Voices of Power and Protest
(2006) A dramatic concert work for unaccompanied chorus
Words: By the composer
Duration circa 20'

First Performance: March 26, 2007, Hall for Ethical Culture, New York City, The New York
Virtuoso Singers, (conductor Harold Rosenbaum)
Solo mezzo-soprano, Sonia Gariaeff
Stage director, Dorothy Danner

Publisher:  Novello & Co Ltd

Composer's Note:

The composition of this work was begun at the end of June 2006: a few days later the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah broke out and once again TV screens were filled with the horrors of war, - with destruction and tragic loss.

However the whole idea of this work was conceived way back in the 1970s. I had originally thought that I would use excerpts from existing poetry. But over the years it became clear I had to write my own words in order to convey the essential emotion for each section. The idea was to have a chorus enact with movement the dramatic essence of the work. They would take up different formations to emphasize the drama between crowd and individual….[a circle to surround the prisoner, a wall to divide the brothers and so on].

The main chorus acts as a "block", they are the crowd in contrast to the individual soloists who step out of the chorus to become The Recruit, The Husband, The Wife, The Coward, The Profiteer, The Orphan, and all together they become The Survivors. These soloists emerge from the crowd and "disappear" back into it.

In the original production the entire chorus of 16 (including the soloists) memorized the whole work. However when this is work is performed with a larger chorus they could sing with music. Only the soloists would be “off book” and they with some supers or dancers could emerge from the chorus to enact the drama.

Note: A performance of this work can be seen on You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mXrbpYuTI8

Soloists:

Treble [or soprano]	. . . . . . .	The Orphan
Contralto	. . . . . . .	Survivor
Mezzo-soprano*	. . . . . . .	The Wife, the Widow, and Survivor
Lyric tenor	. . . . . . .	The Husband and Survivor
Character tenor	. . . . . . .	The Coward, the Profiteer and Survivor
Baritone	. . . . . . .	The Recruit, the Prisoner and Survivor
*or soprano

 

CHORUS	SOLOIST
To war! To war! Lips of steel shall sound the trumpet! Hand of iron shall beat the drum! “Awake, take up arms”: All men must obey. To war, to war!
[The Recruit [baritone] moves downstage left].
	The Recruit [baritone] I hear the drum, the relentless beat of the drum….
Hand of iron shall beat the drum. “Awake, take up arms!”
	But who beats the drum and why?
[The chorus points at the recruit].
“You must serve. Take up arms.”
	Is it for honour that I must serve or for the baser reasons of greed and fear?
[The recruit goes upstage left]
To war!
[The husband comes downstage right, the wife tries to join him but the sopranos and altos             make a semicircle round the wife to prevent her. They try to reach out to each other.             Meanwhile the tenors and basses make a semicircle round the recruit.]             [Sop & Altos: to the wife]
You must stand firm.                         You must harden your heart.                         Sacrifices must be made.
	The Husband [lyric tenor] No time for fond words nor for tender partings. No time, no time!
[Tenors & basses] To war!                         There will be war.
	The rigour of war is nigh; inexorable, demanding;
There will be war!                         Sacrifices must be made.                         You must bear it.                         You must obey.
	There will be no justice There will be no pity.
No tears! You must take up arms.
	I must take up arms.
You must serve.
	I must serve.
You must obey.
	I must obey.
He must obey,                         Obey, obey….
[The husband hesitates and the wife makes a sudden move to reach him. Sopranos           and altos hold her back]. OBEY!           [Slowly, slowly the husband goes upstage left. As he leaves sopranos and altos stand           aside, the wife sees that he has gone. Tenors and basses move upstage centre].                         [S & A to the wife]                         Alas, there will be war.
	The Wife [mezzo-soprano] I hear your footsteps fading into silence down the long corridor.
[T & B to the husband] To war!
We must stand together                         bringing comfort.
	My hands grasp out, empty, and find only your dark shadow held for a moment by the blood red sunset.
To war!
	O lover, I tremble, Will you ever return?
Alas, there will be war.
[The chorus start to march in place and eventually form two diagonal lines from upstage left to             downstage right, making a “wall. The wife rejoins the altos. The coward appears downstage             right.]
To war! To war!                         Awake.                         Take up arms.
	The Coward [Character tenor] I lurk in dark corners. Let no light fall on me.
We have lips of steel! We have hands of iron! Awake, we will prevail.
	Forever I must hide. Forever I must bear the shameful memory of the day when courage fled in the face of fear.
[S, A, T and B] Awake. Sound the trumpet! Beat the drum! Awake. Take up arms. We will prevail.
	I lurk in dark corners. Forever I must hide. Let there be no light.
We will prevail.
[The coward moves between the two lines of the chorus and “disappears”.]
We must prepare. We will build the machines of war; mass all men together; learn not to reason why. We must be ready. We must harden our hearts, direct our feelings so we can commit aggressive acts, and not recognize atrocity.
	The Wife [responding to T & B] No!
We must defend ourselves. We must bring terror and devastation. We must not hesitate. We must stand firm. We must be strong.
	No! Even in war, let us not forget to be merciful.
The enemy is dangerous. There will be resistance. To defend ourselves we must be strong.
	I fear for the future.
We are men of war and we stand ready.                               We must be strong.                               We must bear it.
	The Brothers [husband and recruit] I fear for the future.
We must be strong. We must be feared.                               [S & A]                               We must be strong. We must be feared.
[Husband and Recruit move downstage on either side of the “wall”]
	Divided we stand: a hostile wall between us and guards and guns stand ready.
We must be feared.
	Brother, you are now the enemy….
The enemy must be brought down. We have no choice.
	You, my brother, you are now my enemy. I must turn and face you and kill.
We must aim and kill.
[ACTION: The Recruit, the baritone “shoots” and wounds his brother who falls wounded].
	The Wife [seeing her husband fall] Ah, ah!
[Immediately the chorus move to surround the recruit and hold him prisoner. The Wife goes             to her husband. S & A group themselves around them.]
	The Recruit [now a prisoner] Reach hands to the invisible sky: cry out to the walls: they will echo and agree. The Husband [now wounded] My body has become the enemy from whom there is no flight.
[S & A]                               Alas!                               All wars bring suffering.
	The Recruit Cry out to the watchful guards: they will stand immobile and hold their silence. The Husband I am a prisoner of pain. Pain, stretching its dark tentacles into every corner of the night.
Alas!                               All wars bring pain and loss.                               We must bear it.                               We must stand firm.
	The Recruit & the Husband How can I escape? How?
There is no escape. No, no!                               There is no escape.                               No, no!
[The Recruit tries to escape but tenors and basses circle round him. He “disappears”].
T & B [very loud, reacting to the “escape”.] No, no!             [The Husband collapses in his wife’s arms.]
	The Widow No……
S & A, [reacting to the husband’s collapse]                               No, no!
[The Husband dies] Every war brings loss! Every war demands sacrifice.
	Black is the night and black my coat of mourning. All around is black for all is lost forever lost.
We had lips of steel, and hands of iron.
	Let not the bright daylight blind me nor the sun’s warmth melt the frozen memory.
We obeyed. We took up arms. We fought, for there was no choice. And we paid the price.
[The chorus starts to go to the Widow to comfort her, but she holds up her hand             so she can grieve alone].
	Leave me alone with my grief Leave me alone.
[Basses, very softly as they gather round the body. The husband then “disappears”].
Dies irae, dies illa……                               [S & A]                               There was no choice. solvet saeclum in favilla…..                               We paid the price. teste David cum Subilla…                               Let us grieve together.                               Let us grieve with you.
[The profiteer is revealed moving amongst the people.]             [The chorus move in front of the widow and she then “disappears”.]
Now, together, we will bring                                comfort to the bereaved…..
[The Orphan moves unobtrusively Stage right.]
	The Profiteer [The Coward] Baa, baa black sheep have you any wool? I’m here to take it for that is now the rule.
…and tend to the wounded.
	Some for the soldier and some for his girl but none for the little child who stands against the wall.
[A bass shouts out to the profiteer] Get away from here.
[The profiteer makes a hasty retreat and “disappears”]
We will grieve together,                         we will mourn together.                         Let us never forget.                         Alas, we are survivors                         alone in a cruel world.
	The Orphan [treble] No mother and no father I face the world alone. Who will feed me?
[S & A answering the Orphan]                         “The stones on the wayside                         Will be your bread”.
[The Orphan moves very slowly across stage to stage left]
Chorus [T & B] very quietly: We have won!
	Who will clothe me?
“The grey mist from the lake                         Will be your cloak.” And the victory is ours.
	Where may I sleep?
“The leaves from the bushes                         Will be your bed.” The enemy has been defeated. We have won.
	Who will love me?
“…love you, love you…?                         No-one”.
[Three survivors emerge. Meanwhile no-one takes any notice of the Orphan who is left             all alone and bereft.]
	The Survivors [T, T & B soli] The dust has settled, graying the sad world. A ghostly army, we return shuffling through the desolate land. Each one numbed with private pain and fear. We pass like shadows through the night silently, silently.
WE HAVE WON! [very loud… ff]             [S & A sole join the survivors]
	[S, A, T, T & B soli] We have lost our sons [very soft… pp]
WE HAVE WON! [softer…f]
	We have lost our homes [a little louder….p] the land lies desolate and we starve.
[some of chorus slowly move over to the semichorus]
WE HAVE WON! [softer…mf]
	[S, A, T and B soli plus some others] Cities once thriving now stand empty; buildings a rubble of stones. [now mf]
[Eventually the semichorus is the majority, very few left with the “main” chorus]
We have won! [softer still as their numbers diminish…p]
	Pestilence stalks the land [louder still….f] with ashen face devouring with voracious appetite every living thing.
We have won! [very soft…pp]
	We have lost [loud..ff]
[Tutti]                         No! We have not won:                         We have all, all of us, lost.
THE END

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