August 4, 1964 50 Years Later Elizabeth Swanson
Elizabeth Swanson Assistant Professor of Music Nyack College School of Music, Manhattan Campus New York, NY [email protected]
50 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 55 Number 1 The summer of 2014 marks the fi ftieth anniversary of a tumultuous time in American history. On July 2, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Later in the summer of 1964, the United States became directly involved in the Vietnam War—a war that would rob the world of nearly four million lives. Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky (b. 1949) was commissioned to write a large work for mixed chorus and orchestra that would serve to refl ect on these events that intersected during President Johnson's tenure. The resulting work was August 4, 1964, which received its 2008 premiere by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in honor of the centennial of President Johnson's birth. Though not as iconic a day as those branded into American minds such as the JFK assassination or 9/11, August 4, 1964, is nevertheless a date that shaped our world and infl uenced a generation. Steven Stucky’s magnifi cent composition has immortalized the events of 1964 through the timeless power of libretto and song, and this article will shed light on this Elizabeth Swanson is Assistant Professor of Music historically compellingat Nyack choral College work School of Music, Manhattan Campus, New York, NY of the twenty-fi drstr.swansonncmc@ century.gmail.com August 4, 1964 • 50 Years Later
On August 4, 1964, the missing bod- outcome of those actions: the demise August 4, 1964 is scored for four so- ies of three young civil rights workers of fi fty-four thousand American soldiers loists (SATB), large chorus (SATB with were found brutally beaten and buried and 3.7 million Vietnamese military and divisi), and full orchestra. Because of in shallow graves just outside of Phila- civilian casualties. It is likely that gen- the forces needed to perform this work, delphia, Mississippi. In late June of that eral public awareness of the events that it would be ideal for a large university same summer, the disappearance of form the context of Stucky’s work has program or collaboration between en- these men—James Chaney, Andrew receded from our collective conscious- sembles. The soloists represent four Goodman, and Michael Schwerner— ness over the past fi ve decades. The fact important people: the soprano is Fan- had become known nationwide. Also on remains, however, that our world today nie Lee Chaney, the mother of James, August 4, 1964, US naval ships stationed was shaped and is still infl uenced by the the murdered black civil rights worker; in the Gulf of Tonkin in Southeast Asia events that took place during this era. the mezzo-soprano is Carolyn Good- claimed to have been targeted for a August 4, 1964 is a particularly signifi - man, the mother of Andrew, one of the second time by unidentifi ed attackers, cant work among Stucky’s compositions. murdered white civil rights workers; the presumably the North Vietnamese. It was his fi rst oratorio, the longest work tenor is Robert McNamara, the Secre- Because of the second alleged attack, he had written, and it employed the tary of Defense; and the baritone is LBJ. President Johnson ordered retaliation largest orchestral forces he had used The chorus in Stucky’s oratorio fre- on North Vietnam, which launched the up until that time.2 A leading force in quently assumes a function akin to that United States into full-blown involve- twentieth- and twenty-first-century of a Greek chorus by commenting on ment in the Vietnam War.1 music, Stucky has experienced a mag- the dramatic narrative in a variety of At the heart of Stucky’s August 4, nitude of success throughout his career ways throughout the work. The chorus 1964 is the fi gure of Lyndon Baines as a composer, scholar, educator, and in the fi rst movement, “The Saddest Johnson (LBJ), a complex man who performing artist.3 After his commission Moment,” introduces an excerpt of the struggled with two historically defi ning for the work, Stucky’s fi rst challenge was refl ective poem by Stephen Spender. issues during his time in offi ce as thirty- to fi gure out how he would defi ne the In other movements, the chorus pro- sixth president of the United States political and historical fi gure of LBJ in the vides an account of happenings in the (1963–1969). LBJ is often described context of an oratorio. Deciding which Oval Offi ce and events in the Gulf of as a controversial political fi gure in our area to focus on in the president’s life, Tonkin. The chorus also assumes the nation’s history. Many of the great things not to mention determining a text for role of characters in the fi rst person. he accomplished for the Civil Rights the work, were crucial stages. Fortu- For instance, the chorus assumes the Movement are overshadowed by the nately, Stucky became acquainted with deceased fi eld worker Michael Schwer- perceived mistakes made by his admin- Gene Scheer, a librettist from New York ner’s voice in the fourth movement, “I istration in the Vietnam War and the City, who agreed to the collaboration.4 Wish to Be a Part of That Fight.” The orchestra’s role extends beyond accompanying the vocalists: it is integral to the storytelling and at times even re- places voices. Often, specifi c instruments or groups of instruments foreshadow an event, and more often than not, the or- chestra reveals the reality of a situation. Stucky has an extraordinary way of us- ing orchestral timbres and colors, which gives the already moving and expressive elements of this work a more profound dimension. August 4, 1964 has twelve move- ments. While Scheer’s libretto provides the scaffolding of the overall form, Stucky created twelve movements to provide a formal structure. The Dallas
52 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 55 Number 1 Symphony commission requested that movements four, fi ve, and eight focus on one, two, ten, and twelve refl ect both the oratorio last approximately one themes that have to do with the Civil themes. The seventh movement, “Elegy,” hour; to comply with that mandate, Rights Movement; movements three, is the only movement for orchestra and the movements range from three to six, nine, and eleven advance the action has since been programmed as a stand- ten minutes.5 As outlined in Table 1, of the Vietnam War; and movements alone orchestral work.
Table 1. Structure of August 4, 1964
Civil Rights Movement Combined Subject Matter Vietnam War
Movement 1 “The Saddest Moment” Introduction of Fannie Lee Chaney, Carolyn Goodman, Robert McNamara, and poem by Stephen Spender
Movement 2 “Historians” Introduction of LBJ
Movement 3 “Oval Offi ce I” Conversations between Johnson & McNamara
Movement 4 “I Wish to Be a Part of That Fight” Essay by Michael Schwerner
Movement 5 “The Secret Heart of America” Johnson’s speech (March, ’65) Story about Mrs. Chaney’s grandfather
Movement 6 “Oval Offi ce II” Conversations between Johnson & McNamara
Movement 7 “Elegy” Orchestral movement
Movement 8 “Letter from Mississippi” Andrew Goodman’s letter Movement 9 “Oval Offi ce III” Conversations between Johnson & McNamara Movement 10 “August Fourth” Crux of events Movement 11 “Had We Known” Refl ective aria for McNamara Movement 12 “What Is Precious Is Never to Forget” Poem by Stephen Spender
CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 55 Number 1 53 August 4, 1964 • 50 Years Later
The majority of the text was derived the fi rst and last movements (along with complex man. This juxtaposition cap- from primary historical sources. Less abbreviated appearances in other move- tures an image of a multifaceted, fallible than 15 percent of the text comes from ments). The remainder of the libretto human being, and Stucky’s oratorio asks the words of Scheer, whose primary re- was fashioned by Scheer to poetically us to consider President Johnson as a sponsibility was to research, pare down, unite the stories.7 It is important to modern-day tragic hero. Musically speak- and assemble the text.6 Scheer’s primary note that the work is not a sequential ing, the text inspired Stucky to create sources include conversations between narrative of the events of August 4, 1964. musical gestures that came to be as- LBJ and Secretary of Defense Robert Although portions are chronological, it sociated with particular characters and McNamara from the White House also contains a number of added events sentiments. Stucky said of his method: Tapes; portions of the president’s March and moments of departure from the 15, 1965, speech (commonly referred to timeline. These moments serve to ex- Such a large structure needs to be as the “We Shall Overcome Speech”); pand the narrative and personalize the clarifi ed by recurring musical topics, and excerpts from a poem by Stephen events of that day. themes even, leitmotifs even. This wasn’t something that I pre-planned. Spender––“I Think Continually of Those The libretto also captures the It was a natural response to the Who Were Truly Great”––which be- personal and perhaps lesser-known need to make the result clear and comes a unifying text in the work and is compassionate side of LBJ, along with urgent and expressive. Suddenly I sung unaccompanied by the chorus in the disconnected, egotistic side of a understood why Wagner’s attaching
August 4, 1964 received its NY premiere on Wednesday, May 11, 2011, at Carnegie Hall in NYC as part of the inaugural Spring for Music Festival. Dallas Symphony Music Director Jaap van Zweden, conducting. Soloists (L - R): Kristine Jepson and Indira Mahajan as the mothers of the slain civil rights workers, Vale Rideout as Secretary McNamara, and Rodney Gilfrey as President Lyndon B. Johnson. (This was the Dallas Symphony's eleventh appearance at Carnegie Hall and its fi rst with Jaap van Zweden.) Photo credit: Steve J. Sherman
54 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 55 Number 1 essentially advertising jingles to Author’s note: every character and idea in some of his operas was not expedient August 4, 1964 is published by the or lazy or cheap, but completely Theodore Presser Company. The work June 25 - 29, 2015 necessary.8 received a 2013 Grammy nomination for “Best Contemporary Classical Rollo Dilworth Composition.” A recording is available These musical gestures are a central 2015 Festival Conductor from Naxos, performed by the Dallas unifying element in August 4, 1964. The Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.11 Jena Dickey application of leitmotifs, as labeled by Resident Conductor Stucky, gives the work a sense of con- nectedness through which the stories NOTES stand out with greater depth. Stucky spoke openly about how this commis- 1 LBJ Library,
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