Ben Tibbetts Studio      Home    Services    Archive    Students    About    Contact    Now    Store    Subscribe The Ecstasy of Saint Ungulant Listen (mp3) The Ecstasy of Saint Ungulant is a piece I composed for one of Nic Dauphinais's trombone recitals at the University of New Hampshire. It's a goofy, slightly macabre dance which bears resemblance to Shostakovich's Jazz Waltz No. 2. Although the piece is simple, it has some flashy sections for the trombone. The name comes from a character in a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. The novel is Small Gods. The character, Saint Ungulant, is an ascetic (a person who abstains from pleasure in order to deepen his spirituality). Saint Ungulant is also floridly delusional; he is seeing many, many things that aren't there. Essentially he's a raving lunatic who lives out in the desert and eats nothing but the occasional lizard and water from a cactus. That might seem like a strange inspiration, but I loved this character, and the woozy elegance with which he swings from delusion to delusion. That was why I named this piece after him: I wanted to capture that kind of strange, off-kilter personality. The recording on this piece is Nic Dauphinais's live performance. Sheet music for this piece is available to subscribers.  Ben Tibbetts Studio      Home    Services    Archive    Students    About    Contact    Now    Store    Subscribe Search     Copyright © 2006-2023 Ben Tibbetts change log