And If Affliction Should Deign To Spare The Dying?

Mordechai Achar'ith's *And If Affliction Should Deign To Spare The Dying?* in C minor, is the first symphony in the *Shattered Sea Auguries'* body of compositions. It was released and performed abruptly in late XXXX and premiered with conductor Tavka Krulattis at the Fragmented Conservancy, Kiryael. Mordechai performed as concertmaster, with the rest of the performers being members of Precipice Philharmonic. This symphony is usually referred to as *Affliction*, or as Augury 1, though these are not names given by Mordechai himself.

## Premiere

### Location

Fragmented Conservancy, Kiryael, Iudeaiya

## Prophetic Nature

*Affliction* became notable in part because it was the chosen method of delivery for Mordechai's first major prophetic vision, which predicted the outbreak of Cold Rot in Vostok, Daybreak Province, Iudeaiya.

## Premiere and Reception

*Affliction* was met with mixed reviews, the majority of which cited some confusion as to the overall musical profile and identity of the symphony as a result of the intentionally jarring and discordant transitions between movements. While the symphony went on for ninety-three minutes, the fourth movement began at the eighty-nine minute mark, and is cut abruptly short by the composition calling for each performer to deliberately make the most discordant sound possible with their instrument for a full minute before falling completely silent and remaining as such until the audience leaves.

## Description

Alesirian elvish classical compositions included, for a significant period of history, spoken segments in which music was played anywhere from pianissimo to pianissississimo while performers (either musicians or separate spoken-word performers) delivered spoken dialogue or monologue. These spoken portions could include poetry, dialogue, direct addressing of the audience, or even acting out storylines that could include a small cast of characters. *Affliction* contains several of these, placed at the transitions between movements and into and out of intermission. During these spoken segments, Mordechai would rise and stand to directly address the audience, beginning to speak in a completely monotonous tone while continuing to play his instrument.

His instrumental would decrease to the notated pianississimo lull, as would the second chair's after ten seconds, and then the rest of the orchestra after twenty as he begun to deliver the spoken word portion. However, once Mordechai reached a specific portion of the spoken word segment, the rest of the orchestra would suddenly begin to play sharp, discordant notes and dissonances which overlapped one another, causing great difficulty in understanding the spoken words themselves.

During these segments, Achar'ith was reciting a prophecy/predicition of an impending outbreak of plague, citing a date upon which the first case would be discovered (four weeks from the last performance of *Affliction*), the region in which it would break out, and how efficient the response would be. Four weeks after *Affliction closed*, an outbreak of (disease) was recorded in (region), following roughly the same pattern Achar'ith predicted with some variations.