The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Spring 5-2017 "An Alphabet of Soldiers”: Jake Heggie’s Farewell, Auschwitz Lori Jo Guy University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the European History Commons, and the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Guy, Lori Jo, ""An Alphabet of Soldiers”: Jake Heggie’s Farewell, Auschwitz" (2017). Dissertations. 1361. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1361 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “AN ALPHABET OF SOLDIERS”: JAKE HEGGIE’S FAREWELL, AUSCHWITZ by Lori Jo Guy A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School and the School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Approved: ________________________________________________ Dr. Maryann Kyle, Committee Chair Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. J. Taylor Hightower, Committee Member Associate Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Jonathan Yarrington, Committee Member Assistant Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Christopher Goertzen, Committee Member Professor, Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, Committee Member Associate Professor, Music _______________________________________________ Dr. Richard Kravchak Director, School of Music ________________________________________________ Dr. Karen S. Coats Dean of the Graduate School May 2017 COPYRIGHT BY Lori Jo Guy 2017 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT “AN ALPHABET OF SOLDIERS”: JAKE HEGGIE’S FAREWELL, AUSCHWITZ by Lori Jo Guy May 2017 For the past 18 years, the non-profit organization Music of Remembrance has worked to remember the Holocaust through concerts, education events, and by recording and commissioning new works. One such work, entitled Farewell, Auschwitz, premiered in May of 2013. Farewell, Auschwitz is a unique composition for several reasons. One reason is that the poetry for the songs was adapted from lyrics written by Krystyna Żywulska, a Polish Jew, imprisoned at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. In the camp, she began creating poetry and songs in reaction to the horror that surrounded her. Her poetry is a commentary on the daily life, observations of the camp, and historical documentation. Mina Miller, founder and current Artistic Director of Music of Remembrance, introduced Jake Heggie and his librettist Gene Scheer to the writings of Krystyna Zywulska. Their first work together was a dramatic song cycle for soprano entitled Another Sunrise. This song cycle told of the day-to-day fight of Krystyna Żywulska to stay alive amidst the horrors of the concentration camp. For their next composition, Miller suggested that Heggie and Scheer take the song lyrics Żywulska had written for another prisoner and create new musical settings. Scheer adapted the poetry and Heggie composed the music for this gripping work for soprano, mezzo-soprano, baritone, and ii chamber ensemble. Żywulska’s lyrics were originally set by fellow prisoners to pop, folk, or classical songs of the day. However, the original songs have since been lost. In order to preserve the general effect of the original songs, Heggie emulates folk and popular sounds of Poland in the 1940s into his composition. Note: Farewell, Auschwitz excerpts: Copyright © 2013 by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer. All Rights Reserved. Publisher: Bent Pen Music, Sole Agent: Bill Holab Music. Used by Permission iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like express by deepest thanks to the chair of my committee and my major professor Dr. Maryann Kyle for being a wonderful mentor, teacher, and friend. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Taylor Hightower, Dr. Jonathan Yarrington, Dr. Christopher Geortzen and Dr. Joseph Brumbeloe, for their support, wisdom, and encouragement throughout this process. To Mr. Jake Heggie, thank you for answering my questions and, more importantly, creating such a beautiful and important work. I would also like to thank Dr. Beth Everett and Ms. Gabrielle Richardson for their assistance and help in preparing this dissertation. To my wonderful doctoral colleagues, thank you for your support and spirit. iv DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the three most important men in my life: Granddad, Colonel Dr. Ivan J. Birrer, Dad, Ivan J. Birrer II, and my husband, Stephen Reid Guy. Granddad, thank you for consistently encouraging my academic goals. Your support and love has been instrumental in me achieving my dreams. Dad, I hate you didn’t get to read the final document, but I’m thankful you knew it was in sight! Thank you for teaching me to run the race with endurance. Reid Guy, you are my best friend, my partner, my encourager, my favorite. I love you. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv DEDICATION .................................................................................................................... v LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES .................................................................................. viii CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER II – KRYSTYNA ŻYWULSKA ..................................................................... 4 CHAPTER III – JAKE HEGGIE ...................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER IV – DEVELOPMENT OF FAREWELL, AUSCHWITZ .............................. 21 CHAPTER V – FAREWELL, AUSCHWITZ .................................................................... 26 Prologue .................................................................................................................... 26 Soldiers ..................................................................................................................... 28 Diamonds .................................................................................................................. 31 In The Cards .............................................................................................................. 33 Irenka ........................................................................................................................ 37 Miss Ziutka ............................................................................................................... 41 The Sun and The Skylark .......................................................................................... 44 “Farewell, Auschwitz” .............................................................................................. 46 CHAPTER VI - CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 49 APPENDIX A - Jake Heggie Consent .............................................................................. 51 vi APPENDIX B – Email Interview With Jake Heggie ........................................................ 53 APPENDIX C - Permission to Use Music ........................................................................ 55 APPENDIX D - IRB Approval Letter .............................................................................. 56 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 57 vii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Descending Tetrachord ..................................................................... 27 Theme 1 ............................................................................................ 28 Beguine the Beguine by Cole Porter................................................. 29 Beguine Rhythm used in “Soldiers” ................................................. 30 Opening of “Diamonds” ................................................................... 32 Scurrying Motive .............................................................................. 34 Cadential Extension .......................................................................... 35 Liszt, Grandes etudes de Paganini, mvmt. 3: La Campenella ......... 36 Use of La Campenella in “In the Cards” .......................................... 36 Retransition ..................................................................................... 36 Passing of Melodic Ideas ................................................................ 38 Chromatic Descending Borrowed Material .................................... 39 Melody from Chopin’s Waltz Op. 64, no. 2 ................................... 39 Typewriter ....................................................................................... 42 Swing Section ................................................................................. 42 Stark moment of “Perfectly”........................................................... 43 The Birds......................................................................................... 45 Return of Theme 1 .......................................................................... 47 . viii CHAPTER