
E Pluribus Unum
Variations on "America the Beautiful"
200 years ago, the Austrian music publisher Anton Diabelli commissioned the Empire's leading composers to each write a variation on his simple waltz. Among the distinguished contributors were Schubert, Liszt, Hummel, Czerny, and of course, Beethoven, who produced not one but 33 variations. Today, CME is reviving Diabelli's initiative in a distinctly American context to celebrate what is most beautiful about this country: e pluribus unum (out of many, one).
50 COMPOSERS, UNITED
CME commissioned 50 of the most accomplished, provocative and inspired voices in American music today to write variations on "America the Beautiful."
Like America itself, the composers invited to contribute to this compendium represent an enormous diversity of musical aesthetics, beliefs, backgrounds, ages and genders. They are united, however, by one common denominator: all were educated, nurtured, and currently live and thrive in the United States.
