150th Anniversary
EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION CONCERT
Preconcert
lecture
Welcome and thank you for
attending preconcert lecture of 150th
Anniversary Emancipation Proclamation Concert, POLITICS OF MUSIC:
ABRAHAM LINCOLN and composer ROY HARRIS.
I am John Malveaux
president of the Long Beach Central Area Association and MusicUNTOLD.
This lecture consists of my personal recollections, experiences, and
opinions without endorsement or approval from sponsors or
participating artists. Sponsors and participating artist do not
warrant or make any representations regarding accuracy of my
recollections, experiences, and opinions.
It is documented that
President Abraham Lincoln was particularly fond of music by Giuseppe
Verdi, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Negro Spirituals. The assassination
of President Lincoln took place on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, as
the Civil War was drawing to a close. Lincoln was the first American
president to be assassinated.
American composer Roy
Harris was born in a log cabin in Lincoln County, Oklahoma, on
Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, 1898. Roy Harris grew to
feel overshadowed by President Abraham Lincoln. Roy Harris was the
first American symphony composer recorded by an American record
company (CBS-1933). Beginning in 1938 Harris became one of the first
composers to become involved in radio on a regular basis. He hosted a
show for CBS called, “Let's Make Music” and remained involved in
the medium into the 1950s. Roy Harris’s Symphony No. 3 was
written in 1939 and has been described as the “quintessential
American symphony”. The symphony has been conducted and recorded by
numerous notables including Leonard Bernstein and the New York
Philharmonic.
His Fifth Symphony,
premiered in early 1943 and was dedicated to the U.S.'s "great
ally, the Union of Soviet Republics," and broadcast to the
Soviet Union as well as to American troops around the world. When it
appeared that Hitler may win World War 11, a British group collected
great works of art to place in a time capsule and drop in the ocean
for the benefit of future generation. Roy Harris was the only
American composer included in the time capsule. In later years, when
a time capsule was made for John F. Kennedy’s years in the White
House, Roy Harris’s 3rd and 5th Symphonies were included. In 1946,
Roy Harris was commissioned to compose music for sacred Jewish text.
‘Mi khamokha’ is a single track on Milken Archive of Jewish
Music, volume 7, Masterworks of Prayer (Art in Worship).
Roy’s dedication of the
FIFTH Symphony to the Soviet people became an issue during
McCarthyism. When he refused to stop a Pittsburg Symphony performance
conducted by William Steinberg, he became a direct target. Conductor
William Steinberg was born Hans Wilhelm Steinberg, a German Jew. The
treats against Roy and his family reached the height that an escort
was sometimes necessary for his children to attend school and several
relocations were necessary for family safety. Roy did have support
from the American Legion and other influential individuals and
organizations. His music was boycotted by mainstream radio and
concert hall. Roy Harris fell from a household name to obscurity.
In 1958, the U.S. State
Department sent Roy Harris and five fellow composers to the Soviet
Union as Cultural Ambassadors on the first cultural exchange with the
Soviet Union. He became the first American to conduct in the Soviet
Union when he conducted the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra in a
performance of his FIFTH symphony. Roy Harris met most of the
prominent Soviet composers, including Dmitri Shostakovich.
In early 1979, I offered
Roy Harris a commission to write a symphony for me. He accepted the
offer and we entered a contract. At a later time, he informed me that
the Soviet Union Olympic Committee had previously asked him to
compose a symphony for international broadcast during the opening
ceremony of the 1980 summer games scheduled for Moscow. Considering
he did not know what to write for me and his advanced age, Roy
offered the symphony he would compose for the 1980 Summer Olympic
Games as the commissioned work for me. I accepted his offer.
Roy Harris compositions of
‘When Johnny Comes Home’ (1935), his Sixth Symphony ‘Gettysburg’
(1944), ‘Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight’ for mezzo-soprano,
violin, cello, and piano (1953), and his Tenth Symphony ‘Abraham
Lincoln’ (1965) were inspired, as were other works, by Abraham
Lincoln. When commissioned to compose a symphony for the 200th
birthday of our nation, he again turned to Abraham Lincoln and sacred
American documents for inspiration.
Roy Harris 14th Symphony,
also known as the “Bicentennial Symphony” premiered in Washington
D.C., February 10-12, 1976 with the National Symphony Orchestra at
the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In my opinion, it is the
strongest musical statement on U.S. History, slavery, and race
relations ever made by an American composer. The work was written
for orchestra with large chorus. The chorus carries the larger part
of the work with passages from the Preamble to the Constitution, the
Gettysburg Address, and the Emancipation Proclamation as well as
original passages.
The introduction is a
musical representation of dawn to daylight. The first movement is a
setting of the Preamble of the Constitution. The second movement is
an exposition of the bitter disagreement about slavery between the
North and the South. The third movement is a statement in music
about the ferocity of the Civil War, brother against brother. The
fourth movement is a musical setting of Abraham Lincoln’s “Freedom
Proclamation”. The fifth movement is a musical setting of new
attitudes of free black people. The coda is a setting of portions of
the Preamble of the Constitution proclaiming freedom “for all of
us”.
Critics mauled the
premiere performance and most of the audience misinterpreted the work
as an indictment instead of a celebration. Cellist Rostropovich
performed separately on the same program. Upon my inquiry in
subsequent years, the National Symphony Orchestra insisted no
archival recording was made of the performance. The work was
scheduled to be performed the following week by the Dallas Symphony.
The story was told by the Dallas Symphony that the score was “LOST
IN FLIGHT” and therefore the Third substituted for the
“Bicentennial Symphony”.
Roy Harris died October 1,
1979 with the unfinished OLYMPIC SYMPHONY at his bedside. He was the
honorary composer laureate of the State of California. The United
States Olympic Committee later contracted with me to organize a Roy
Harris tribute concert featuring Members of the New York Philharmonic
at Avery Hall as a USOC fundraiser and a goodwill gesture to the
Soviet Olympic Committee. While developing the concert and while the
1980 Winter Games were in process at Lake Placid, I received a call
from the USOC and a U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel telling me the
contract for the Roy Harris tribute and USOC fundraiser could not be
completed because President Carter would announce a boycott of the
1980 Summer Games in Moscow the next day due to a Soviet Union
invasion of Afghanistan.
Juneteenth is the oldest
celebration in the nation commemorating the ending of slavery. In
2009, the Long Beach Central Area Association and City of Long Beach
Park Recreation & Marine co-presented a FREE performance of the
“Bicentennial Symphony” as part of their annual Juneteenth
Celebration at MLK Jr. Park. The Long Beach Central Area Association
collected a pick up MusicUNTOLD Orchestra and Chorale to perform the
west coast premiere of the ‘Bicentennial Symphony’. The work had
not been performed in 33 years. The performance was endorsed by the
Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Without question, Roy
Harris was far beyond his most productive years in 1976. The
‘Bicentennial Symphony’ is not comparable to a Beethoven work
with striking motifs suitable for daily enjoyment. The ‘Bicentennial
Symphony’ was composed as an ‘occasion piece’. It is an
accurate interpretation of American history. The ‘Bicentennial
Symphony’ was not an indictment of America history. It is a ‘one
of a kind’ American celebration in music of our nation defeating
darkness and moving toward the light of humanity. In CONFEDERATE
RECKONING, Dr. Stephanie McCurry states “The short-lived
Confederate States of American was a signal event in the history of
the Western world. What secessionists set out to build was something
entirely new in the history of nation: a modern proslavery and
antidemocratic state, dedicated to the proposition that all men were
not created equal.” Many are uncomfortable with this view and the
subject of United States slavery is almost entirely kept out of
concert halls.
Tonight’s
concert month/date exactly match President Lincoln’s preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation drafted on September
22, 1862. The 150th Anniversary of the Civil
War started April 12, 2011 and will continue until April 9, 2015. I
believe the refusal of any major orchestra to revisit Roy Harris
“Bicentennial Symphony” illustrates the POLITICS OF MUSIC.
Several years ago, a leading PBS ‘GREAT PERFORMANCES’ producer
offered to cover the work if I could find a leading United States
orchestra to perform the piece. I failed to find a leading United
States orchestra willing to perform the piece. Also, of surprise to
me, the oldest African American community orchestra in the nation (60
years) declined an offer to perform the symphony. However, I hold out
hope. Throughout history, one can find other examples of a major
composer’s work being misunderstood in one period and embraced in
another period.
Please visit
www.musciuntold.com
and view the performance of the ‘Bicentennial Symphony’ during
the 2009 Long Beach Juneteenth Celebration. Although an amateur
performance, the MusicUNTOLD Orchestra and Chorale provide the only
admitted recording that separates an American treasure from
non-existence. You may contact John Malveaux for additional
information about Roy Harris ‘Bicentennial Symphony’ at
Jmalveaux@gmail.com.
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