"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law." - AL, I:40
"There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt." - AL, III:60

(MY THANKS TO THE INTERNATIONAL OTO FOR PERMISSION TO USE THE FULL TEXT OF LIBER AL LEGIS IN THIS WORK)

Thelema - a brief introduction
The religion known as Thelema was founded in 1904 by the English poet and mystic Aleister Crowley (1875 - 1947). The most important book of the Thelemic canon is Liber AL vel Legis, sub figura CCXX, commonly called The Book of The Law. The contents of this book are rather cryptic, and Crowley has prepared a number of commentaries for clarification, such as The Law is for All. Each individual is expected to interpret the book for themselves, but are enjoined from promoting their personal interpretations to others.

The theology of Thelema postulates all manifested existence arising from the interaction of two cosmic principles: the infinitely extended, all-pervading Space-Time Continuum; and the atomic, individually expressed Principle of Life and Wisdom. The interplay of these Principles gives rise to the Principle of Consciousness which governs existence. In the Book of the Law, the divine Principles are personified by a trinity of ancient Egyptian Divinities: Nuit, the Goddess of Infinite Space; Hadit, the Winged Serpent of Light; and Ra-Hoor-Khuit (Horus), the Solar, Hawk-Headed Lord of the Cosmos.

(For more on Thelema and the Book of the Law, please go to www.thelema.co.uk from which site this brief text was taken.)

The Book of the Law - background
Crowley wrote the Book of the Law on the 8th, 9th and 10th April 1904, between the hours of noon and 1:00pm. The Book was dictated to Crowley by an entity calling itself Aiwass, the minister of Hoor-paar-kraat (one of the forms of the Egyptian god Horus). He describes the “Voice of Aiwass” as coming from over his left shoulder, as if the speaker were standing in the corner of the room. The voice was said to be passionate, of deep timbre, and musical, without any recognizable accent.

Although he did not look around the room, Crowley had the impression that Aiwass was a body of “fine matter” like a “veil of gauze.” He further describes Aiwass as a “tall, dark man in his thirties, well-knit, active and strong, with the face of a savage king, and eyes veiled lest their gaze should destroy what they saw” (Crowley, 1997).

Crowley also makes it very clear that it was not “automatic writing,” but that the experience was exactly like an actual voice speaking to him. This is evidenced by several errors that the scribe actually had to inquire about. He does admit to the possibility that Aiwass was a manifestation of his own subconscious. But even were this so, he claimed that the message imparted by Aiwass was so beyond human experience or knowledge that it necessitated a praeternatural intelligence that only a god could possess.

(text taken from www.thelemapedia.org, another great source of reliable information on Crowley and Thelema.)

"I am the blue-lidded daughter of Sunset;
I am the naked brilliance of the voluptuous night-sky." - AL, I:64

In the following notes, I have taken the opportunity to present some of my solutions to the many problems of setting a text such as that found in the three chapters of the Book of the Law. These notes are intended only for those who are interested in learning more about the setting. In the first instance, and always in any music, the evidence of one’s own ears should come first. If, after hearing the work, the listener feels compelled to find out more about the inner workings of the piece, only then should they have recourse to investigate further.

‘Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.’ – Anon.

Length
The first problem to resolve is: how long? I decided to prepare two versions – a full-length version in which each chapter setting lasts the full hour of the original receiving of the Book, only to be performed on the 8th, 9th and 10th April between noon and 1pm, making a total performance time of three hours over three days; and a shorter concert version that can be performed any time of the year, lasting an hour in total. It is the concert version which will be premiered in 2006.

Numbers
There are several key numbers mentioned in each chapter of the Book – for example, 11 in both chapters one and two, 718 in chapter three, 50+6, 5/60 and 50x6 for Nuit in chapter one, as well as the much discussed 4 6 3 8 A B K 2 4 A L G M O R 3 Y X 24 89 R P S T O V A L that appears in the second chapter. I have used these numbers to generate the notes and the rhythms used in this setting.

Take for example, 50x6=300 (‘I am Nuit, and my word is six and fifty’ – AL I:24. ‘Divide, add, multiply, and understand’ – AL I:25). This number, when represented in Hertz (vibrations per second) is approximately equal to D above Middle C in Equal Temperament (293.66Hz) on the piano. The circle (300Hz) has been squared (approximated to 293.66Hz) due to the restrictions of Equal Temperament (‘…this circle squared in its failure is a key also.’ AL III:47).

Scales
I have applied similar processes to the other numbers of the Book, leading ultimately to a scale for each of the three chapters...

As you will see above, the D above Middle C (500x6=300) has been taken down one octave, as have all the other tones (F# for 93, G# for 418, A for 56), making a scale unique to each (‘…this line drawn is a key’ AL III:47). The performer is able to move backward and forward along this scale, but only one step at a time, giving the scale a circular nature (in fact it could be written in a circle).

Also, the scale for the second chapter, the Hadit scale, is a mirror of that for the first chapter, the Nuit scale (‘I, Hadit, am the compliment of Nu, my bride.’ – AL II:2).

The Ra-Hoor-Kuit scale for the third chapter is based on the word Abrahadabra (‘Abrahadabra; the reward of Ra-Hoor-Kuit.’- AL III:1) , with each note of the scale corresponding to a letter in that word (note: I have chosen to make the final four-note group, that is the final ‘abra’ a mirror of the first four-note group). This makes an 11-note scale. Indeed, all three scales are comprised of 11 notes (‘My number is 11, as all their numbers who are of us.’ – AL I:60; ‘Thus eleven, as my bride is eleven.’ – AL II:16).

Performance
In a performance of this work, and indeed any of my major works to date, the performers are free to move around within the structure of the piece as they see fit. The narrator has of course to read each line of the text in its original order, however, variations in the speed of delivery, inflection, dynamic, and so on are not only possible but essential to the life of the performance. Similarly, the pianist and percussionist follow their own path through the geography of my composition (‘Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law’ – AL:I 40), but always with close regard to the specifications of the score. There are no other directions (‘There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt.’ - AL III:60).

This process breathes life into the structure of the composition, and turns the score into Music through the act of Performance, where performer acts alongside performer (‘…thou hast no right but to do thy will. Do that, and no other shall say nay. For pure will, unassuaged of purpose, delivered from the lust of result, is every way perfect.’ – AL I:42-44). Even though joined in the act of celebrating the words of the Book through its performance, each performer is released from the bondage of conventional performance practice, ie. not tied to the ‘master’ score (‘Every man and every woman is a star.’ - AL I:3). This produces a fluid rather than static structure, developing a different character in each unique performance (‘…for in the chance shape of the letters and their position to one another: in these are mysteries that no Beast shall divine.' - AL III:47).

Dedication
This work is dedicated to The Priest of the Princes, Ankh-af-na-khonsu.
Many thanks to the OTO for permission to use the text in its entirety.