What is it about Emerson`s poem that you find so compelling, and

H+H FIRSTS
H+H has a long and distinguished history of premiering new works. In 1823, it even approached Beethoven
to write a grand oratorio in the style of Handel. (Beethoven, who in his later years was preoccupied with his
final string quartets, never got to the project.) In more recent decades, H+H has commissioned new works by
Daniel Pinkham, Randall Thompson, and John Tavener.
On June 18, 2015, as part of the concert program Handel and Haydn Sings, award-winning American
composer Gabriela Lena Frank will get her turn in the spotlight: a world premiere work based on the poem
Boston Hymn by Ralph Waldo Emerson, arranged for chorus and chamber ensemble.
The work is a co-commission with the Library of Congress.
Q+A WITH COMPOSER
GABRIELA
LENA
FRANK
What is it about Emerson’s poem that you find so compelling, and what
do you enjoy most about setting a text to music?
In looking at Emerson’s “Boston Hymn,” an example of Transcendentalist
poetry at its best, my composer’s eye already finds attractive its lofty calls
for freedom and self-determination welded to specific, even humble, imagery familiar to the farmers who built our nation. My challenge will be
how to capture something that I find so essentially American — that an
ordinary existence can be tied to extraordinary aspirations — in sound.
I love writing for the voice, the original instrument! This transcends all
cultures and while it is our oldest form of expression, no one can deny its
modernity either, its continued relevance for newly created songs. It’s a
truly timeless vehicle.
Many people in the music world identify you as a composer comfortable working in different musical traditions. Your family heritage, after
all, is Peruvian, Jewish, and Chinese. To what extent does this polyglot
background inform your music?
This is a really great question, and I honestly think that Bela Bartók of
Hungary, Benjamin Britten of England, and Chou Wen Chung (originally
of China, now lives in New York) are the truest kindred spirits in terms
of how my polyglot background informs my work. Although Bartók was
a champion arranger, these composers mostly created completely original material that was inspired by their knowledge and careful study of
other cultures. So, by becoming very familiar with traditions, they can
add to it authentically yet with a completely original and personal voice.
This inspires me because I’m not sure imitation and/or assembling
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HANDEL + HAYDN BICENTENNIAL
already existing material is the greatest flattery!
Rather, meeting the essence of a culture head-on
and grappling with it in lieu of keeping it self-contained, unfiltered through the blender of your craft
and imagination, is my preferred way to pay tribute.
And paying tribute can come in many forms. For
instance, inspired by a particularly wobbly vocal vibrato enacted by high-voiced Quechua women from
the sierras of Peru, I might ask members of a classical
string quartet to not only create a similar vibrato as
IMPORTANT H+H
PREMIERES
Meeting the essence of a culture headon and grappling with it in lieu of keeping
it self-contained, unfiltered through the
blender of your craft and imagination, is
my preferred way to pay tribute.
AMERICAN PREMIERES
DECEMBER 25, 1818 Messiah by George Frideric Handel
(complete)
FEBRUARY 16, 1819 The Creation by Joseph Haydn (complete)
APRIL 13, 1829 Missa longa in C Major by Wolfgang
Amadé Mozart
JANUARY 26, 1845 Samson by George Frideric Handel
NOVEMBER 15, 1855 Solomon by George Frideric Handel
FEBRUARY 17, 1867 Jephtha by George Frideric Handel
MAY 5, 1878 Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi
APRIL 11, 1879 Saint Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach
(complete)
their bow draws across the string, but will help them highlight this irregular sound by giving them melodies and harmonies that are curiously
dissonant and, well, wobbly! This brings the idea of “wobble” in areas
beyond just the technical act of playing the music (the vibrato) but leaps
into the deeper levels of the piece itself.
I’m also a firm believer that connections can be made between any cocktail of cultures if one has the ingenuity to suss it out. I’ve sometimes
felt that my job was to be a matchmaker… I can introduce a viola to an
Andean pan pipe, find the overlap between the two, and then compose a
piece from that place. And if I do my job right, I’ll create a piece of music
that makes the overlap even larger.
DECEMBER 8, 1967 Messiah by George Frideric Handel
(Mozart arrangement)
OCTOBER 28, 1971 Le diable boiteux by Jean Françaix
MARCH 2001 Hymn of Thanks and Friendship by
C.P.E. Bach
BOSTON PREMIERES
JANUARY 22, 1843 St. Paul by Felix Mendelssohn
FEBRUARY 26, 1843 Stabat Mater by Gioachino Rossini
DECEMBER 5, 1847 Judas Maccabaeus by George
Frideric Handel
FEBRUARY 13, 1848 Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn
FEBRUARY 5, 1853 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor by Ludwig
van Beethoven
JANUARY 18, 1857 Requiem in D Minor by Wolfgang
Amadé Mozart
For this upcoming Bicentennial Season at H+H, we have a running
theme of composers influenced by others, i.e., Vivaldi influencing
Bach, Mendelssohn and Haydn influenced by Handel's oratorios.
Which composers have most influenced you?
Oh, the list is long: Bach, my original jazz musician and contrapuntalist,
recalibrates me every time I listen or play his music; punk rocker Peter
Pan Mozart brightens me when my energy flags; late moody Beethoven
makes me take myself and my music more seriously; Britten shocks me
with his inventiveness and lyricism; Ravel’s luminosity of orchestration
makes me clean my own sonic paintbrushes; Stravinsky and Prokofiev
remind me to draw on the rugged insistent rhythms of my own South
American forebears; Shostakovich asks that I not be afraid to stare down
life’s bleakly ironic moments. And Bartók! To me, Bartók embraces all of
these qualities of the aforementioned composers with an eye to cultural
brotherhood. My influences are many and I'm indeed standing on the
shoulders of giants, as they say.
FEBRUARY 13, 1859 Israel in Egypt by George Frideric Handel
APRIL 6, 1930 Psalmus Hungaricus by Zoltan Kodaly
FEBRUARY 8, 1969 Le dit des jeux du monde (The Story of the
World at Play) by Arthur Honegger
DECEMBER 12, 1975 Il ritorno di Tobia by Joseph Haydn
JANUARY 31, 2002 Lamentations and Praises by John Tavener
WORLD PREMIERES
MARCH 28, 1965 Passion According to St. Luke by
Randall Thompson
APRIL 27, 1973 Daniel in the Lion’s Den by Daniel Pinkham
MARCH 25, 1977 Garden Party by Daniel Pinkham
MARCH 1999 JFK: The Voice of Peace by Dan Welcher
SEPTEMBER 11, 2011 Illuminessence: prayers for peace by
Silvio Amato
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HANDEL + HAYDN BICENTENNIAL
Gabriela Lena Frank’s new piece receives its world premiere on Thursday,
June 18 at 7.30pm in Symphony Hall. The performance is being presented in conjunction with the Chorus America National Conference, held in
Boston from June 17–20, 2015.