Let Us Assume

for SATB QUARTET and MODULAR SYNTH

In his 1854 book The Laws of Thought, English mathematician George Boole proposed a rigorous system for testing logical arguments by assigning ones and zeros to true and false statements. His method applied the laws of mathematics to human thought. These innovations laid the groundwork for computing and the zeroes and ones that make up binary code are called “Booleans” in his honor.

Boole was also a deeply religious person and did not view his faith as incompatible with the rational world of numbers. In an unusual chapter in Laws of Thought, he takes Samuel Clarke’s argument “the self-existent thing must of necessity be infinite and omnipresent,” breaks it into variables and axioms, and attempts to deduce the nature of God mathematically. While he succeeds in verifying the logical consistency of Clarke’s claim, Boole concedes that “a desire for absolute certainty” may not “satisfy the demands of the speculative intellect.”

I was drawn to the recurring phrase “let us assume” that occurs throughout Boole’s writings. Both logic and faith offer answers—certainty, even—but also require accepting underlying assumptions about the nature of reality. Let Us Assume combines a vocal quartet with the sounds of a modular synthesizer, evoking ancient questions of faith amidst sounds made possible by made possible by Boole’s contributions to mathematics.

Premiered at Danceworks Studio Theater, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Camille Crossot, soprano
Deme Hellwig, alto
Anthony Andronczyk, tenor
Sam Mulooly, bass
Lawton Hall, synth