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Éistphéist has been performed in Rimouski and São Paulo…

Éistphéist: an Irish-Gaelic word that literally translates as “listen-worm” but corresponds to the English word “earworm” or the French “ver d’oreille”: a tune that plays in one’s mind unbidden and that continues to repeat whether one wants it to or not.

Why Gaelic? I’ll address that below but I would like to say the German Ohrwurm was in the running for my title (I read the Germans were the first to coin this fantastically apt term) as was another French expression for the same affliction, “chanson-velcro” (again, fantastically apt).

My Éistphéist does not really involve any actual earworms — I will be bidding you to do many specific procedures — but it does require you to keep a tune playing in your mind.

Éistphéist is in two movements.

The entire piece should be moderately quiet and relaxed/slack.

Premiere

Éistphéist

  • Composer(s): Martin Arnold
  • Year of composition: 2020
  • Duration: 20:00
Video
Concerts
19 Octo 2020
8:00 pm
Arnold
In person
Rimouski (Québec)
20 Octo 2020
7:00 pm
Cancelled
ArnoldCage
In person
Quebec City (Québec)
27 Nove 2020
8:00 pm
Arnold
Online event Free access
São Paulo (Brazil)