This is a beautiful article published about the response of musicians to the connecticut
"We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."
Here is the article (Original in Wall Street Journal):
For many, this will not be the most jolly of Christmases. Our region has been hit hard in the last few months, first with the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, then with the heartbreak of the shootings in Newtown, Conn.
In the aftermath of both events, artists and institutions have found creative, meaningful ways to respond. One common element has been music, to help raise money, offer solace and express what cannot be articulated in words. Music is central to our culture—and looking back at previous tragedies, too, we're reminded how consistently true that has been throughout generations.
Getty Images
Paul McCartney, center, was among the high-wattage stars on hand to raise money at the '12-12-12' concert at Madison Square Garden.
Of course, the most visible single effort was the "12-12-12" benefit concert for Sandy relief that sold out Madison Square Garden by assembling an unparalleled collection of rock talent: Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones,Alicia Keys and others. It was a mega-watt production that had enough reach to raise significant sums: Already, $50 million has been raised and is being distributed by the Robin Hood Foundation.
While pop music is of its time, there were also concerts of timeless choral music. At Trinity Wall Street, the choir and orchestra presented Bach's Mass in B Minor, a masterpiece that connects to the highs and lows of human life and reaches beyond the moment. "The singing human voice can just touch the soul in a way that nothing else can," said conductor Julian Wachner. "There is intimacy and a directness to seeing 24 singers 10 feet away from you as opposed to at Madison Square Garden or on the radio."
In response to the shootings in Newtown, some artists have been sharing new work on social media sites. Musical theater composer Jason Robert Brown recorded himself singing the names of the deceased along with a composition he played at the piano, then posted it online. The piece was conceived, he said, when he read the list of names the day after the murders. The names made him think of the children in his 7-year-old daughter's class, and a tune came to him, so he went with it. "It was not all that conscious," he said. "In this case, it just sort of began and I felt responsible to keeping it going."
Ultimately, his song, and other efforts like it, explore a different realm of communication. "Art, be it visual or musical, speaks to something that is not expressible in words," Mr. Brown said. "Even poetry speaks to the words beyond the words. I still don't have any way to describe my emotions about it. All I could do was make music about it."
The proximity of the Newtown tragedy to the holidays has added an even more difficult layer of emotion. Conductor David Hayes, who leads the New York Choral Society and other groups, sensed the uncertainty of the audience when he led an annual Christmas carol sing-along in Philadelphia the day after the shootings. "Some people weren't quite prepared for it, and some people wanted to forget," he said, adding that he chose not to preface the concert with a spoken introduction. "I felt like the music would speak for itself. What could I say in words?"
Perhaps a year from now, there will be a new piece of music that serves as a memorial. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, composer John Adams was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic to compose a work for the occasion. A year later, his "On the Transmigration of Souls" made its debut. Mr. Adams's haunting work, which blends the reading of names with orchestra and a choir of children and adults, earned the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for music.
"On the Transmigration of Souls" has been performed since, and it has assumed a broader significance, Mr. Hayes said: "It has had a chance to transcend its moment. It's about more than the specific event. It makes it universal."
That's what the great masterpieces in the classical repertory are—and have been for centuries. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, completed in 1824, was performed by the New York Philharmonic in response to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in 1865. (The orchestra chose to omit the "Ode to Joy.") In 1963, after the assassination of President Kennedy, the Philharmonic played Mahler's Symphony No. 2, completed in 1894, for a televised concert led by Leonard Bernstein.
If any musical figure could encapsulate a moment with a few words, it was Bernstein. Three days after Kennedy's death, the conductor addressed the United Jewish Appeal benefit at Madison Square Garden, delivering a speech that has been printed and quoted many times since. It bears printing and quoting again:
"We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before."
Write to Pia Catton at pia.catton@wsj.com
A version of this article appeared December 24, 2012, on page A19 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: A Song Is Worth 1,000 Words.
Singing oneness!
0 Comments