wonderful insights into star formation were enthusiastically delivered and freely given.
Composed by Bobby Ge: www.bobbygemusic.com
Performed by the Bergamot Quartet (Ledah Finck and Sarah Jane Thomas, violins; Amy Tan, viola; Irene Han, cello): www.bergamotquartet.com
Directed by Caroline Xia with videography by Rafhael Dungca
Audio Engineering by Andrew Bohman
Video/Image Credits:
- 'Crab Nebula in Infrared', NASA, ESA, J. DePasquale (STScI), and R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)
- 'The Whirlpool Galaxy' NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI), and the Hubble Heritage Team
- 'Stephan's Quintet' NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team
- 'Galaxy M106', NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/Aura), and R. Gendler (for the Hubble Heritage Team)
- 'A 'Rose' of Galaxies', NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/Aura)
- 'The Cosmic Reef', NASA, ESA, and STScI
- 'The Cone Nebula', NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA
- 'The Antennae Galaxy' NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/Aura)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration; Acknowledgment: B. Whitmore (STScI)
- 'Flight Through the Orion Nebula' F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, L. Frattare, M. Robberto and L. Hustak (STScI) Acknowledgment: R. Gendler
- 'The Helix Nebula', NASA, ESA, C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt), M. Meixner and P. McCullough
- 'Blue Stars Ring Nucleus of Galaxy AM 0644-741', NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/Aura); Acknowledgment: J. Higdon (Cornell) and I. Jordan (STScI)
- 'Motion of Cosmic Gas', TNG Simulations
- 'Interstellar Magnetic Field Strength', TNG Simulations
- 'The Formation and Evolution of Pre-Stellar Discs', Matthew Bate, University of Exeter
- 'The Statistical Properties of Stars and their Dependence on Metallicity', Matthew Bate, University of Exeter
- 'Large Star Cluster Formation in 3D', Matthew Bate, University of Exeter
- 'A Star's Life', Bryan Preston, Greg Bacon, and Thomas Goertel (STScI) and NASA
- 'The Largest, Most Complex Hydrodynamical Star Formation Calculation Ever Performed', Matthew Bate, University of Exeter
- 'Simulation of Galaxy Formation', Takayuki Saitoh, 4D2U Project, NAOJ
- 'Formation of a Spiral Galaxy', Takayuki Saitoh, 4D2U Project, NAOJ