S y m p h o n y No. 7
Program Notes
Symphony No. 7
Concerto for Narrator & Orchestra
Kenneth Lieberson
Spring 2020
...started out to be a piece of absolute music. It’s original title was “No Plot.”That was meant to contrast with my Fifth and Sixth which are also concertos for Narrator & Orchestra. Initial sketches needed something more. Unable to figure it out, I got deeply depressed until I realized I still was consumed by the political material of my Sixth. Becoming aware of that led me to augment the title to “No Plot- No Plot Against America,” after Philip Roth’s novel. Then the poems for the four initial moments seemed to write themselves. The additional movement- written last but is the first of this piece- grew out of a feeling that more of an exposition was needed- before the exposition. Had I been writing in earlier times, this mini-movement would have been the slow introduction to the first movement. For this piece, a separation was needed to allow a reflection on the themes, which will come to represent characters and ideas as the music develops in subsequent movements. Many of the themes occur in all the movements. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, one of my earliest muses is very much with me. I can still feel my twelve year old’s delight in savoring the delicious orchestral colors. It set up an appetite for certain works by Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Falla, Respighi and Bartok. Movement I ends with an oboe solo above a somber bass note. The reflection continues in the first bars of the second movement with dreamlike string harmonies accompanying winds and percussion. Percussion, in canon introduced the first movement. Canons of various types are a unifying feature of this work. The word canon means law. I suspect on an unconscious level, I sought “the law” as an antidote to the lawlessness of our present administration. Rhythmic, metric and tempo changes underscore the rising action. Movement II as if to say, “And now what- how do we get out of the systemic mess we are in?”
This entire work is about rhythm- the rhythms of our explosive times and of a vitality- a more or less continual flow- which at this later stage of life I am only beginning to discover. Although my earlier works have rhythmic sections, the Sixth and Seventh are my first pieces to be all about rhythm- including the rhythm of the text. My interest in rhythm got a boost from the poetry I began to write soon after I retired from teaching. (700+ poems in the past two years.)Movement III is alternately lyrical, majestic, reminiscent and pained. Movement IV uses jazz-like sections for comic relief. It is essentially a scherzo. Movement V grew out of Mov. VI. It is an introduction with the feel of a recitative. Up to this point all the movements have been short; the subject matter demanded a larger canvass. The first draft of the Seventh was close to an hour. As I edited, it became clear that the early movements were all introductions to the development, recapitulation and coda which form movement VI. As a structural and dramatic device, chromaticism and dissonance gradually increase reaching their high point at the climax of movement VI where a counter melody is added to the movement’s main theme- it is the American folk tune When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The intent is to protest armed forces being used against our own people. The melody is clearly in a meter of six but is accompanied in 4/4. Similarly when the jazz waltz is reprised, the percussion is not in three. These are just two of the numerous hints that something fundamental is out of sync in our times. The last movement is a journey. It includes- it requires audience participation in saying the names of wrongfully murdered Black Americans and the preamble from our nation’s Declaration of Independence. These are to be projected on a screen above the orchestra. The symphony ends with another opportunity for reflection. c
The work is scored for
Narrator accompanied by
Two flutes
Two oboes
Two clarinets
Two bassoons
Four French Horns
Two Trumpets
Three Trombones
Bass Tuba
Glockenspiel
Xylophone
Timpani
Bass drum
Snare drum
Large Gong
Log Drums:
Ashiko, Krin Slit Drum, Sistrum
Djembe
Drum Kit:
Suspended Cymbal
Triangle
Ride Cymbal
Snare drum 🥁
Low Tom
Kick Drum
Strings
Timings:
Total playing time: 29 min. 48 sec.
Mov. I 2:14
Mov. II 3:38
Mov. III 3:47a
Mov. IV 3:39
Mov. V 1:59
Mov. VI 14:31
Symphony No. 7 Text
No Plot...No Plot Against America
Mov. I
Introduction
In ancient times...In ancient times, there was a curse...The ancient curse? The ancient curse was"May your life be... interesting."In these interesting times...(Narrator slowly walks off stage.)The ancient curse?The ancient curse was"May your life be... interesting."
Mov. II
In these difficult timesIn these difficult, terribly difficult timesIn these terrible timesIn this time without endwithout endTo the suffering, deathBehold young as well as oldYeah behold young as well as oldIn this cold warThis war of virus, you can call it a flu, a coldBe boldBe boldNo one really knows what it is.Such is the monkey brained biz.In the face of crimes against humanity.In these times of these crimesMany look to Sean Hannity.1938 Hindemith leaves 🇩🇪 Germany with his beloved wife.Be BoldBe ResoluteBe astute In these difficult timesIn these terrible times
Mov. III
Barr’s Bars
Bars come in many kinds. There are Kind Bars.There are ice cream bars. There are bars which have reopened Serving, liquor 🥃 And corona 👑 the beer 🍺 Have no fear There are low bars for corporations and political cronies and other phonies to be enriched. Perfect pitch have these callsFooling some of the people allThe time while the 🩸 bleeder of the free world injects a dose of good clean 🧼 fun urging liberation of the states’ stay at home 🏡 on doctors’ orders More important to bar the Chinese flu from coming to you through our southern borders. There are higher bars to businesses small Put the unemployed at greater risk Whisk away healthcare Let criminals out from behind bars especially if they can be useful to the bargain basement banana Republicans. … the bargain basement lockstep banana Republicans whores always wanting more.Relax have some smores.There are bars holding kids in cages according to the sageslike summer camps. Come out of the cold - or the flu-Come out whenever you are To hear the Barr The greatest bar none who Passed the Bar showing a knowing of the letter but not the better spirit of the law Barr is just…Barr is just…seeking to bar health and safety near and far.In these difficult timesIn these terribly difficult timesIn these difficult times.
Mov. IV
Without Drums
(title by William Henry Lieberson)
Fly ‘emFly ‘em fast Pack ‘em tight. To graduation at lastThe Chinese flu is nothing to sneeze at butGot to hear the POTUS riff, stew, spewTell us he does a great job for you.Shows compassion by opening schools and churches too… soon.It's not as though he just makes a little mistakeonce in a blue moon.(I thought this movement had no drums. Oh, I see... you say it's an alternative fact.)Behold!Oh Great Muse Our Founding FathersNot amusedWould have blown a fuse!Is there a way to excuse How he doth daily abuse?By the hour Less separation of powers. A dangerous sort of thingIs a unitary king 🤴 Fly ‘emFly ‘em fast Pack ‘em tight. For my reality show every night.Get rid of the fact-based scientists who know.Bring in a kow-towing CEO.The unfavorable poll was not on his wish list.So he ordered a stop and desist.
Mov. V Recitative
is instrumental, the only movement, ironically without text.
Mov. VI
Igor meets Johannes in the Asphalt Jungle
Oh, 😎 relax. Have a corona. With Lyme Behold!Oh Great Muse Is there a way to excuse How he doth daily abuse?
Behold!Yeah, I beheld.
And what do I see, Brown Bear?
I see lots of booze and beerInsufficient...to hide the pain and desperation and... fear.I am torn up, devastated horrified by the gasoline being poured on the fires of
already sickening, unendingly painful, heartbreaking, gut punch“very stable genius- war president.”(Recording played on house speakers... with request for audience to read aloud.)I am torn up, devastatedhorrified by the murders and sadistic, vengeful lies tearing our country apart.the pain and desperation and... fear.Don’t believe what you see or hear.Trust me. We’re going a great job.I’m doing a terrific job.Relax.Have a corona. With Lyme...Yeah, a corona. With Lyme...Disease No health Insurance Businesses closing. Little ones. The little puny mom and pop shops. Bailed out big, huge corporations. (Struts across the stage, holding his imaginary suspenders, with evident pride.)It could be worse.
What?!!!
Yeah, could have been much, much worse...It could have happened...could have happened... to me.In ancient times...In ancient times, there was a curse...I am torn up, devastatedhorrified by the murders and sadistic, vengeful lies tearing our country apart.Get your knee off of my neck.I am torn up, devastatedhorrified by the murders and sadistic, vengeful lies tearing our country apart.It has cost me billionsto be the greatest President maybe sinceLincoln.Except I’m smarter. I defunded public theaters. Trickle down Trickle downPop. Putin is pleased 😀 No denying Your lying made America greatly sick 😷 And M.R.G.A.Only one letter different You made Russia 🇷🇺 great again ThenPop…Pop…PowerfulI’m strong.Not a flop.Pop…Pop…Pop…That’s the sound of everything greatExploding, coming to a full stop.Lucky for meI’m responsibility free.In this time without endIn these terrible, terrible timesIn these difficult, difficult timesNeedless, senseless death and suffering. Oh, 😎 relax. (Turns away from audience for a second to put on sunglasses and baseball cap worn backwards.)I beheld.the pain and desperation and... fear.When Johnny Comes Marching HomeHe must not be told to shoot our own peopleLeast of all so a tyrant can walk through a parkto a church where he holds a bible upside down.
(As Narrator reads, the opening lines of our Declaration of Independence he encourages the audience to read along with him. The words are in the program notes as well as projected on a huge screen above the stage. Loudspeakers in the hall should play these words, at first very quietly, crescendo with many different voices.)
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men (1) are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”(2)
The three things:Martin Luther King Mahatma Ghandi Mother Theresa The Dali LamaTich Nhat Han and Burt Bacharach walk into a bar. First, they decide to raise the bar. Then, they decide that what the world needs now is ❤️ love, sweet love...And a little humor. May you be safeMay you be free of sufferingMay you be healhyMay you live life with easeLiving in the momentWith compassion for yourselfYour loved onesYour friendsAnd Those who see things differently.******(1) We should make one change substituting “all people” for “all men.”
(2) Preamble to the United States of America’s Declaration of Independence
