Symphony No. 16 – Remember the Ladies

1. And Ain’t I A Woman for Orchestra

Harbach’s piece, And Ain’t I A Woman for Orchestra is inspired by Sojourner Truth (1797 – 1883) who was born into slavery and became an African-American abolitionist and women’s rights activist.  Her famous speech, delivered extemporaneously in 1851, became known as “Ain’t I a Woman?”

And ain’t I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man – when I could get it – and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

The short introduction opens with a dramatic and declamatory statement “And Ain’t I A Woman?”  At the end of the piece, she contemplates the celestial, and begins to assert her strength and independence, “I’m not going to die, I’m going home like a shooting star.” This is a musical tribute to the strength and courage of Sojourner Truth and all the women, who each in their own way, exhibit boundless courage and fortitude against sometimes unseemly odds.

2. Mysteries for Orchestra is based on the mysteries of Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976). She became, and remains, the best-selling novelist of all time. “The Queen of Crime” is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap.

Mysteries for Orchestra evokes the quintessential character and spirit of Agatha Christie mystery novels. The instruments imitate, chase, and call out to one another as they explore the full range and dynamic possibilities of all the instruments. Folk-like melodies, harmonies built on fourths, dissonances of rubbing seconds, clashing sevenths, and devilish fourths (diabolous in musica) give color to the dialogues. The musical terrain includes calm, quiet conversations, ecstatic dancing, and fiery musical competition before settling on a common vision as do the climaxes of Christie’s novels.

3. Light Out of Darkness for Orchestra

“I cannot remember how I felt when the light went out of my eyes. I suppose I felt it was always night and perhaps I wondered why the day did not come.”

The extraordinary story of the life of Helen Keller (1880-1968) resonates in all of us. After a childhood fever, Helen became blind and deaf at the age of nineteen months. Only through the patience and great empathy of Anne Sullivan did Helen begin to develop her potential as a creative, articulate, and intelligent woman.

Light Out of Darkness is taken from Helen Keller’s own words.  The instrumental voices float over the string accompaniment and express a wise and wonderful blending of the senses. It is in four short sections, each with a slightly different character.  My Fingers are Wise has a descending lyrical melody that portrays some of the poignant realities of Keller’s world. My Fingers Split the Sand evokes the joy and playfulness of “the rippling music of the sea.”  In the Realms of Wonder where I Dwell recalls the mood of the opening, but also some of the strong soaring spirit of the poet. The instrumental choirs then echo each other portraying Keller’s words. The final section reprises the first.

4. I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed is based on the poem of the great American poet, Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). I Taste a Liquor Never Brewed portrays a mystical state of experiencing the soul’s awareness, an awareness that is so overwhelmingly uplifting that she feels as if she had become intoxicated by drinking alcohol.
5. If You Were Coming in the Fall also based on a Dickinson poem about love, time, and separation, and addressed to someone who is away, with the instruments sighing and remembering.
6. Wild Nights! Wild Nights! is based on two of Dickinson’s poems, Wild Nights! Wild Nights! and For Each Ecstatic Instant. Wild Nights! Wild Nights! is a poem of unrestrained passion and rapture. For Each Ecstatic Instant describes a relationship of joy and pain and joy is inevitably paid for by suffering – joy is brief, but the resulting pain lasts. The orchestral instruments intermingle and weave the melodies, each an integral part of the whole forming a new union.
7. The Fallen Woman is dedicated to Dr. Diane Touliatos-Miles, who introduced Harbach to the life and music of Kassia. Touliatos-Miles was the first musicologist to recover the greatness of Kassia’s music.

Kassia (c. 810-c. 867) was well-known as a poet, composer, and hymnographer.  She also is remembered as an important historical figure as well as heroine of an unusual love story.

“The Fallen Woman” is still sung in the morning Office of Holy Wednesday in the Byzantine Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church.

The piece has original material depicting the live of Kassia, as well as including sections based on Harbach’s choral composition, Psalm 4, Have Mercy on Me, O God.

The Fallen Woman is a loose rondo form of ABACACABA and Coda, and has contrasting sections, changing meter and tonalites, varying textures, and harmonies.

8. Remember the Ladies!
   Abigail Smith Adams inherited New England’s strongest traditions, and what she lacked in formal education her keen intelligence and curiosity molded her into a formidable woman: farm manager, financial manager, letter writer, political advisor, diplomatic wife, and First Lady. Her letters to John Adams, pungent, colorful, and witty detail her life in times of the American Revolution. As an intellectually open-minded woman of her day, Abigail’s ideas on women’s rights, education, equal rights, and the government would eventually play a role in the founding of the United States.  Her marriage to John was a marriage of the mind and of the heart, lasting more than half a century, deeply enriched by time.

In Remember the Ladies, Abigail expresses her hope for equal treatment of women. In letters to John in 1776, she writes him, “For, if man is Lord, woman is Lordess.”

Remember the Ladies! begins with a tango – a dance of seduction, since for centuries women could not express their opinions directly but had to get their thoughts and ideas heard via feminine wiles.  The orchestral choirs appear individually as well as together to persuade John to “Remember the Ladies.”  The tango ends quietly, not with loud shouting, but with downcast eyes demurely, aware that her words were not heard.