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2005 William Parker and the AIDS Quilt Songbook Kyle Ferrill
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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 New York City Opera and the role of Papageno in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in Vienna. Other operatic engagements included performances with the Pittsburgh, Boston, Washington, D.C., Santa Fe, Baltimore, and Tulsa opera companies. Parker sang with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Detroit Symphony. However, it was on the recital stage that Parker earned his prestige. A staunch supporter of American art song, Mr. Parker featured this genre in concerts in such diverse countries as Canada, England, France, Portugal, Holland, Germany, Iceland, and Russia. Besides performing, Parker was dedicated to teaching voice. He taught at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, for the last decade of his life. Annea Lockwood, one of the contributors to the Songbook, and also the chair of the music department at Vassar during Parker’s tenure there, stated, “We all very much admired his courage, his grace and his powerful determination to create this gift to American music and the gay community. . . . Will was a superb musician and a very fine voice teacher. We mourned him greatly.”3
Infection and action
William Parker was diagnosed with Acquired Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1986.4 His diagnosis came at a time when fear and ignorance ran rampant with regards to the disease’s transmission, treatment, and effects. Millions of people worldwide still contract the disease, but since the time of Parker’s infection, medicines have improved, information about the disease has been disseminated, and treatment is
3 Annea Lockwood, “Re: The AIDS Quilt Songbook,” personal e-mail (24 October 2004). 4 Philip Caggiano, jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook (Harmonia Mundi 907602, 1995), 3.
2 a possibility for patients whose illness is diagnosed early.5 Unfortunately for Parker and countless other victims of his generation, AIDS carried an incredible social stigma in addition to the bleakest of prognoses. As Will Crutchfield stated in 1992, “We have lived with AIDS for a little more than a decade now, and it remains the most incomprehensible of diseases because it is the one that forecloses optimism: the one where you can’t even hold on to a shred of possibility of beating the odds. So far, there are no odds.”6 At the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS was almost exclusively found in the gay community. This fact, combined with nationwide homophobic tendencies, led to the disease being given grisly monikers such as “gay cancer,” “gay plague,” and for a time, “Gay-Related Immuno-Deficiency,” or GRIDS. The challenges to early victims of the disease were manifold: by virtue of their homosexuality, many were outcast from mainstream society, and by virtue of their infection they were often ostracized from their own community. The social stigma was so harsh that openly gay men delayed revealing their illness for as long as possible, sometimes even until their death. As Marie Howe stated, “My own brother, John Howe, made us promise not to tell anyone he was infected with the AIDS virus. ‘Tell everyone after I’m dead,’ he said. ‘Tell everyone then.’”7 As Melvin Dixon, an African-American poet who himself is numbered among the casualties of AIDS, said, “As gay men and lesbians, we are the sexual niggers of our society.”8 In addition to the social ramifications of AIDS, the physical effects are terrible. As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more and more powerful, and the body decays both inside and out. These symptoms include thrush (a condition caused by excess yeast, which causes white patches in and around the mouth), pneumocystis (a
5 This is true in most first-world countries, though the infection rates remain astonishingly high even in America. It is important to note that at the current time, the disease is decimating the population of sub- Saharan Africa. According to the World Health Organization’s website, 60% of the world’s HIV-positive population lives in sub-Saharan Africa. 6 Will Crutchfield, “A Baritone Gives Voice to a Patchwork of Emotions,” New York Times (31 May 1992): 21. 7 Marie Howe, In the Company of My Solitude: American Writings from the AIDS Pandemic (New York: Persea Books, 1995), xv. 8 Melvin Dixon, “I’ll Be Somewhere Listening For My Name,” in In the Company of My Solitude: American Writings from the AIDS Pandemic, ed. Marie Howe and Michael Klein (New York: Persea Books, 1995), 182.
3 severe lung condition), Kaposi sarcoma (spots on the skin), and occasionally blindness and mental illness. The daily struggles of AIDS patients also include night sweats, diarrhea, weight loss, insomnia, and loss of appetite. In the early days of the disease, the available drugs carried with them side effects which were almost as bad as the symptoms themselves. It was precisely this social stigma and physical degradation that Will Parker faced after his diagnosis. As Parker confronted his illness, he realized that his remaining time could be focused on giving artists a voice in the battle against AIDS. As Parker’s sister, Amy Doty, explained, “Will also found hope—not in the form of an immediate cure nor a reprieve from death for himself—but in the opportunity to create something good from this devastation of his life. He felt deeply the loss of his many friends, and fellow artists, and was concerned about the role for singers in this struggle with AIDS.”9 Parker dreamed of a project that would be a diverse platform for a frank discussion of the many facets of AIDS. In the late 1980s, Parker sang in several fund-raisers for AIDS organizations, but was always dissatisfied with the handling of the topic of AIDS. As he recalled in 1992, “They’d say, ‘Well, we’ll do a couple of Schubert songs, some Puccini, a little Mozart, and we’ll all go home.’ But it occurred to me that no one even says the word ‘AIDS’ all night long. . . . The AIDS Quilt Songbook invites people to take risks. Some of the texts are very graphic. They’re about taking medication, being sick, throwing up, having to take it over again, the night sweats—the horror of the number of diseases that exist. We’re not sugar-coating it and saying, ‘Well, we’re just having a little difficulty.’ We must show some of the rough sides. After all, most songs are about crucial times in our lives—someone has died, someone has left you, you’ve inherited a lot of money, the boy’s gotten the girl. So why can’t we sing about AIDS?”10 It was with precisely this reasoning that Parker moved forward with his idea, requesting songs from composers in personal letters. William Sharp, one of the baritones who sang at the Songbook’s premiere, explained the process: “He realized that his fatal illness put him in a position of power; who among the composers or performers could possibly refuse to comply with his request? Willing as we all might
9 Amy Doty, jacket notes to Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook (Innova 500, 1995). 10 Parker, as quoted in Kellow, “Art in the Age of AIDS,” Opera News 56 (June 1992): 42-3.
4 have been in any case, we were in fact quite compelled by his circumstances, and I look back on that as beautiful and enchanting.”11 The composers who were invited to contribute represented a wide range of the musical spectrum: masters of the art song genre such as Ned Rorem and Lee Hoiby; established composers in other genres such as John Adams and John Corigliano; young composers just establishing themselves in song, such as John Musto and Chris DeBlasio; and instrumentalists such as Fred Hersch and David Krakauer. In fact, variety is an essential element of not only the music, but also the poetry. In some cases, Parker suggested a poem for the composer to set, while in others he left the choice of poem open to the composer. Eight of the poems in the cycle come from the same source, a book called Poets for Life: Seventy- six Poets Respond to AIDS. Published in 1989, this book garnered widespread literary praise for blowing open the discussion of AIDS in the literary world. Having served this purpose in the literary world, it was an obvious source for Parker’s project. Parker was pleased by the number of composers who agreed to contribute to the project: “I had worked with a lot of these composers, so I had a connection. But I was still moved by how eager they were to say yes. I have tapped an amazing vein of generosity here.”12 Not all of the composers who were invited to contribute offered songs for the project. John Adams, renowned for his contributions to the operatic repertory, did not participate in the project because he does not write for voice and piano. Conrad Susa offered to set an Allen Ginsberg poem from Poets for Life entitled “Sphincter,” but Parker decided that the content of the poem was too graphic for the event.13 John Corigliano, whose first symphony was inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, was delayed in writing his entry, and missed the deadline for the premiere performance. In his memoir Lies: A Diary 1986-1999, Ned Rorem recalls his first cognizance of Parker’s illness: Will Parker has AIDS. He sent this news (not entirely unexpected) in a long hand-written note. Wants me & others (Hoiby, Adams, Harbison, Argento, Hundley) to write songs “about AIDS” for him to sing in a fund-raising (for AIDS)
11 William Sharp, “Re: A Few Questions,” personal e-mail (9 December 2004). 12 William Parker, as quoted in Crutchfield, “A Baritone Gives Voice,” 21. 13 Philip Caggiano, interview by author, 16 November 2004, New York City.
5 recital. Macabre.14
Rorem’s tepid response to Parker’s letter suggests his reaction to the deluge of illness and death experienced by those in the artistic community in the early 1990s. Perhaps no loss could ever be as profound to Rorem as the death of his partner, Jim Holmes.15 Despite his reticence, and his reaction to the project as “macabre,” Rorem contributed to The AIDS Quilt Songbook. His entry, “A Dream of Nightingales,” is a disarmingly lovely recollection of the simple domesticity of a couple’s life before the disease. As several of the composers revealed in their correspondence, the music world was rapidly losing promising young performers and composers. As John Musto said, “These were the days before cocktails [combination drug therapies] and protease inhibitors. The symptoms would progress with numbing predictability. . . . We spent much of the 80s in hospitals or at bedsides.”16 Parker invited three renowned baritones to join him in singing the premiere of The AIDS Quilt Songbook: William Sharp, winner of the 1987 Carnegie Hall International Music Competition, and specialist in Baroque music and American contemporary art song; Kurt Ollmann, an active performer both in musical theater and modern opera; and Sanford Sylvan, noted recitalist and contemporary vocal music maven.
The premiere and publication of The AIDS Quilt Songbook
Parker was very concerned about the delivery of the message, and did not want the Songbook to come across as maudlin. “It’s getting closer and closer to everybody, and we’d better start looking at it. But you constantly run up against the problem of pushing the audience’s nose into something it doesn’t want to see.”17 Though the entire artistic community felt the loss of colleagues, there was, to Parker’s way of thinking, a disappointingly tacit response where there might have been vocal activism. As Parker
14 Ned Rorem, Lies: A Diary 1986-1999 (Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2000), 216. 15 In Rorem’s Lies, he writes: “Jim lives in a self-contained hell, a bubble of pain that floats from room to room of the otherwise ‘normal’ house.” 16 John Musto, “AIDS Quilt Songbook,” personal e-mail (19 October 2004). 17 William Parker, as quoted in Kellow: “Art in the Age of AIDS,” 42.
6 put it, “After all, you wouldn’t run into a burning building unless you were a fireman or it was your kid on the second floor. . . . Unless it’s your brother or your lover, leave it to the health-care professionals. People just don’t want to know; they don’t want to look any farther than the obituaries.”18 The premiere, which was presented as a co-production of John Gingrich Management and Meet the Composer (an organization which supports contemporary music), took place at Alice Tully Hall in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center on June 4, 1992. The grandeur of the event was enhanced by the presence of most of the composers. Many of the composers accompanied their own works at the piano. David Krakauer, who contributed “The 80s Miracle Diet,” accompanied this piece and Annea Lockwood’s “For Richard” on the clarinet. Many of the poets whose texts were set in the Songbook were in attendance as well, and a few of them read their poems before the songs were performed. At the conclusion of the recital, the four baritones performed the “Nachspiel (In Memoriam)” movement (in which the singers only hum) from Leonard Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles. Philip Caggiano recalls Parker making the following dedication before the encore: “Of all the composers of our lifetime, the one whose spirit hovers over this hall and all of Lincoln Center is Leonard Bernstein. This one’s for you.” During the many curtain calls, the other three baritones honored Parker by leaving the stage, allowing him to absorb by himself the gratitude of those who recognized the gravity of this memorial to AIDS sufferers, both alive and dead.19 The premiere itself was an overwhelming triumph for William Parker. William Sharp described the atmosphere of the premiere, and Parker’s emotional reaction to the successful evening: “Will was absolutely glowing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone so happy. It seemed to be literally sustaining his life. When he addressed the audience, one wanted him to be able to stand in that bright, warm light with his performers on stage, his family, friends and fans in the house, and speak forever.”20 The day after the premiere, the four baritones and the many pianists who performed in the premiere gathered at The Academy of Arts and Letters in Manhattan to
18 Ibid. 19 Caggiano, interview by author. 20 Sharp, “Re: A Few Questions.”
7 record the Songbook. Parker, who had been feeling sick on the day of the concert, was understandably exhausted from the festivities surrounding the premiere. As it turned out, he was too sick to sing some of his songs, and for that reason the following three songs, which Parker performed at the premiere, do not appear on the recording: Richard Wilson’s “The Second Law,” Libby Larsen’s “Perineo,” and Steven Houtz’s “The Enticing Lane.”21 The published version of the Songbook (which Boosey and Hawkes released in 1993) contains eighteen songs, but the people who were involved in its inception take a broader view of the project. According to Philip Caggiano, Parker’s publicist, the Songbook was created to mirror the AIDS Memorial Quilt itself: a never-ending work whose meaning and spirit is renewed and redefined with every addition. William Sharp reported that he still receives songs in the mail from time to time, with the instructions to “add it to the Songbook.”22 Caggiano adds, “My hope was that when we did it again there would be songs about women, about living, about optimism.”23 Parker was hopeful that the Songbook would continue to grow, saying, “it could be arranged for a mixture of voices, and as it grows, it could be performed in excerpts and selections. And it will invite even more styles.”24 Indeed, a second recording was released, entitled Heartbeats: New Songs for the AIDS Quilt Songbook from Minnesota, which begins to break the “baritone and piano” mold: Carolyn Jennings provided a duet for soprano and baritone entitled “The Loons”; Aaron Jay Kernis wrote “Blue Animals” for bass voice and chamber orchestra; and Janika Vandervelde penned “Positive Women: Susan” for narrator, female chorus, and violin. All of the proceeds from both recordings benefit AIDS organizations. Since the release of Heartbeats in 1995, there has not been another formal addition to The AIDS Quilt Songbook. However, the pieces continue to be programmed, either as a whole set or in excerpted form. Before Boosey & Hawkes published the score, the pieces existed only in manuscript form, and were therefore difficult to disseminate to interested parties. Philip Caggiano reported that he received
21 All three of these songs appear on the later release, entitled Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook (Innova 500, 1995). 22 Sharp, “Re: A Few Questions.” 23 Caggiano, interview by author. 24 Crutchfield, “A Baritone Gives Voice,” 21.
8 many calls, mostly from young baritones in college, who were curious about performing the songs. However, with the release of the published score, this problem was solved and this living musical memorial became available worldwide.
9
CHAPTER 2
ANALYSIS OF SONGS
FURY
Text by Susan Snively (b. 1945) Music by Donald Wheelock (b. 1940); written November 4-13, 1992; from a cycle of four songs entitled Shadows, all with texts by Susan Snively
Range: G#2-F#4 Tessitura: G3-C4
I have a poisoned hand, I have a bitter voice. I look death in the face. I have no choice.
And when death looks on me, its hollow eye and frown makes light leap in my eye to stare him down.
Then I may reach and touch so many faces, all with eyes made bright with grief. We beat the wall, engrave our anger there, the fury of many fists. No longer secret war cries out. Resist.
Before it is too late, before the privileged men find reasons to deny what we have been, 10 open your minds and see, open your souls and know the message that our eyes can’t help but show: these are your eyes, unveiled, these are your quickening years, unransomed by your pain, unbought by tears.
The opening song of The AIDS Quilt Songbook, both as it was premiered, and as it was published, is Donald Wheelock’s “Fury.” This song was among a handful of the earliest entries to the Songbook, and Will Parker performed it before the entire Songbook was premiered. For someone like Parker, who was frustrated by the oblique nature of prior AIDS fundraisers, such a direct and powerful poem was very appealing. Indeed, the very concept behind a project such as the The AIDS Quilt Songbook is contained within these lines from the song: “Open your minds and see, / open your souls and know / the message that our eyes / can’t help but show.” “Fury” is among the songs that Parker sang at the premiere and on the recording, and his direct delivery of this very frank text ranks with the most effective moments in the Songbook. The song begins with the central motive of the piece: an incessant sixteenth-note triplet pattern set against throbbing bass notes (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. “Fury,” measures 1-3
11 This ostinato is the source of energy for the piece, featuring “Schubertian harmonies [that] create an atmosphere at once urgent and timeless.”1 Set in stark relief to this simmering accompaniment is a vocal line which faithfully follows the rhythmic contours of speech. The harmonies gradually expand and contract measure by measure, providing a backdrop for the ebbing and flowing of the poetic emotion. Wheelock plumbs the low registers of the piano for the climax points, such as “eyes made bright with grief” and “the fury of many fists,” at which point the accented left-hand pattern is repeated down an octave, like a musical jab. At the piece’s grandest climax, “Open your minds and see,” Wheelock halts the piano part, and the singer delivers the text in a leaping triplet pattern marked at a fortississimo dynamic level. Wheelock repeats the first stanza, and he even fragments the last line, repeating yet again the line “I have no choice.” The postlude, marked doppio lento2, maintains the triplet motive from the song’s opening, but the mood shifts from urgency to timelessness, as though the weighty reality of the poem has finally sunk in. blues for an imaginary valentine
Text and music by Fred Hersch (b. 1955); dedicated “In honor of William Parker and in memory of John Groom” and dated “2/14/92”
Range: A2-E$4 Tessitura: F3-C4
how ironic that I should be the one to go before you how ironic
for years I read the many notices dreamt of being survived by my longtime companion not facing this alone
how ironic now that I know love and have found feelings long buried
1 Jeffrey Stock, jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook (Harmonia Mundi 907602, 1994), 6. 2 “Twice as slow” 12 and strength unknown I know the greater love is to survive not to abandon you but to be abandoned how ironic through loss we discover true love now I grieve not for myself but for you whom I leave behind and for you who must face death alone
Both the words and the music of this song were written by jazz pianist Fred Hersch. For many years, Hersch has been an active fund-raiser in the fight against AIDS. In addition to his participation in The AIDS Quilt Songbook, he has produced and played on four albums for such relief agencies as Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. One of these releases, entitled “Last Night When We Were Young: The Ballad Album,” raised over $150,000 for AIDS services and education. Hersch’s devotion to the cause of AIDS awareness is made especially poignant by the fact that he has been fighting HIV (Human Immunodifficiency Virus) since 1987. Though Hersch has made his name as a pianist and composer primarily in the world of jazz, his classical training and influences are always apparent. “blues for an imaginary valentine” is a product of both sound worlds: it features a mixture of smoothly dissonant jazz chords and lilting swing feel with a sophisticated treatment of the text in long, arching vocal lines befitting the finest art song. The piece opens with a syncopated rhythmic gesture that recurs throughout the song (Fig. 2).
13
Fig. 2. “blues for an imaginary valentine,” measures 1-3
The vocal line, marked “warmly and simply,” employs natural declamation, and maintains a casual atmosphere with a low tessitura in the baritonal speaking range. Hersch also maintains the vocal line’s conversational tone by using quarter-note triplets and dotted rhythms to match the natural delivery of speech. Also worthy of mention is the setting of the song’s climax: Hersch utilizes lush harmonies and an enthralling accelerando as the singer says “I know the greater love / is to survive / Not to abandon you / but to be abandoned.” It is an uncommon experience to find a composer who does not specialize in art song set text with such sensitivity, and to hear the influence of jazz in an art song. The result is an intensely personal self-revelation, and a hauntingly beautiful song.
HEARTBEATS
Text by Melvin Dixon (1950-1992) Music by John Musto (b. 1954)
Range: B$2-G4 Tessitura: G3-D$4
Work out. Ten laps. Chin ups. Look good.
14 Steam room. Dress warm. Call home. Fresh air.
Eat right. Rest well. Sweetheart. Safe sex.
Sore throat. Long flu. Hard nodes. Beware.
Test blood. Count cells. Reds thin. Whites low.
Dress warm. Eat well. Short breath. Fatigue.
Night sweat. Dry cough. Loose stools. Weight loss.
Get mad. Fight back. Call home. Rest well.
Don’t cry. Take charge. No sex. Eat right.
Call home. Talk slow. Chin up. No air.
Arms wide. Nodes hard. Cough dry. Hold on.
Mouth wide. Drink this. Breathe in. Breathe out.
No air. Breathe in. Breathe in. No air.
Blackout. White rooms. Head hot. Feet cold.
No work. Eat right. CAT scan. Chin up.
Breathe in. Breathe out. No air. No air.
Thin blood. Sore lungs. 15 Mouth dry. Mind gone.
Six months? Three weeks? Can’t eat. No air. Today? Tonight? It waits. For me.
Sweet heart. Don’t stop. Breathe in. Breathe out.
This unusual poem is a series of two-word phrases that follows the progression of the life of someone afflicted with the AIDS virus. It is the most direct poem of the Songbook, and it provides Musto’s setting with crispness, immediacy, and emotional weight. The poet, Melvin Dixon, died of AIDS, but the writing of this poem predated his infection. This was one of three poems Dixon contributed to the poetry collection Poets for Life: Seventy-Six Poets Respond to AIDS (the others include “The 80s Miracle Diet,” set in the Songbook by David Krakauer, and “One by One”). Speaking of these AIDS poems, Dixon said, “I was responding in part to my sense of isolation and helplessness as friends of mine fell ill.”3 This powerful, raw text reveals Dixon’s familiarity with the disease and his empathy for the afflicted. As the infected person sinks into the depths of the illness, the poetic affect remains rather disconnected while the music takes on a more desperate and frantic tone. Dixon uses repetition of some poignant phrases (“sweetheart,” “breathe in”) for emphasis. When William Parker contacted John Musto about contributing a song, Musto happily agreed. In fact, Musto was instrumental in procuring the recording studio in which the compact disc was made, and he also put Parker in contact with many of the people who helped make the Songbook and its premiere possible. However, in terms of the composition of the song, progress was slow: “For all my involvement in the workings of the project, I wasn’t coming up with a song. I read and re-read Poets for Life several times, and though I found the poems very striking, I couldn’t settle on one that worked for me. They were too much like prose, the lines too long, and lacking a tensile strength that comes with rhyme. The one I kept going back to was Melvin Dixon’s ‘Heartbeats.’ This poem has hardly any words at all, and I didn’t know if it
3 Melvin Dixon, “I’ll Be Somewhere Listening,” 185. 16 would support a musical setting.”4 Despite his doubts, Musto went forward with the composition of the song, and the resultant work is one of the strongest entries in the Songbook. As is common in several of the songs in The AIDS Quilt Songbook, the poet attacks the subject with abandon. Dixon reveals the grotesque truth about the day-to- day realities of the disease, saying at different points “hard nodes,” “loose stools,” “blackout,” and “can’t eat.” As John Musto stated, the poem “chronicles illness and decline, but the song, through its allusion, expands the circle to include those who care, and care for, but are powerless to help.”5 Musto creates a suspenseful and restless atmosphere by setting the piece in 5/8. He also uses rhythmic and melodic motives to give the different sections of the piece a definable character. For instance, the syncopated eighth-note gesture in 5/8 at the beginning (Fig. 3) gives way to a sweeping chromatic sixteenth-note device at the line “Test blood / Count cells.”
Fig. 3. “Heartbeats,” measures 1-6
Other striking motives include the harsh major and minor second sixteenth-note patterns at “Mouth wide / Drink this” and the identical melodic lines in the piano at “Thin blood / Sore lungs” which are offset rhythmically in a style reminiscent of Schumann, but with an affect that suggests despair (Fig. 4).
4 John Musto, “Re: The AIDS Quilt Songbook,” personal e-mail (9 October 2003). 5 Ibid. 17
Fig. 4. “Heartbeats,” measures 170-173
At the song’s climax (“Six months / “Three weeks”) the accompaniment shifts to a vigorous, accented pounding which suggests the desperate heartbeat (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5. “Heartbeats,” measures 178-180
One of the more striking features of the song is a quotation of the Stabat Mater chant, which, as the composer notes, is sung piecemeal throughout the Catholic procession through the Stations of the Cross. Musto’s dissonant setting of the Stabat
18 Mater (Fig. 6) draws a parallel between the pain of Christ’s slow, agonizing death and that of the victims of AIDS. As the composer stated, “although a passionate heathen now, I still harbor profound associations with the Roman [Catholic] tradition.”6
Fig. 6. “Heartbeats,” measures 26-28
The vocal line employs several poignant gestures: range extremes and glissandi illustrate the poet’s struggles, while vocal melismas echoed by the piano show the weakened patient’s desperation as the song progresses. From the pianistic standpoint, several motives emerge. Octave doubling is commonly employed between the left and right hands. This amplifies and strengthens the crawling, vining atmosphere created by incessant chromaticism. Also on display is Musto’s incisive use of shifting meters; these rhythmic devices underline the textual uncertainty and match the musical texture Musto began working on the song after Parker contacted him in 1991. As with most people in artistic circles in that time, Musto’s life had been deeply impacted by AIDS. Speaking of himself and his wife, soprano Amy Burton, Musto said, “half of our circle of friends died throughout the 80s and early 90s.”7 One such victim was Dennis Ward, a pianist who died in his mid-twenties. As Musto wrote, “He moved back in with his parents on Long Island for his mother to care for him. We got to the hospital moments after he died, and his mother, who was watching the heart monitor, kept
6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 19 saying, ‘The number just changed to zero, the number changed to zero.’ This, and the almost ritualistic nature of the symptoms, became my way into the poem.”8 Musto finished the song only two weeks before the performance. William Sharp sang it at the premiere and on the recording, with the composer at the piano.
A DREAM OF NIGHTINGALES
Text by David Bergman (b. 1950); inscribed “In memory of Jerry Thompson” Music by Ned Rorem (b. 1923); inscribed “NYC 31 Jan. 1992” with the note “Transposed one step down from the original key”
Range: A2-E4 Tessitura: F3-C4
The Friday before your funeral I taught Keats to my sophomore class. Little did they care for the truth of beauty or the grace of truth, but his being “half in love with easeful death” penetrated through the smugness of their youth, and I thought of you drawing me to the rear window one early spring to hear in rapture a bird hidden among the flowering pear.
You held your cat tight so that he could not scare off such music as hadn’t been heard all winter. When you flew south to escape the arctic blast and home again heard that dark-winged creature sing, tell me, did he then reveal himself at last as you believed he’d be – pure and beckoning?
The song begins with the central motive of the piece: a high-pitched bird call which foreshadows the central “character” in the poem (Fig. 7).
8 Ibid. 20
Fig. 7. “A Dream of Nightingales,” measures 1-4
Rorem creates a plaintive atmosphere in the vocal line by setting sections of text to a repetitive, loosely pentatonic pitch set. After the first several lines of text are delivered in a simple, conversational manner, Rorem employs a sweeping, passionate vocal line as the speaker recalls his departed lover (“and I thought of you”). At the close of the first stanza, the incessant bird call motive ceases, and the second section opens in a melismatic fashion. The flowing vocal lines are paired with lyrical counter-melodies in the piano, and the lush harmonies grow richer as the poem reaches its climax at the line “and home again heard that dark-winged creature sing.” The most intimate moment follows the climax, as the speaker questions his departed lover. Rorem simplifies the texture, setting this quasi-recitative with an elegant progression of half-note chords. For the last line, the bird call motive is set in minor ninths, giving the ending of the piece a twinge of dissonance. The song is especially effective because of its beguiling simplicity. The vivid imagery of the poem (“a bird hidden among the flowering pear,” “You held your cat tight so that he could not scare / off such music as hadn’t been heard all winter”) is strengthened by Rorem’s effective use of the two strong musical devices discussed earlier. As is common in his music, Rorem is specific with tempo, dynamic, and expressive markings. At both the premier and in the recording session for the compact disc release of the Songbook, Ned Rorem himself accompanied the baritone Kurt Ollmann. 21
WALT WHITMAN IN 1989
Text by Perry Brass (b.1947); Inscribed: “Sept. 18, 1989 Orangeburg, New York; for a generation taken by our war.” From Sex-charge, Belhue Press Music by Chris DeBlasio (1959-1993); inscribed “To Steven VeShancey”
Range: A2-F4 Tessitura: F3-B$3
Walt Whitman has come down today to the hospital room; he rocks back and forth in the crisis; he says it’s good we haven’t lost our closeness, and cries as each one is taken.
He has written many lines about these years; the disfigurement of young men and the wars of hard tongues and closed minds. The body in pain will bear such nobility, but words have the edge of poison when spoken bitterly. Now he takes a dying man in his arms and tells him how deeply flows the River that takes the old man and his friends this evening. It is the River of dusk and lamentation. “Flow,” Walt says, “dear River, I will carry this young man to your bank. I’ll put him myself on one of your strong, flat boats, and we’ll sail together all the way through evening.”
The story of Chris DeBlasio is one of the more heartbreaking sidebars to The 22 AIDS Quilt Songbook. DeBlasio died in 1993 at the age of thirty-four. As his partner William Berger noted, he was “an extraordinary composer just on the brink of making a remarkable name for himself in the somewhat rarefied world of contemporary classical music.”9 After experimentations with atonality and edgy performance art songs, DeBlasio settled into a more traditional tonal compositional idiom. As Berger stated, “There’s nothing more transparent than atonal music written by someone who, deep down, would rather be writing catchy show tunes.”10 Though “Walt Whitman in 1989” is certainly not a show tune, it is grounded in tonality and is notable within this collection as one of the most conventionally beautiful and lyrical selections. The text draws the parallel of “the disfigurement of young men and the wars / of hard tongues and closed minds” between Whitman’s literary reaction to the Civil War and how he might react to the AIDS epidemic. The poem imagines Whitman’s humanist reactions to the horrors of the cultural war surrounding the AIDS epidemic. The second half of the poem imagines Whitman comforting a dying man and praying for peace for the man. DeBlasio’s musical setting opens with a recitative section in which the premise is introduced. The predominant accompaniment motive is a descending figure that sets a serene, otherworldly atmosphere (Fig. 8). The accompaniment here is spare, providing transparent support for the text.
Fig. 8. “Walt Whitman in 1989,” measures 1-3
9 William Berger, “Chris DeBlasio,” in Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS, ed. Edmund White (Madison, Wisconsin: Univ. of Wisconsin, 2001), 152. 10 Ibid. 23
After the recitative comes the lyrical section of the song, in which “Whitman” comforts the dying man. DeBlasio sets this text in an expansive 4/2 meter with an undulating open-chord motive in the right hand and the tolling of gong-like octaves in the left hand (Fig. 9).
Fig. 9. “Walt Whitman in 1989,” measures 31-33
Subtle changes in harmony maintain forward motion without disturbing the serenity and beauty of the scene. The song ends after a repetition of the last words and of the final harmony.
THE 80s MIRACLE DIET
Text by Melvin Dixon (1950-1992) Music by David Krakauer (b. 1959)
Range: A2-F4 Tessitura: G3-C4
24 Yours free without the asking Quick delivery via overnight male, Special Handling, or ten-year incubation. How I Lost 40 Pounds in Two Weeks
Cocktails of Perrier with a twist of AZT, Bactrim broiled with bacon bits Egg lipid quiche for brunch. Our tongues ablaze on toast points in a soundless howl. The most talented minds, the best bodies of my generation going up in smoke.
Act now. Dial 1-800-I-GOT-IT-2. Our operators are standing by. I have photographs to prove it: Before and After and Passed Away.
This song features the dark humor of poet Melvin Dixon, who himself succumbed to the AIDS virus at the age of 42. David Krakauer, a New York City-based klezmer clarinetist, performed a version of this piece for baritone and clarinet at the premiere of The AIDS Quilt Songbook. More than a year later, Krakauer submitted for publication a version scored for baritone and prepared piano.11 Though the versions differ due to the inherent capabilities of the instruments, the same kind of effects are attempted in both versions. Krakauer uses string-muting, vast cluster chords, and harmonics to illustrate the sardonically bitter text. The effects created by the piano are alternately violent and atmospheric. The vocalist is variously asked to imitate a radio announcer, a “Tom Jones” style lounge singer, and an “infomercial” salesman. In the midst of these pseudo-comical effects lies the true tragedy of AIDS, as stated by the poet Melvin Dixon. Just prior to the bombastic climax of the piece come the following lines: “The most talented minds, the best bodies of my generation, going up in smoke.” It is this mix of dark humor and poignant observation that makes “The 80s Miracle Diet” a disconcerting glimpse at a society at odds with a disease. The version for baritone and piano opens with the title of the poem, spoken with
11 The following note concerning the preparation of the piano is given in the score: “The piano is to be prepared with a metal coat hanger placed on the strings approximately within the following range [C# below middle C to C# above middle C]. It should be secured, otherwise it will slip under the dampers.” 25 the direction “like a radio or T.V. announcer.” This is followed by a deafening palm tremolo in the upper register of the piano (Fig. 10). The entire first stanza is spoken, interrupted by this same cluster chord, and punctuated with accented low As, the lowest note on a standard piano keyboard.
Fig. 10. “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measure 1
Following the line “How I Lost Forty Pounds in Two Weeks,” the musical motive shifts to a figure which Krakauer marks “cadenza like—freely.” The repeated gesture builds in intensity, eventually leading to a fortississimo low A, which ushers in a new musical idea. The next section, with the direction “strings muted, like a jazz bass solo,” is decidedly lighter in mood. The sardonic text, “Cocktails of Perrier with a twist of AZT” is sung in the style of a “Tom Jones/Vegas Singer,” with the last note of the phrase delivered in what the composer calls a “falsetto rip,” a “glissando or rip to the highest falsetto note possible.” Krakauer next directs the pianist to sustain the trilled low D while creating harmonics “by sliding [a] finger along the B$ string.” This eerie sound, which mixes the faint suggestion of harmony with the violent scraping of the pianist’s finger nail, is the accompaniment for the four lines of poetry that follow (Fig. 11).
26
Fig. 11. “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measures 15-16
The vocal line begins low in the baritone register, and slowly rises in both intensity and pitch, delivering the text in vining, chromatic gestures. The pianist is instructed to “vary dynamics” in the section, and to “interact with the voice.” The section culminates in the climactic line “the best bodies of my generation going up in smoke,” the last note of which is a fortissimo high F. The singer is instructed to “let the note break,” while the pianist is to sing the same high F “into the piano—like a siren.” The piano harmonics build in intensity until they are interrupted by mammoth cluster chords; the marking “ƒƒƒ!!!” suggests the violence with which they are to be played (Fig. 12).
27
Fig. 12. “The 80s Miracle Diet,” measure 25
Following several alternations between the cluster chords and the pianist’s siren comes what Krakauer labels the “hard sell”; over the decaying sound of the cluster chords and the still-resonating echoes of the pianist’s siren, the singer speaks the text “ACT NOW! DIAL 1-800-I-GOT-IT-2.” The last agonizing lines of poetry are alternated with a recurrence of the piano harmonics, and the song ends. The major differences between the piano and clarinet versions of “The 80s Miracle Diet” lie in the use of violence and dissonance. The piano version is filled with cluster chords, violent accents, and rapid shifts of dynamics. The clarinet version starts with a melodic line which sounds somewhat like a street musician playing jazz. The result of this stylistic difference is a lighter mood in the first half of the clarinet version. Also, through shrill tone and slight bending of pitch in the high registers, the clarinet creates a more dramatic and jarring effect at the song’s climax. Here the effects are completely different: the shocking explosion of sound in the piano clusters is replaced by the piercing and strident sound of a clarinet playing long, repeated high Bs. The end of the piece is also handled differently in the clarinet version. Whereas the piano version returns to the harmonics section for the closing stanza, the clarinet returns to the opening melodic line, and the repeat of the last textual line is omitted.
28 FOR RICHARD
Text by Eve Ensler (b. 1953); from Poets for Life (Crown, 1989) Music by Annea Lockwood (b. 1939); inscribed “dedicated to William Parker
Range: A2-E$4 Tessitura: A$3-C4
Your tears come to you now at once like hungry dogs. The world’s on fire. They keep taking away your future like your driver’s license. They don’t want you back on the road. Statistics: live barbed wire around your genitals. And you, who no longer separate the red heart from the breaking one, you, whose living they can’t explain you grow unmistakeably solidly round like Buddha.
Annea Lockwood’s setting of Eve Ensler’s poem “For Richard” is unique within The AIDS Quilt Songbook as the only song to make extensive use of sprechgesang and other exaggerations of speech.12 Ensler, better known as the author of The Vagina Monologues, writes in a terse, direct style, and has made her reputation by writing frankly and openly about taboo issues. For both the premier and the recording, this song was performed in a version for baritone and clarinet. For the publication of the Songbook, Lockwood produced an arrangement for baritone and piano, which she deems as inferior to the original.13 The clarinet version centers around a droning E$, which the performer sustains
12 Literally “speech-singing,” a term used to describe exaggerated speech effects in vocal music. 13 Annea Lockwood, “The AIDS Quilt Songbook,” personal e-mail (24 October 2004). 29 by utilizing circular breathing. As the composer stated, “I conceived of his E$ as coming towards the listener from a great distance, and, like the emerging ‘solidly round’ Buddha, becoming fuller and richer as the song progresses, becoming whole.”14 It is this concept of “becoming whole” that distinguishes this song from others in this collection; many of the songs describe the downward spiral of the illness, with the protagonists either dying, consoling the dying, or remembering the dead. This poem, however, focuses on the spiritual ascent of a dying body—it is the “becoming whole,” or “growing round,” of a spirit whose flesh has been condemned to die. Lockwood depicts this ascension into spiritual harmony by allowing the vocal line to finally rest in unison with the sustained clarinet note at the end of the song.
FAIRY BOOK LINES
Text by Charles Barber (1962-1992); from Unending Dialogue: Voices from an AIDS Poetry Workshop Music by Donald St. Pierre
Range: B$2-G$4 Tessitura: F3-B$3
Death be nimble – life was quick Efficiency’s a modern trope To be expected with impatience Not less when bearing death Or a low-burning illness slow as memory. Though death’s old-fashioned and enters the room Like “Sonnambula,” bearing a burning candlestick.
Double, double toil and trouble; Triple sadness, endless sorrow:
14 Ibid. 30 Like friends sitting too long by the hospital bed— Like the T.V. watching you with paralyzing glare; While the night-nurses in soft-soled shoes Wheel in the confections to ensure your misery Will last a long tomorrow.
The world’s so full of a number of things Now never to be savored Never to fire a subordinate employee Destroy a marriage position an M1A1 tank On desert children. Marveling at such achievements is a sure way To gladly sacrifice a number of things The world has always favored.
Poor old Charlie, he swallowed a fly; The fly was drunk with M.A.I. Buzzed here buzzed there Till a well-seasoned fever stitched in hues Of delirium-like gold, cooked in a broth Of bacterium stock, festering with forgotten dreams, Took hold—took him—took life.
Twinkle twinkle eyes in pain; Retinitis makes its awful gain. Eyesight’s a form of breathing --like glass Full and rich with freedom. Now a bag slides over the head 31 too bad! So long to the world So long desired: darkness sucks you down its drain.
Fly away, fly away over the sea, Sun-loving sick boy, for summer is done. First the pneumonia, canceling the lung, Followed by a possible list of viral, bacterial, parasitical, And let us not forget fungal, The slow-covering growth, so like nature, Slowly returning the body to earth, adrift in underground.
The effectiveness of Donald St. Pierre’s “Fairy Book Lines” is sabotaged by the verbose nature of the poem: the poem itself reads not as a linear progression of thoughts, but rather as random thoughts about illness and dying. The poem also includes several cumbersome and rambling lines that resist musical setting, such as “Efficiency’s a modern trope / to be expected with impatience / not less when bearing death / or a lowburning illness / slow as memory.” As for the “fairy book lines” included in the poem, St. Pierre sets them as one would expect: “death be nimble, life was quick” and “poor old Charlie, he swallowed a fly” are set with a sing-song lilt, while “twinkle, twinkle eyes in pain” closely resembles Mozart’s famous melody from “Eine kleine Nachtmusik.” “Double, double, toil and trouble” is curiously included, though the allusion is to Shakespeare, and not of folk or “fairy tale” origin at all. The accompaniment of this song is largely structured on two prevailing motives: the recurring use of harmonic major second intervals, and the syncopation of the quarter-note/half-note/quarter-note rhythm. The meandering vocal line, which never truly establishes a recognizable melody, moves steadily through the long poem, pausing for a dramatic interjection for solo piano. The violence of the piano interlude is an apt response to the lines “So long to the world / so long desired: / darkness sucks you down its drain.” “Fairy Book Lines” is one of the weakest contributions to The AIDS Quilt 32 Songbook, as it never rises above the random patter of the awkward lyrics. Unfortunately, the musical motives employed by St. Pierre are simply not distinctive or strong enough to unify the song through the meandering and shifting poem.
VASLAV’S SONG
Text by Ethyl Eichelberger (1945-1990) Music by William Bolcom (b. 1938); inscribed “for Will Parker”
Range: G2-F#4 Tessitura: E3-A3
Dasvedanya, Mama My lover and my friend I’ll cherish your sweet memory Until I reach the end Of this strange life I’m leading I know I’ve been a beast But when I’m gone it’s famine And when I’m here it’s feast (ha-ha)
You nursed me as a baby You cursed me as a child Now I’m grown up No more a pup—so Of course I turned out wild
Dasvedanya, Mama Good-bye, good-bye, good-bye If by accident I think of you Well maybe then I’ll cry (ha-ha)
“Vaslav’s Song” is among the most emotionally raw pieces in the Songbook. It embodies the solitude and disenfranchisement of many gay men who became infected with HIV/AIDS. The author solicited comments from Mr. Bolcom about the song, asking for any insight into his relationship with Parker, his relationship with the poet, Ethyl Eichelberger, and his inspiration to write this particular song. Speaking for both himself and his wife, singer Joan Morris, Bolcom wrote: We knew both of them. Ethyl [a transvestite born with the name James] was a close friend and member of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company, a landmark alternative theater group; also he had several 33 premieres of his/her own plays in small spaces in the Village during the explosion of gay theater. . . . When AIDS became too painful he committed suicide. DASVEDANYA MAMA was his last play, from which this song was extracted. Ellen Stewart of the LaMama theatrical troupe had a memorial for Ethyl, at which we met all his strict Mennonite family from Pennsylvania, who all loved him and were not judgmental. They all looked exactly like Ethyl, with the same exaggerated features. Bill [Parker] and we were among the first two concert acts to open the just-refurbished Weill Hall (before, it was Carnegie Recital Hall). He'd asked for the song for a recital he was planning for Tully Hall, and of course he was too weak to sing it when the time came. Both were great losses and wonderful people. When I think of the many friends I have lost to the plague it horrifies me still.15
Bolcom’s setting of this incredibly raw poem is appropriately spare, with a repetitive four-chord ostinato (Fig. 13) underlying the speech-like setting of the text. The vocal line bears the marking “lightly as possible; like a jazzy folksong,” suggesting an easy and relaxed delivery at the beginning.
Fig. 13. “Vaslav’s Song,” measures 1-4
The middle section of the song rises in intensity, as the singer says “You nursed me as a baby / You cursed me as a child / Now I’m grown up, no more a pup / So of course I turned out wild.” This last line is accompanied by a violent ragtime figure which
15 William Bolcom, “Vaslav’s Song,” personal e-mail (9 October 2003). 34 descends from the upper register of the piano and eventually melds into the opening ostinato (Fig. 14).
Fig. 14. “Vaslav’s Song,” measures 29-32
For the denouement of the poem, where the “Dasvedanya, Mama” text returns, Bolcom drops the vocal tessitura to illustrate the bitter acceptance of the protagonist’s maternal relationship. Three utterances of the word “good-bye” are set in descending two-note patterns, underscoring the exasperation of the shunned narrator. A final vocal climax accompanies the last sardonic epithet, and the piece ends with a piano postlude and one last hushed utterance of the opening line.
AIDS ANXIETY
Text and Music by Richard Pearson Thomas; inscribed “for Will Parker”
Range: A$2-F#4 Tessitura: F3-C4
Kurt: (paranoid) Seven years ago, on the street, A madman spit at me! And three days later I threw up. About that time, my sister ate from my plate. Her next period was three weeks late. . . I wonder could that be some sort of sign? You see, that crazy man also sneezed on me that night. 35 Since then I’ve had an abdominal pain Which fifteen doctors can’t explain, And my left foot’s one size larger than my right!
So, tell me, Can I get it If a little bit of spit Hits me just beneath the eye, And the person who spit it Is a rather flamboyant guy?
Can I get it if I’m licked by a kitten That a friend is babysitting For someone who I don’t know, And that lovable kitten Likes to drink from the toilet bowl?
AIDS anxiety is getting me down. It’s going around, And all my friends have got it too. I used to be quite stable, Predictable, if bland. I never gave a second thought To a pimple, wart, or swollen gland. Now I panic with each rash or cough Or nervous tic, Because HIV anxiety Has got me worried sick!
Bill: Last night, I met this girl . . . It was kinda fun. How many times have I been to that bar Down the street from where I work And never met anyone? As we talked, it became clear, We had so much in common. She lives in Jersey . . . So do I! I offered her a lift to Tenafly. Once in the car, She slid over beside me. Next thing I knew, She was blowing in my ear. I tried to say no, But what the heck, 36 I got carried away On Eighth Avenue, In my car with a stranger. . . After she finished, She said as she smiled up at me, “Thanks a lot . . . that’ll be sixty bucks, please.”
Can I get it If I thought it Was attraction . . . Not a business transaction? It was never my intention To have to pay!
Sandy: (wildly neurotic) My friends all tell me to get out and date, But I have a problem with the fact that When you sleep with anyone You’re sleeping with everyone That anyone has slept with before. Well, they had the friend of a friend call me. I told him I had tested twenty times. He laughed and said he’d only tested twice. He didn’t say negative. But he didn’t say positive. I assume he meant negative Which has a positive connotation now. But he’s a lawyer, So I’m not sure I should trust him. Well, I finally gave in and met him for dinner. I was too nervous to eat. Or talk much. But still he invited me home for the proverbial drink and whatever. By now I was feeling faint, So I went in his bathroom. I was trying to figure out what the little red mark On my lip might mean, When all the sudden, I noticed all of these medicines In his medicine cabinet Which I had just opened by accident. They were mostly for allergies and psoriasis. But you never can tell for sure. So I told him I wasn’t feeling well, And excused myself and hurried home. 37 I know I shouldn’t freak out, But there is still one thing I need to know:
All Three: Can I get it from a touch, From touching too much, From touching the wrong one, From a caress or a kiss, A kiss or caress, Or from kissing someone back when Sex was still fun? Can I get it from a chair, In the air, Or from somebody’s hair, Or the germs you pick up on a ten dollar bill, From a mosquito or a beetle, Or a hypodermic needle on the beach, Or a teacher, Or a dentist drill?
AIDS anxiety is getting me down. It’s going around, And all my friends have got it too. I used to be courageous, To fear I was immune. Each day I hoped to fall in love, At least for an hour or an afternoon. Now cold reality has crawled into my bed, And HIV anxiety has got me all screwed up, Up in my head!
Richard Pearson Thomas’s “AIDS Anxiety” is a Broadway-influenced lampoon of the miseducation and paranoia that has surrounded the AIDS epidemic since its earliest days. Pearson Thomas, whose compositions include art songs as well as sophisticated off-Broadway musical theater works, writes with humor and melodic appeal that is a welcome reprieve from the heavy atmosphere of the other songs in the Songbook. This song is unique because it breaks the mold of the baritone-and-piano format—it is scored for three baritones and piano. At the premiere, it was sung by Kurt Ollmann, William Sharp, and Sanford Sylvan. Each baritone has a verse of distinct character and poetic content, and the piece is unified by a refrain. In a personal letter, Pearson Thomas revealed the following about his 38 involvement in The AIDS Quilt Songbook: I knew Will Parker a little because I had occasionally helped rehearse music with him, but we had fallen out of touch. I had read about THE AIDS QUILT SONGBOOK and was disappointed that he had not invited me to write something for the event. I ran into him at a Ned Rorem concert in April and didn’t even recognize him at first—he was so ill by that point—but I told him that if he needed anything else for the concert to please call me. It was late in the game and he already had too much material as it was. But he called the next day after having a conversation with one of our mutual friends. Another composer had backed out because he couldn’t deal with the subject matter, and Will desperately needed something a little lighter on the program. Our friend had assured him that I could come up with something funny. Something funny??!! He started bandying some ideas around that were assuredly not funny (like having one’s make-up sweat off revealing lesions.) I told him I’d give it some thought. At the time, I was a volunteer hotline counselor at GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis). Sometimes the only way to cope with that situation was through a little gallows humor. We actually kept a log of the absurd things people would ask us—mostly about transmission, some of which were truly funny. So I decided I would use that as the jump-off point for the piece. As far as using 3 voices—I knew that everything else on the program was for solo voice and that we’d make a big impact utilizing 3 voices together. And—what a thrill to write for those terrific singers! I guess some people were ‘offended’ by treating the subject with humor, but Will was thrilled and that’s all that mattered to me. And at the premiere, the performance was electrifying. You could feel what a relief it was for the audience to have a chance to laugh a bit.16 Beginning with the expressive marking “fast and nervous,” the piece opens with a tense and paranoid character expressing fear about all manner of encounters (Fig. 15), from “a madman spit on me! / And three days later I threw up” to “I’m licked by a kitten . . . / and that lovable kitten / Likes to drink from the toilet bowl.” The vocal writing emphasizes the singer’s paranoia with rapid repeated notes and unsettling syncopation. The piano part employs a frantic broken-chord pattern in support of the nervous mood.
16 Richard Pearson Thomas, “Re: AIDS Anxiety,” personal e-mail (1 February 2005). 39
Fig. 15. “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 5-8
The “AIDS Anxiety” refrain enters, with a catchy melody and simple accompaniment reminiscent of classic Broadway tunes. The end of the first refrain melts into the entrance of the second character. This character, whose entry is marked “romantically,” recalls his experience of the previous night, when an amorous liaison at a bar turned out to be the unwitting solicitation of a prostitute. The music is languid, in a lilting 3/4 meter with a piano counter-melody (Fig. 16).
Fig. 16. “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 91-96
40
As the character realizes his folly, the music turns tense, with the tongue-in-cheek tempo marking “moderato nervoso.” The stunned concern of this section is best summarized by the lines “Can I get it / If I thought it was attraction . . . / Not a business transaction?” This abbreviated second refrain is interrupted by the “fast and wildly neurotic” entrance of the third character. Pearson Thomas differentiates the nervous energy of the third character from that of the first character by using repeated notes in shifting meters (Fig. 17).
Fig. 17. “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 190-192
The music of the third character speeds through bars of 3/4, 2/2, 7/8, and 2/4 before settling into a panicked waltz, marked ‘presto.’ The story line of the third character involves a date with a man who the singer suspects of being HIV-positive. After asking his date about how often he gets tested, and rummaging through his medicine cabinet, the singer excuses himself and goes home paranoid. The final refrain is sung as a trio, featuring “barber shop” harmony and syncopated rhythms (Fig. 18).
41
Fig. 18. “AIDS Anxiety,” measures 306-309
The last line, “HIV anxiety has got me all screwed up, / Up in my head” is protracted rhythmically, providing the musical climax of the trio. Pearson Thomas created a solo version for Will Parker to sing in his performances of The AIDS Quilt Songbook, but the composer never had a chance to hear it. As Pearson Thomas wrote, “We stayed in close touch over the next few months. I remember our final conversation and him saying, ‘Well, I will never speak with you again.’ It was hard, but there was something so refreshing about his honesty that made it easier.”17
THE FLUTE OF INTERIOR TIME
Text by Kabir (1440-1508), translated by Robert Bly (b. 1926); from The Kabir Book: Forty-four of the Ecstatic Poems of Kabir Music by John Harbison (b. 1938); inscribed “for Will Parker’s AIDS Quilt”
Range: B2-D4 Tessitura: E3-A3
The flute of interior time is played whether we hear it or not, What we mean by “love” is its sound coming in, When love hits the farthest edge of excess, it reaches a wisdom. And the fragrance of that knowledge!
17 Ibid. 42
It penetrates our thick bodies, it goes through walls— Its network of notes has a structure as if a million suns were arranged inside. This tune has truth in it. Where else have you heard a sound like this?
For his entry in The AIDS Quilt Songbook, John Harbison selected “The Flute of Interior Time,” a short poem by the Indian mystic poet Kabir. Kabir, who flourished in the fifteenth century, was a weaver by trade, and was influential in promoting harmony between Hindus and Muslims in India. Given the poet’s vintage, this work clearly has no direct connection to the AIDS crisis. However, the poem brings to the Songbook a powerful philosophical element that transcends AIDS, as it comments on the wonders of love and wisdom. The translation is from American poet and publisher Robert Bly’s collection of Kabir’s poetry. Harbison establishes an Oriental atmosphere from the first notes of the piece, as it begins with a short piano incantation. The connective thread throughout is an octave doubling of the melody line. This transparent texture is often decorated with harmony notes and counter-melodies, but the preeminence of the melody is never challenged (Fig. 19).
Fig. 19. “The Flute of Interior Time,” measures11-13
43 Except for a few chords in the piano part, the entire piece is in the Aeolian mode. The modal harmony and fluid metric shifts create an atmosphere of absolute serenity and allow the wisdom of the poetry to be revealed. The elegant vocal line is simple, and the octave doubling in the piano suggests a chant-like delivery. As Will Crutchfield stated, Harbison “turns the simplest materials and concision of form to haunting purpose.”18 Indeed, it is this simplicity and transparency that are the best attributes of the song. From the singer’s perspective, the smoothness of musical line and the predominance of textual meaning are of the utmost importance.
THE BIRDS OF SORROW
Text by Ron Schreiber (1934-2004) Music by Carl Byron; dedicated “To William Parker for The AIDS Quilt Songbook; In memory of Steven DeLancie and John W. MacDonald, Jr.”
Range: A2-E4 (A4 falsetto) Tessitura: D3-G3
The birds of sorrow have almost all migrated now, the Canada geese, a roar of noise, the hawks stopping over the Cape. All gone
South like the satyrs, their yellow and black wings a whoosh of noise. we cannot prevent, the Chinese sage says (in the passage my mother sent me from Florida) the birds of sorrow from flying over our heads.
I put on my winter clothing – T-shirt, flannel shirt –
18 Crutchfield, “A Baritone Gives Voice,” 21. 44 as the weather changes. but we can refuse (against the cold comes suddenly into my body now John is gone) to let them build nests (my cats protect me; eyeing the birds; salivating) in our hair.
The opening chords of Carl Byron’s “The Birds of Sorrow” create a spacious and otherworldly atmosphere that continues throughout the piece. The poem, a well-crafted mix of narrative and Chinese proverb, is delivered in a detached and measured manner. The vocal line, which is often fragmented by short rests, is rhythmically incisive in order to match speech patterns. Byron creates a transparent texture—the vocal line seems to hover above an accompaniment which is broadly spaced on the keyboard. Throughout the song, sonorous chords alternate with quickly moving lines featuring large intervallic skips (Fig. 20).
Fig. 20. “The Birds of Sorrow,” measures 38-39
Many of the leaping lines summon the impression of a bird call; however, the effect is diluted by the preponderance of such motives. Additionally, the “double poem” concept is more effective on the printed page than it is in the musical presentation. 45 Without a significant shift in vocal timbre between the poem and the proverb, the narrative thread is lost. The same criticism made for several of the entries in the Songbook can be levied against this song: the text is lengthy, the content often seems random, and the vocal line lacks the requisite melodic appeal to unify the song.
INVESTITURE AT CECCONI’S
Text: James Merrill (1926-1995), from “The Lunch Room” (Knopf, 1988) Music: Lee Hoiby (b. 1926); inscribed “written for William Parker, in memory of Richard Bijon”
Range: C3-D#4 (B4 falsetto) Tessitura: D3-G3
Caro, that dream (after the diagnosis) found me losing patience outside the door of “our” Venetian tailor. I wanted evening clothes for the new year.
Then a bulb went on. The old woman, she who stitches dawn to dusk in his back room, opened one suspicious inch, all the while exclaiming over the late hour –
Fabrics? Patterns? those the proprietor must show by day, not now—till a lightning insight cracks her face wide: Ma! the Signore’s here to try on his new robe!
Robe? she nods me onward. The mirror triptych summons three bent crones she diffracted into back from no known space. They converge by magic, arms full of moonlight.
Up on my own arms, glistening sleeves are drawn. Cool silk in grave, white folds—Oriental mourning— sheathes me, throat to ankles. I turn to face her, uncomprehending.
Thank your friend, she cackles, the Professore! Wonderstruck I sway, like a tree of tears. You— miles away, sick, fearful—have yet arranged this heartstopping present. 46
Hoiby’s setting of James Merrill’s moving poem is one of several narrative songs in the Songbook. Hoiby employs a lilting rhythmic pattern as the recurring musical theme of the piece (Fig. 21).
Fig. 21. “Investiture at Cecconi’s,” measures 1-4
As Jeffery Stock observes in the notes for the recording of the Songbook, Hoiby “manages to evoke each phrase independently while never straying far from the theme of the opening bars.”19 Typical of Hoiby’s song settings, the vocal line is shadowed almost throughout on the piano. Hoiby’s prosody is in turn natural and theatrical, depending on the narrative voice of a given section. For instance, he sets the old woman’s text in an accented parlando fashion, and he uses portamenti for important phrases such as “wonderstruck I sway,” “glistening sleeves are drawn,” and “Thank your friend . . . the Professore” (Fig. 22). Hoiby also uses shifting meters to adapt the vocal line to the contours of the poem.
19 Jeffrey Stock, jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook, 9. 47
Fig. 22. “Investiture at Cecconi’s,” measures 69-73
The narrative strength of the song lies in its use of suspense: the listener is forced to wait several stanzas for the literary theme of the song to emerge. After the revelation of the thoughtful gift, Hoiby returns to the opening rhythmic motive in protracted form, played in octaves on the piano. The closing lines of the poem are underpinned by soft, sweeping arpeggios, representing the awestruck reaction of the protagonist. The effect of the piece is rendered yet more profound when one considers that the poet, James Merrill, was himself a victim of the AIDS virus. Storytelling is the main challenge this piece poses to the singer. Many of the songs in the Songbook function more as emotional ‘snap shots,’ lacking in some way a dramatic story line. “Investiture at Cecconi’s,” much like “A Dream of Nightingales,” must be performed with the emphasis on the story, as the narrative strength of the simple but moving tale is among the piece’s most powerful qualities. Bernard Holland mentions the gravity of the poem in the review of the premiere of the Songbook: “James Merrill’s ‘Investiture at Cecconi’s’ stood out for its subtle imagery and powerful regrets; Lee Hoiby’s music for it hovered respectfully in the background.”20
A CERTAIN LIGHT
Text by Marie Howe (b. 1950); from What the Living Do (Norton, 1998) Music by Elizabeth Brown (b. 1953); inscribed “for Will Parker” and dated “February 16, 1992 NYC”
Range: A2-F4 (D$5 falsetto optional) Tessitura: F3-B$3
20 Bernard Holland, “The Whole Surpassing Its Parts,” New York Times (6 June 1992), 13. 48 He had taken the right pills the night before. We had counted them out from the egg carton where they were numbered so there’d be no mistake. He had taken the morphine and prednisone and amitripilene and florinef and vancomycin and halcyon too quickly and had thrown up in the bowl Joe brought to the bed— a thin string of blue spit—then waited a few minutes, to calm himself, before he took them all again. And had slept through the night and the morning and was still sleeping at noon, or not sleeping. He was breathing maybe twice a minute and we couldn’t wake him, we couldn’t wake him until we shook him hard, calling John wake up now John wake up—Who is the president?
And he couldn’t answer. His doctor told us we’d have to keep him up for hours.
He was all bone and skin, no tissue to absorb the medicine. He couldn’t walk unless two people held him.
And we made him talk about the movies: What was the best moment in On the Waterfront? What was the music in Gone With the Wind?
And for seven hours he kept answering, if only to please us, mumbling I like the morphine, sinking, rising, sleeping, rousing, then only in pain again. But wakened. So wakened that late that night in one of those still blue moments that were a kind of paradise, he finally opened his eyes wide, and the room filled with a certain light we thought we’d never see again. 49
Look at you two, he said. And we did. And Joe said: Look at you. And John said: How do I look?
And Joe said: Handsome.
Elizabeth Brown wrote the following in a personal letter:
I met Will Parker in 1991, when he asked me to contribute . . . to the songbook. When I was looking for a text, a friend suggested I contact Marie Howe, whose brother has since died of AIDS. A whole cycle of poems written during his illness are contained in her book 'What the Living Do,’ published by Norton in 1998, but the song was written earlier, when there were 5 or 6 poems. I asked her to read some of them to me, and chose 'A Certain Light' because of how she read it, and because of how she sounded reading her brother's actual words. Marie first heard the song at the dress rehearsal for the concert at Alice Tully Hall. Will Parker originally intended to sing it, but he'd become weaker, and the others took over some of the songs. William Sharp sang 'A Certain Light,’ and when he got to the part where Marie's brother John speaks, she involuntarily moved towards him on the stage (where she was standing behind a podium, being one of the poets who read her poem before it was sung) because she said it sounded so much like her brother. I wrote the song to conform as much as possible to the natural speech rhythms of the poem. A good portion of it was written at the Millay Colony (Edna St. Vincent Millay's home, now a place for creative people to work during residencies). All of us working on the songbook talked to Will Parker often during the time preceding the concert, and it seemed the project, while exhausting him, was simultaneously energizing him. There was a strong network of support all around him, and at the concert, it almost didn't matter which of the 4 baritones was singing.21
As part of the grieving process after the death of her brother John, Marie Howe began work on what would become her second collection of poetry, What the Living Do. At the time, she recalls feeling “paralyzed and unable to write. I would go up to my office, sneak cigarettes, and write ‘still dead’ on an empty notepad. That was all I could do.”22 Most of Elizabeth Brown’s musical output mixes unusual combinations of obscure and often foreign instruments. A flutist by training, she also plays the shakuhachi and several other Oriental instruments. This vast musical vocabulary and
21 Elizabeth Brown, “Re: The AIDS Quilt Songbook,” personal e-mail (12 October 2003). 22 Ruth E.C. Prince, “The Impermeable Line: An Interview with Marie Howe,” http://www.radcliffe.edu/quarterly/199802/page28.html (2 October 2003). 50 freedom of musical expression is evident in “A Certain Light,” as she freely juxtaposes consonance with bitonality, and harp-like arpeggiated flourishes with plodding block chords (Fig. 23).
Fig. 23. “A Certain Light,” measure 14
Over this foundation, Brown lays a vocal line which, as she stated in her letter, matches the natural speech rhythms of the poem. The setting is also kept simple in order to elucidate the meaning and mood of the text. The singer is asked to employ a portamento effect on many of the intervallic skips throughout the piece, which creates a smooth and blurry tonal color. The intricate rhythm of the vocal line poses challenges to the singer, but the metric stability of the piano part offers support. Although a true tonic key is never established in the course of the song, the opening harmonic motive of D$ major juxtaposed against the bitonal A major/minor cluster is prevalent throughout the song, recurring at the beginning of each section and at the close of the song. The sublime final line of the poem is set over gentle repeated F major chords in the upper register of the piano, and after the final “Handsome” is delivered, a mildly dissonant D$ major chord enters in the piano’s lower register. The song ends with the decay of this bitonal harmony and the poignant scena is complete.
51 I NEVER KNEW
Text and Music by Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956); inscribed “for Bart Gorin, Rich Martel, Mark Fotopolos, Billy Deacutis, Daniel Katz, & so many others. . .”
Range: B$2-G$4 Tessitura: F3-C4
I never knew When I dreamed of holding all those men that there would be so little time for that embrace or that desire would end in such a way I never knew. Or that I would remain where other birds took flight and just as I know not where you have gone – I know not where to go I am thinking now of you who were my sober friend and you I loved can you be happy where you are? If I only could’ve known I’d have protected you as you protected me but I never knew I never knew I never knew
And if I had would I have clung to you?
I never knew.
Just as Fred Hersch did in “blues for an imaginary valentine,” Ricky Ian Gordon set his own words to music in “I Never Knew.” Gordon’s entry lacks the poetic subtlety of Hersch’s song, though the musical setting is successful due to motivic unity and a
52 lush harmonic language. The opening words of the poem are set to a four-note motive that forms the core of the musical material of the song (Fig. 24).
Fig. 24. “I Never Knew,” measures 4-6
Jeffrey Stock has assigned an even greater significance to this motive, suggesting that “the melodic contour of the title phrase encapsulates the tragedy of AIDS sufferers . . . It consists of three rising tones followed by a descending fifth—a thwarted ascent.”23 There are only two major departures from the opening motive described above. The first is for the section of the text that reads “Or that I would remain / where other birds took flight.” Here Gordon paints the text with ascending sixteenth-note figures and a rising vocal line. Next, as the title phrase is repeated, a harmonically dense texture and high vocal tessitura reveal the intense regret of the poet. The opening phrase returns, this time rhythmically augmented, and the last lines of text are interspersed with solo piano lines. The final utterance of the title phrase is set in a high tessitura, as if a last emotional cry to the poet’s departed partner.
23 Jeffrey Stock, jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook, 10. 53 THE SECOND LAW
Text by Stephen Sandy (b. 1934); from Thanksgiving Over the Water (Knopf, 1992) Music by Richard Wilson (b. 1941); inscribed “for Will Parker”
Range: A2-F4 Tessitura: G3-C4
Beside the bed I watch His hindered face The dented cheeks lifting And falling, Scarcely perceived, with the stocking, The curbed
Breathing. I hold a mug of black Coffee fresh From the nurse’s station, heat Is working its Arduous way through the glazed China wall
To my cold hand. Soon It is too hot To hold; I put it down And I take The colder hand in mine. And I wonder
If it is taking warmth From mine Or if his chill alone Is oozing Through the wall of our grip, our Holding on. I
Stand outside the bars through which The gaze clings; And the stubble crowning the sheet; And the jailed Knowing, letting him, letting him Go.
A central theme of the poem is the juxtaposition of coldness and warmth, manifested in the heat of the coffee mug and the cold hand of the dying man. Indeed, 54 the title itself alludes to the second law of thermodynamics (which deals with the conservation of energy, specifically the loss of heat). The musical language shows a complete lack of warmth, as the desperation of the poem is treated with angular chromaticism. The piano introduction is fragmented, alternating dissonant chords with fast-running chromatic figures. The jagged vocal line progresses through a narrative of a hospital visit, and following the line “his chill alone / Is oozing / Through the wall of our grip, our / Holding on” the piano launches into another solo section of incredible intensity and manic swings of mood. The second half of the poem is more bleak and introspective, as the protagonist loses hope and resigns himself to the fate of his dying partner. Wilson’s most poignant text setting is reserved for the repetitions of the phrase “letting him go”; at first the phrase is set in a long, searching melisma, but the last utterance descends hopelessly into the depths of the singer’s range. The poem itself is well-wrought, as is the musical composition. Wilson has a consistently effective sense of prosody, and regularly employs text painting (e.g. “lifting and falling”), but the relentless chromaticism and dearth of melody make for an overwhelmingly desolate song. If one compares this song to the entries by Rorem or Hoiby, one immediately misses the emotional chiaroscuro of the latter songs. “The Second Law” falls short of achieving such a balance, and therefore seems needlessly morose. This piece exemplifies one of the most common critiques of The AIDS Quilt Songbook—a lack of hope.
PERINEO
Text by Roberto Echavarren (b. 1944) Music by Libby Larsen (b. 1950); dedicated “for Bill Harwood and Will Parker”
Range: G#2-F4 Tessitura: G#3-C#4
No sé si soy hombre o mujer respiro desde la ingle, desde el perineo 55 y me relajo I hold out my now empty I breathe in my trust from the perineum up into the center of my chest I am an instrument of god, I am god as it comes up from the perineum in and out I open up from behind I inhale from behind and from underneath desde la base del estómago desde una lonja de tambor me abro I don’t know whether I am a man or a woman I trust and sing and lo and behold from behind a raw air pumps up as a reward to those who breathe it plays music it passes through my nostrils, mouth shut I am a tiger respiro lost tentáculos de dios la punta perdida de sus dedos por el perineo donde las costuras todavia son recientes y los dedos juzgan que eres joven. from down below up to the solar plexus the tip of an indefinite sapphire pyramid from under which a vortex comes up a salty empire of a water banter a panther or aquatic tigress a she male breathing sapphire
I breathe my health respiro mi no terminal enfermedad from the base of my stomach no sé si soy hombre o mujer I relax the tissue underneath as it comes up a maelstrom of programming features for this continent which I am y explota una cadena dentro de mi aliento 56 y las abejas pican los labios abiertos de la espuma
(The following translation from Spanish is by the poet.)
I don’t know whether I am a man or a woman I breathe from the groin, from the perineum I breathe from the perineum and I relax I hold out my now empty I breathe in my trust from the perineum up into the center of my chest I am an instrument of god, I am god, as it comes up from the perineum in and out I open up from behind I inhale from behind and from underneath from the base of my stomach from a drum membrane I open up I don’t know whether I am a man or a woman I trust and sing and lo and behold from behind a raw air pumps up as a reward to those who breathe it plays music it passes through my nostrils, mouth shut I am a tiger I breathe every loose end of god every finger end from the perineum where the seams are so recent and the fingers can tell that you are young from down below up to the solar plexus the tip of an indefinite sapphire pyramid from under which a vortex comes up a salty empire of a water banter a panther or aquatic tigress a she male breathing sapphire
57 I breathe my health I breathe non-terminal unhealth from the base of my stomach I don’t know whether I am a man or a woman I relax the tissue underneath as it comes up a maelstrom of programming features for this continent which I am and a micro chain explodes inside my breath and bees sting the open lips of froth
Libby Larsen chose for her entry a poem by the Uruguayan poet Roberto Echavarren. The reference to the “perineo,” which is repeated throughout both in Spanish and in its English equivalent, “perineum,” is never elucidated, however the poet made the following comments: What prompted me to write the poem was the notion that the perineum is the base of our trunk, a zone between the sphincter and the genitals, where one should perhaps concentrate the mind when breathing and meditating, in order to unleash, as it were, the kundalini or electrical serpent escalating through our bodies. A source of breathing opposite the mouth.24
The poem mixes text in Spanish and English, with some of the lines uttered in both languages. The poem itself seems to be describing a dying patient: there are lucid comments (“I breathe my health / I breathe non-terminal unhealth”) alongside indecipherable phrases (“it comes up a maelstrom / of programming features for this continent / which I am”). The poem is sensual, describing the vitality of breath and of opening oneself to the world beyond. This transcendence is a recurring theme—in lines such as “no sé si soy hombre o mujer” the monologue moves from the physical to the spiritual realm. Larsen matches the fluidity of the poem with shifting musical motives. After the opening line of the poem is intoned on a single pitch, a fiery guitar-like accompaniment enters. This juxtaposition of quasi-recitative vocal writing and fast-paced Latin-inspired piano music (Fig. 25) is consistent throughout the piece.
24 Roberto Echevarren, “Re: Poem,” personal e-mail (31 January 2005). 58
Fig. 25. “Perineo,” measures 1-4
The shifting meters and irregularity of phrase lengths in both the piano and vocal lines maintain a sense of imbalance. Larsen sets the more nonsensical portions of the poem as if they were visions of the ailing patient. She sets “the tip of an indefinite sapphire . . . of a water banter” with glissandi into the higher ranges of the piano, then shifts immediately to a gruff, accented chordal accompaniment for “a panther or aquatic tigress.” The indication for an extended and exaggerated hiss at the end of “tigress” enforces the fantastical nature of these lines. As the text progresses, it becomes darker as the poet faces his “unterminal non-health.” After an emphatic repetition of the first line, the poem increases in intensity, switching to Spanish and becoming more frantic and rapid in its delivery. For the last six bars of the song, Larsen provides instructions for audible and visible breathing. At the end, as the patient ostensibly dies, the instruction is “catch breath suddenly—hold.” A descending, accented triplet figure in the piano ends in the instrument’s extreme low range, and the song is complete.
59
THE ENTICING LANE
Text by Christopher Hewitt (1946-2004) Music by Stephen Houtz (b. 1956)
Range: B$2-F4 Tessitura: G3-C4
If I should be told, suddenly and quite unceremoniously, that I too had The Disease and would be taken from all this, I would think over the years, I had complained too much— the phone’s ringing constantly (lucky I was to have so many friends), the hours of my job (fortunate I was to have a job I liked), the lover leaving (ah, but he was here, wasn’t he, in my arms for so long?). I should have lived in the moment, kept a secret corner for myself to breathe in, allowed my life to blossom at last—each leaf uncurling wet with secrecy to dry in the spring air. I should have taken more risks— old stick-in-the-mud that I am— a balloon trip over the estuary; speaking up on behalf of the deaf-mute man at the bank who was so rudely abused by the teller; that antique bowl with red peonies on it that I could have bought in a shop in England. But I let myself be dissuaded by sensible people. I should have sought more balance— silence/laughter, 60 cool shadow/hot rain, nights drunk on someone/nights alone with the dark’s quiet watching. I should have followed intuition to the Nth degree and trusted it, kept to the singular path, the enticing lane with plush hedges, ripe fruit and wafting scents that is always there in the heart’s eye and I could have walked it, always prepared, even into Death’s Unknown and still have been content, peaceful as a child dawndreaming by open windows before the others are up and everyone, even the child, is wrenched into the world’s bombardment, the maelstrom of appointments which constitutes a life.
Stephen Houtz’s entry, entitled “The Enticing Lane,” is by far the longest song in The AIDS Quilt Songbook, lasting just over nine minutes on the Heartbeats recording. Christopher Hewitt’s poem describes the regrets one might have upon being diagnosed with AIDS. Much like “Fairy Book Lines,” the poem lacks the focus and brevity necessary for a cogent musical setting. This wistful retrospective, which occasionally takes on a distinctly whiny tone, suffers under the strain of a glut of trite phrases (e.g. “I should have lived in the moment,” “old stick-in-the-mud that I am,” “I should have followed intuition to the Nth degree.”) The poem is long to begin with, but the sameness of poetic ideas contributes to the perception of length. Unfortunately, Houtz’s musical setting does little to condense the perceived length of the poem. Each textual section is treated with a new and distinctive musical idea, but Houtz occasionally returns to the opening motive (Fig. 26) to unify the piece.
61
Fig. 26. “The Enticing Lane,” measures 1-5
Houtz’s tonal language is pleasant and mostly diatonic, and his prosody is admirable. The variety of his musical motives is impressive: a broad recitative setting at the beginning; a plaintive eighth-note sigh at “I had complained too much”; thick, sonorous chords at “I should have lived in the moment”; and speedy triplets in the accompaniment for “I should have taken more risks.” However, the poem proves too dense for a flowing musical setting. In short, it is good material, but there is simply too much of it. One could speculate that if the poem would have been half as long, the song would have been substantially more successful.
62
CHAPTER 3
CONCLUSION
As K. Robert Schwarz suggested in the New York Times review of the recording of the AIDS Quilt Songbook, it is difficult to evaluate objectively music written in such passionate circumstances. Schwarz observed the following: But how can one dispassionately evaluate music that emanates from the face of death? How much should the tragic circumstances surrounding these compositions color any assessment of the artistic result? Similar questions have been provoked by recent recordings of music composed by Jews who were murdered at the Nazi concentration camp at Theresienstadt. The range of achievement is similar as well: flashes of genius, honorable failures and the tantalizing promise of what might have been—had there been more time.1
Bernard Holland was even more stringent in his New York Times review. Holland began by offering the following caveat, which echoes Schwarz’s sentiments: “Bringing the usual critical standards to an event as emotionally wrenching—and at moments as frightening—as this one is difficult if not impossible.”2 But Holland goes on to say that “listeners who had hoped to hear important music generated by momentous events were generally disappointed. Those who looked upon music as a helpful if subsidiary illustration for more crucial matters must have come away satisfied.”3 Holland did praise several of the songs, including “Vaslav’s Song,” “A Dream of Nightingales,” and “Investiture at Cecconi’s.” However, he levied a critique against the very nature of the project when he said the following: “Indeed, much of [the] music appeared reluctant to intrude on the powerful feelings that run through ‘The AIDS Quilt Songbook.’ The message is so devastating that the medium shrank from equal
1 K. Robert Schwarz, “Melodies From a Time of Plague,” New York Times (7 August 1994), 28. 2 Bernard Holland, “The Whole Surpassing Its Parts,” New York Times (6 June 1992), 13. 3 Ibid.
63 partnership.”4 Indeed, the quality of the songs within the Songbook is uneven. “Fairy Book Lines,” a Charles Barber poem set by Donald St. Pierre, is an awkward setting of an obtuse poem that mixes familiar sayings with obscure references to AIDS and suffering. The resultant song is long, meandering, and without melodic appeal. Also suffering from verbosity is Stephen Houtz’s setting of the Christopher Hewitt poem “The Enticing Lane.” The poetic conceit is a valid one: had the speaker known his life would be cut short, he’d have done things differently. However, the poem lacks the clarity and compactness necessary for a truly meaningful song setting. Despite these few lackluster entries, the vast majority of the songs in the Songbook are of high quality, and some of them are so effective that they could be considered among the respective composers’ best songs. The songs are challenging for both singers and pianists, not only because they are technically demanding, but also because they require great emotional commitment and maturity from the performers. Besides William Parker, several of the artists involved with The AIDS Quilt Songbook were themselves victims of HIV/AIDS. As earlier mentioned, Fred Hersch, composer of “blues for an imaginary valentine,” has been dealing with his infection with HIV for almost two decades. Those who did not survive their bout with AIDS include James Merrill, Melvin Dixon, Ethyl Eichelberger, Charles Barber, and Chris DeBlasio. DeBlasio died of AIDS in 1993 at the age of only thirty-four. At the time of his death, he was just beginning to experience real success as a composer, having received regular performances of several of his works (Villagers, a song cycle for mezzo-soprano; All the Way through Evening, the set from which “Walt Whitman in 1989” was extracted; The Best-Beloved, a set of four motets for chorus and string orchestra; and In Endless Assent, a set of songs). As he descended into illness, DeBlasio had to turn down commissions, and refused to accept money for “projects he might not finish.”5 In fact, DeBlasio began modifying his musical plans, abandoning the idea of an opera in favor of smaller, more manageable projects. Based on the few works he left behind, it is
4 Ibid. 5 William Berger, “Chris DeBlasio” in Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS, ed. Edmund White (Madison, Wisconsin: Univ. of Wisconsin, 2001), 164.
64 impossible to project what Chris DeBlasio might have accomplished as a composer. DeBlasio’s partner, William Berger, wrote an essay about Chris for the publication Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS, in which he says the following: “The supreme irony is that Chris might never have blossomed at all if it hadn’t been for AIDS. It was his diagnosis that spurred him into demon confrontation and therapy and activism and opened him to the dangers and thrills of human interaction and love and the joy of being alive.”6
The death of William Parker
In the months after the premiere of the Songbook, Parker’s condition deteriorated. He continued to sing from time to time, and it was the dissemination of the Songbook that was the focus of his performing. The day after the Tully Hall premier, Parker entered the recording studio with the other baritones, but he was so exhausted from the previous day’s performance that he lacked stamina, and struggled to record the songs he had premiered. On November 30, 1992, Parker sang selections from the Songbook at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Philip Caggiano recalls that Parker had to be transported into the museum in a wheelchair, though he stood to sing.7 William Parker gave his last public performance on December 1, 1992, at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He sang excerpts from The AIDS Quilt Songbook, and like the performance at the Museum of Modern Art, his frailty mandated the use of a wheelchair. As Parker drew nearer to death, he became quite candid about the handling of his affairs. Philip Caggiano recalls a poignant phone call from Parker: when Caggiano asked how Parker was feeling, he responded, “That’s why I’m calling.” Parker informed Caggiano that the doctor had come and offered him a morphine drip, predicting that he wouldn’t outlive the medication. Caggiano remembers Parker telling him, “The hour is here,” and so Caggiano decided to pay Parker a visit. Caggiano, Bill Huckaby, and John Gingrich went to Parker’s apartment to visit him, and to listen to the first mastered
6 Ibid, 167. 7 Caggiano, interview by author.
65 version of Parker’s recording of Donald Wheelock’s “Fury.”8 Caggiano recalls a rather transcendental scene: the men gathered around Parker’s bedside, with the evening sun glowing amber in the apartment and the bells of the neighboring church chiming at six o’clock in the evening. After they had listened to the final edit of “Fury,” Caggiano suggested that Parker looked tired and should rest. Accepting the suggestion, Parker thanked his guests for coming and lay down to take a nap. Parker’s sister and caretaker during his final weeks, Amy Doty, reported that Parker never woke up from this nap. As he intended, The AIDS Quilt Songbook has continued to grow despite Parker’s death, with the most significant addition being the release of a CD entitled Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook. Parker’s musical legacy has largely been formed by his commitment to this project, which at long last shattered the taboo of discussing AIDS directly in song. As Parker’s sister, Amy Doty, said, “It is easy to imagine a soft smile on Will’s face as the AIDS Quilt Songbook grows. Even in death Will Parker continues to touch us and teach.”9
8 John Gingrich, an artist manager, accepted Parker onto his roster despite Parker’s illness. According to Will Crutchfield, when Gingrich was asked by the tenor Paul Sperry “Would you represent a singer with AIDS?” he replied, “I’d represent a good singer with AIDS.” 9 Amy Doty, jacket notes to Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook (Innova 500,1995).
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APPENDIX A
PERMISSION FORMS TO REPRINT POEMS
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnett, Carol, et. al. Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook, Innova 500, 1995, compact disc.
Berger, William. “Chris DeBlasio.” In Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS, ed. Edmund White, 152-167. Madison, Wisconsin: Univ. of Wisconsin, 2001.
Bolcom, William. “Vaslav’s Song.” Personal e-mail (9 October 2003).
Bolcom, William, et al. The AIDS Quilt Songbook. New York: Boosey & Hawkes, 1993.
______. The AIDS Quilt Songbook. Various artists, Harmonia Mundi 907602, 1994, compact disc.
Brown, Elizabeth. “The AIDS Quilt Songbook.” Personal e-mail (12 October 2003).
Caggiano, Philip. Interview by author, 16 November 2004, New York.
______. Jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook (Harmonia Mundi 907602, 1994), 3-4.
Crutchfield, Will. “A Baritone Gives Voice to a Patchwork of Emotions.” New York Times, 31 May 1992, 21.
Dixon, Melvin. “I’ll Be Somewhere Listening For My Name.” In In the Company of My Solitude: American Writings from the AIDS Pandemic, ed. Marie Howe and Michael Klein, 182-188. New York: Persea Books, 1995.
Doty, Amy. Jacket notes to Heartbeats: New Songs from Minnesota for the AIDS Quilt Songbook (Innova 500, 1995).
Echavarren, Roberto. “Re: Poem.” Personal e-mail (31 January 2005).
Holland, Bernard. “The Whole Surpassing Its Parts.” New York Times (6 June 1992), 13.
78 Howe, Marie and Michael Klein, eds. In the Company of My Solitude: American Writings from the AIDS Pandemic. New York: Persea Books, 1995.
Kellow, Brian. “Art in the age of AIDS.” Opera News 56 (June 1992): 40-43.
Klein, Michael, ed. Poets for Life: Seventy-six poets respond to AIDS. New York: Persea Books, 1989.
Larsen, Libby. “The AIDS Quilt Songbook.” Personal e-mail (30 November 2003).
Lockwood, Annea. “The AIDS Quilt Songbook.” Personal e-mail (24 October 2004).
Musto, John. “The AIDS Quilt Songbook.” Personal e-mail (19 October 2004).
Pearson Thomas, Richard. “Re: AIDS Anxiety.” Personal e-mail (1 February 2005).
Prince, Ruth E.C. “The Impermeable Line: An Interview with Marie Howe.” Radcliffe Quarterly. [online journal] http://www.radcliffe.edu/quarterly/199802/page28.html (Accessed 2 October 2003).
Rorem, Ned. Lies: A Diary 1986-1999. Washington, DC: Counterpoint, 2000.
______. New York, NY to the author, Macon, GA, 6 October 2004. Letter in the collection of the author.
Schwarz, K. Robert. “Melodies From a Time of Plague.” New York Times (7 August 1994), 28.
Sharp, William. Interview by author. 8 August 2003, Lenox, MA.
______. “Re: A few questions.” Personal e-mail (9 December 2004).
Stock, Jeffrey. Jacket notes to The AIDS Quilt Songbook, (Harmonia Mundi 907602, 1994), 5-11.
Ward, Keith. “The AIDS Quilt Songbook: Songs by William Bolcom, et al.” American Music 16 (Fall 1998): 351-356.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
Kyle Ferrill, baritone, a native of Greenwood, Indiana, holds a Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Butler University. Dr. Ferrill received both his Master’s and Doctor of Music degrees in vocal performance from Florida State University. Ferrill joined the voice faculty at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia in 2004.
Dr. Ferrill has performing experience in oratorio, opera and recital. He has sung the baritone solos in such works as Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Britten's Cantata Misericordium, Fauré's Requiem and Handel's Messiah. Dr. Ferrill's opera credits include Count Almaviva in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro and King Cadmus in Eccles's Semele with FSU Opera, the title character in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi, The Secret Police Agent in Menotti's The Consul and Top in Copland's The Tender Land.
Dr. Ferrill has coached extensively with Phyllis Curtin, and has also worked with Martin Katz, John Wustman, William Warfield, Lucy Shelton, William Sharp, and Dawn Upshaw. Conductors include Robert Spano, André Thomas, Stefan Asbury, and John Williams.
Besides opera and oratorio, Dr. Ferrill has a special interest in song literature and new music. In the summer of 2004, Dr. Ferrill returned to the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, for his second year as a Vocal Fellow. While at Tanglewood, Ferrill has performed Ned Rorem’s Aftermath, György Ligeti’s Scenes and Interludes from Le Grand Macabre, and Luciano Berio’s Sinfonia.
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