Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2005 William Parker and the AIDS Quilt Songbook Kyle Ferrill Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MUSIC WILLIAM PARKER AND THE AIDS QUILT SONGBOOK By KYLE FERRILL A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2005 The members of the Committee approve the Treatise of Kyle Ferrill defended on March 28, 2005. _____________________________________ Stanford Olsen Professor Directing Treatise _____________________________________ Timothy Hoekman Outside Committee Member _____________________________________ Roy Delp Committee Member _____________________________________ Larry Gerber Committee Member The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures .................................................................................... Page v Abstract .......................................................................................... Page vii 1. Introduction and Biography ............................................................... Page 1 Infection and Action ....................................................................... Page 2 The premiere and publication of The AIDS Quilt Songbook .......... Page 6 2. Analysis of the Songs........................................................................ Page 10 “Fury” .................................................................................... Page 10 “blues for an imaginary valentine”.................................................. Page 12 “Heartbeats”................................................................................... Page 14 “A Dream of Nightingales”.............................................................. Page 20 “Walt Whitman in 1989” ................................................................. Page 22 “The 80s Miracle Diet”.................................................................... Page 24 “For Richard”.................................................................................. Page 29 “Fairy Book Lines”.......................................................................... Page 30 “Vaslav’s Song”.............................................................................. Page 33 “AIDS Anxiety”................................................................................ Page 35 “The Flute of Interior Time” ............................................................ Page 42 “The Birds of Sorrow”..................................................................... Page 44 “Investiture at Cecconi’s”................................................................ Page 46 “A Certain Light”............................................................................. Page 48 “I Never Knew” ............................................................................... Page 52 “The Second Law”.......................................................................... Page 54 “Perineo” .................................................................................... Page 55 “The Enticing Lane”........................................................................ Page 60 3. Conclusion .................................................................................... Page 63 The death of William Parker........................................................... Page 65 APPENDICES .................................................................................... Page 67 A Permissions to Reprint Poems ................................................. Page 67 iii BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................... Page 78 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .................................................................... Page 80 iv LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: “Fury,” measures 1-3 .............................................................. Page 11 Figure 2: “blues for an imaginary valentine,” measures 1-3 .................. Page 14 Figure 3: “Heartbeats,” measures 1-6 ................................................... Page 17 Figure 4: “Heartbeats,” measures 170-173 ........................................... Page 18 Figure 5: “Heartbeats,” measures 178-180 ........................................... Page 18 Figure 6: “Heartbeats,” measures 26-28 ............................................... Page 19 Figure 7: “A Dream of Nightingales,” measures 1-4 .............................. Page 21 Figure 8: “Walt Whitman in 1989,” measures 1-3 ................................. Page 23 Figure 9: “Walt Whitman in 1989,” measures 31-33 ............................. Page 24 Figure 10: “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measure 1 ....................................... Page 26 Figure 11: “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measures 15-16 .............................. Page 27 Figure 12: “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measure 25 ..................................... Page 28 Figure 13: “Vaslav’s Song,” measures 1-4 ............................................ Page 34 Figure 14: “Vaslav’s Song,” measures 29-32 ........................................ Page 35 Figure 15: “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 5-8 .............................................. Page 40 Figure 16: “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 91-96 .......................................... Page 40 Figure 17: “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 190-192 ...................................... Page 41 Figure 18: “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 306-309 ...................................... Page 42 Figure 19: “The Flute of Interior Time,” measures 11-13 ...................... Page 43 v Figure 20: “The Birds of Sorrow,” measures 38-39 ............................... Page 45 Figure 21: “Investiture at Cecconi’s,” measures 1-4 .............................. Page 47 Figure 22: “Investiture at Cecconi’s,” measures 69-73 .......................... Page 48 Figure 23: “A Certain Light,” measure14 ............................................... Page 51 Figure 24: “I Never Knew,” measures 4-6 ............................................. Page 53 Figure 25: “Perineo,” measures 1-4 ...................................................... Page 59 Figure 26: “The Enticing Lane,” measures 1-5 ...................................... Page 62 vi ABSTRACT This treatise is both a historical and analytical document concerning The AIDS Quilt Songbook. William Parker, an American baritone who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, solicited composers to submit art songs for baritone and piano for a project that would be a musical equivalent to the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The result is a diverse and moving tribute to the victims of AIDS, both living and dead. The author has compiled historical information on The AIDS Quilt Songbook, both from printed resources (newspapers, journals, books) and personal correspondence (letters, interviews, electronic mails). The historical section includes a biography of William Parker, a discussion of the premiere and recording of The AIDS Quilt Songbook, and a discussion of William Parker’s death. In addition, the treatise includes a textual and musical analysis of all eighteen of the originally published songs. vii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BIOGRAPHY “For singers, we are being pretty unvocal about AIDS.”1 This is the guiding statement behind The AIDS Quilt Songbook, William Parker’s artistic and humanitarian legacy. Parker was a renowned American lyric baritone, a singer who was recognized foremost as a gifted recitalist, but whose career also traversed the operatic and concert stages. His international singing career eventually took him far beyond his home town of Butler, Pennsylvania, where he was born in 1944. His first experience with opera occurred at age seventeen, when he was an American Field Service exchange student in Germany.2 Though he was profoundly inspired by the experience, he did not delve into music until his senior year at Princeton University, where he was studying Germanic languages and literature. After graduating from Princeton in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in German poetry, Parker was drafted into the United States Army. He was a member of the Army Chorus until 1970. Upon being discharged from the Army, he won the Baltimore Opera Competition, sponsored by American soprano Rosa Ponselle. Soon after, Parker moved to Europe, where he won honors in the Munich and Toulouse vocal competitions. In the fall of 1971, Parker was offered a contract with the Vienna Volksoper, where he sang for two seasons. From Vienna, Parker regularly commuted to Paris to study with the renowned French baritone, Pierre Bernac. After his two-year engagement with the Vienna Volksoper, Parker moved back to the United States, where he settled in Washington, D.C. and studied with Ponselle. Parker moved to New York in 1976 after winning the Joy in Singing Competition. In 1 Jeffrey Stock, foreword to The AIDS Quilt Songbook, by William Bolcom, et al. (New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1994), iii. 2 John Gingrich, “William Parker: Career Facts,” 30 March 1993, in the possession of the author. 1 1980 Parker won the Kennedy Center-Rockefeller Foundation International Competition for Excellence in the Performance of American Music. It was in this same year that Parker premiered Ned Rorem’s Santa Fe Songs. Highlights of Parker’s operatic career included a highly-acclaimed production of Massenet’s Cendrillon at the