Friberg, Tomas - Prelude & Lament for trombone quartet

Introduction - Playfulness & Sadness
"The same old story. A 34 year old spinster, Betty Torkelsen working as a housekeeper in Alvestad, killed herself with poison on the 17th [Feb. 1886].
The reason was the sad, but so ordinary desperation due to the causes of seduction. The poison was the equally common substance phosphorus."
I found this short news item by accident in an old 19th century newspaper. I was struck by the laconic tone and the mundanity of the subject. I later found out that phosphorous poisoning was a very common suicide methods among 19th-century women.
Phosphorous was scraped from matches and ingested but the intent was not suicide but to cause a spontaneous abortion. Death was just an all to
common by-product of the process. The Lament is for Betty and for all women who died due to unwanted pregnancies.
The Prelude is a reminder to be playful while you can.
Score and mp3 can be downloaded at tomasfriberg.se and parts on request.
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