Adolphus C. Hailstork
(Rose Grace)
Lawrence Conservatory of Music
Appleton, Wisconsin
Meditations on Music: Hailstork
There is no sugar-coating the fact that it took all of the 144 years
the Conservatory has existed for an oratorio by an African American
composer to be performed. But this past Friday, the Lawrence University
Choirs and Symphony Orchestra brought to the stage two works by Dr.
Adolphus Hailstork—“I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes” and “Done Made My Vow”—and
despite the Conservatory not having much diversity, the concert was one
of respect and optimism. Performing the works made the artists dig deep
into their significance. It spurred productive discussion and, as
conductor Dr. Stephen Sieck said in his program notes, interrogation.
There have not been many concerts on campus that have raised as much
discussion as this, and for this reason alone, although there are many
others, this performance and its preparation should be the start of
something much bigger.
An oratorio is a large ensemble work for choir, orchestra and
soloists; it is a tradition for the Conservatory to perform an oratorio
in the spring. The past few years have featured works by Bach, Haydn and
Handel. While highly regarded in the canon, these compositions have
lost nearly all of their footing and significance in today’s world.
Musically, things have progressed. Socially, things have progressed. Yet
until this year, the Conservatory has stayed in this standstill in
regard to oratorios.
Hailstork’s music looked forward in many ways and to see how that
impacted the musicians and attendees even before a note was sounded had
me tearing up and moved to the core. In the past, when asking friends if
I should go to an orchestra, choir, wind ensemble, etc. concert, I was
often responded to with a, “No, it’s going to be bad/boring/etc.” Still
wanting to support my friends, I would sometimes go and usually have had
to agree with them. But before this year’s major work, I scrolled
through Facebook to see countless posts about the concert—often long and
thoughtful—of friends excitedly telling me to go, hearing talk about it
frequently around the Conservatory and campus from people I did not
know and just a general enthusiasm for it.
When arriving at Memorial Chapel, the place was warmer than usual, a
full house of students, faculty and staff, families and Appletonians.
There are so many people that want to play new music from a wide variety
of cultural and racial perspectives and so many people that want to
hear it, and why that is not often embraced baffles me. Everything about
this experience, even before the music began, is a lesson in what music
should be played and how it should be played. We should program and
perform more new music from diverse perspectives. Even if “respecting
traditions” and drawing from the canon seems like the thing to do, we
should program and perform more new music that celebrates voices that
have been silenced, but still exist, and should be heard.
Everything was moving and enjoyable to listen to. These are qualities
I have rarely felt at non-improv or jazz concerts. While I may have
experienced these feelings a few times, the feeling was never as intense
as it was at Hailstork. The pieces had so much context and significance
in today’s world—musically and socially. That makes too much sense for
concerts like this not to happen much more often.
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