Beating Swords Into Trumpets
President's Concert, "Waging Peace: Music in Time of War" Premieres New Work

By Catherine Lee

Composers Hyunsook Chung, Tony Randolph and Andrew Simpson each studied one of the 19 statues at D.C.’s Korean War Memorial for inspiration before writing a one-minute section of “Songs of the Forgotten War,” which will premiere during the 2005 President’s Concert and Symposia at Catholic University.
 

Simpson, associate professor of music, describes his piece, which is based on a statue of a soldier holding a walkie-talkie, as “agitated and pulsating with energy.”

The work by the three composers and 16 others from the D.C. area will premiere during Part III: Dialogues of the third annual President’s Concert, “Waging Peace: Music in Time of War.” The highlight of the university’s performance calendar, this year’s President’s Concert will be performed over four evenings beginning Thursday, April 14, and continuing through Sunday, April 17, in the Great Room of the Pryzbyla Center.

Commissioned by the music school, “Songs of the Forgotten War” represents “a wonderful variety of styles unified by a single topic — a commemoration of all who served in the Korean War,” says Simpson, coordinator of the project.

In addition to Chung, Randolph and Simpson, the group of composers includes 12 others who are affiliated with CUA as students, graduates or faculty. Their assignment was to write a piece for some variation of cello, piano and/or violin. They could also include a range of vocal parts.

Serving Mankind in Its Darkest Moment
Conceived by Murry Sidlin, dean of the music school, the President’s Concert’s four evenings of music will feature a broad range of selections recalling America’s battles from the Civil War through the Vietnam era.
 
The concert’s Part 1: Souvenirs, on Thursday, April 14, will feature the CUA Musical Theatre Company performing popular music from five wars. During Part II: Lessons, the CUA Symphony Orchestra will perform four pieces that reflect the emotional impact of war. In addition to the premiere of the Korean War piece, Part III: Dialogues will feature performances of several other works.

The concerts will conclude on April 17 with Part IV: and Then Silent Bugles, a performance of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” as a concert/drama that includes dramatic readings and video interpretations.  Combining the Latin Mass for the Dead with excerpts from the poetry of World War I casualty Wilfred Owen, the 1962 piece reflects Britten’s anti-war sentiments.

The statues at D.C.'s Korean War Memorial inspired the composers of "Songs of the Forgotten War."

Putting the Music in Context
Symposia organized by Grayson Wagstaff, CUA musicologist and associate professor, will complement the “Waging Peace” performances. Symposia events, which are free and open to the public, include film screenings, lectures and roundtable discussions that will be held on campus April 11 through April 16.
 
During the symposia lectures and roundtable discussions, scholars from CUA and other colleges and universities will present research about the selections to be performed at the President’s Concert. 

“By sharing their work with our students and other members of the CUA community, the symposia speakers will demonstrate the intimate connection between research and musical performance,” says Wagstaff.

At the April 11 symposium, Patrick McCreless, Department of Music chair at Yale University and an internationally recognized expert on Shostakovich, will discuss the composer’s Trio in E minor, Op 67, which the Rome Trio will perform during the April 16 concert, and Denise Gallo, Library of Congress senior music specialist and a leading expert on connections between literature, poetry and music, will discuss Britten and his use of poetry by Owen.

The April 14 symposium, like the concert that evening, will highlight the reaction to war in popular music and on Broadway from the mid 1800s to the 20th century. At that evening’s symposium, Katherine Preston, Department of Music chair at the College of William and Mary and the leading expert on 19th-century music in the United States, will discuss music during the Civil War.
                 

Each nightly installment of the concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Single ticket prices are $25, $15 and $10. To purchase tickets, call 202-319-5416. A complete list of events, starting with the first symposia roundtable and ending with the last performance, follows.

Monday, April 11
4 p.m., Roundtable: “Britten, Shostakovich and the Cold War” 
Ward Hall, John Paul Hall
Grayson Wagstaff, CUA musicologist and associate professor, will moderate a discussion of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” as a reaction to war and the music of Dmitri Shostakovich under the Soviet regime. Roundtable participants include Denise Gallo, musicologist and senior music specialist with the Library of Congress, who will give a presentation titled “ ‘Dulce et decorum est’: Wilfred Owen and Benjamin Britten on War,” and Patrick McCreless, professor and chair, Department of Music, Yale University, who will give a presentation titled “Shostakovich’s Turn to Chamber Music, 1938-1946.”

Tuesday, April 12
7:30 p.m., Film Screening: “Taking Sides”
Hannan Hall, Herzfeld Auditorium
“Taking Sides,” the 2001 movie by director István Szabó, is based on the life of Wilhelm Furtwangler, the renowned conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic who was investigated in the Allies’ de-Nazification program after World War II.
 
Wednesday, April 13
7:30 p.m., Film Screening: “Stage Door Canteen”
Hannan Hall, Herzfeld Auditorium
“Stage Door Canteen,” the 1943 film directed by Frank Borzage, tells the story of Dakota, a young soldier on leave in New York City who visits the famed Stage Door Canteen, where film and theater stars host a recreational center for servicemen during World War II.
 
Thursday, April 14
6 p.m., Pre-Concert Conversation: “Popular Music and Broadway: Reacting to War”
Hannan Hall, Herzfeld Auditorium
Grayson Wagstaff, associate professor of music, will moderate a conversation just prior to the first performance of the 2005 President’s Concert. Participants in the conversation, titled “Popular Music and Broadway: Reacting to War,” include Denise Gallo, musicologist and senior music specialist, Library of Congress; Deborah Lawrence, musicologist and guest professor, St. Mary’s College of Maryland; and Katherine Preston, musicologist and chair, Department of Music, College of William and Mary. 

During the conversation, the participants will talk about their specific areas of interest as they relate to the program for that evening’s concert: Gallo, rock music and anti-war themes in the 1950s and ’60s; Lawrence, popular music and protest since 1970; and Preston, 19th century American music, including vaudeville, as a predecessor to the Broadway genre.

7:30 p.m., President’s Concert, Part 1: Souvenirs
Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, Great Room
The CUA Musical Theatre Company, under the direction of Jane Pesci-Townsend and N. Thomas Pedersen, will perform an evening of popular music from five wars. The program includes blues, jitterbug, folk songs, Broadway hits, boogie-woogie and crooner ballads.

Company members will perform selections from the Civil War (“Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye”), World War I (“Over There,” “Lili Marlene”), World War II (“My Buddy,” “The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy from Company C,” “We’ll Spit Right into the Führer’s Face”) and the Korean and Vietnam wars (Leonard Bernstein’s “The Word of the Lord,” from MASS and Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”)

Friday, April 15
6 p.m., Pre-Concert Conversation: “The Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb: Artistic Reactions”
Hannan Hall, Herzfeld Auditorium
Just prior to the second performance of CUA’s 2005 President’s Concert, Grayson Wagstaff, associate professor of music, will lead a discussion about musical scores related to the Holocaust and the bombing of Hiroshima. Participants in the conversation, titled “The Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb: Artistic Reactions,” include Karen Ahlquist, musicologist and associate professor, George Washington University; Peter J. Kuznick, historian, associate professor and director, Nuclear Studies Institute, American University; Deborah Lawrence, musicologist and guest professor, St. Mary’s College of Maryland; and Bret Werb, musicologist, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

During the conversation, the participants will talk about their specific areas of interest as they relate to the program for that evening’s concert: Ahlquist, music in the United States and cultural references in Western music; Kuznick, the history of nuclear war and the peace movement; Lawrence, the music of Górecki and multiple interpretations of his works; and Werb, music related to the Holocaust.

7:30 p.m., President’s Concert, Part II: Lessons
Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, Great Room
The CUA Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of conductor Kate Tamarkin, will perform four pieces that speak to the emotional impact of war. Also performing are soprano Maureen Francis, cellist Robert Newkirk and chorus master Kevin O’Brien, directing the men of the CUA Chorus.

The selections will include Arnold Schöenberg’s “A Survivor From Warsaw,” Kristoff Penderecki’s “To the Victims of Hiroshima (Threnody),” Leonard Bernstein’s “Three Meditations from MASS for Cello and Orchestra,” and Henryk Gorecki’s Symphony # 3 ("Symphony of Sorrowful Songs").

Saturday, April 16
6 p.m., Pre-Concert Conversation: “Chamber Music: The Intimate Reaction to War”
Hannan Hall, Herzfeld Auditorium
Grayson Wagstaff, CUA musicologist and associate professor, will moderate a conversation just prior to the third performance of CUA’s 2005 President’s Concert. Participants in the conversation, titled “Chamber Music: The Intimate Reaction to War,” include Denise Gallo, musicologist and senior music specialist, Library of Congress; Andrew Simpson, composer and associate professor of music, Catholic University; and Daniel Zimmerman, musicologist and lecturer, School of Music, University of Maryland.
 
During the conversation, the participants will talk about their specific areas of interest as they relate to the program for that evening’s concert: Gallo, anti-war literature, including the poetry of Walt Whitman and the music of American composer Ned Rorem; Simpson, the world premiere of the Korean War Memorial chamber music project, which is part of the evening’s performance; and Zimmerman, music by 20th-century Russian composers, including Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich.

7:30 p.m., President’s Concert, Part III: Dialogues
Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, Great Room
Chamber musicians and singers will perform the world premiere of “Songs of the Forgotten War,” a collaborative work by 19 local composers, who each wrote a minute of music to honor one of the 19 bronze statues at the Korean War Memorial.

Other works to be performed as part of the Dialogues program include: Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Trio in E minor, Opus 67,” by The Rome Trio, featuring Marilyn Neeley on piano, Jody Gatwood on violin and Robert Newkirk on cello. Ivo Kaltchev will perform “Piano Sonata No. 7” by Viktor Ullmann, and baritone Stephen Gaertner will perform “War Scenes,” Ned Rorem’s musical cycle of Walt Whitman’s poems about the Civil War.

Sunday, April 17
President’s Concert, Part IV: “…and Then Silent Bugles”
Edward J. Pryzbyla University Center, Great Room
CUA presents a concert/drama presentation of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem,” a 1962 piece commissioned for the reconsecration of a British cathedral destroyed during World War II. Conceived of as a public statement of Britten’s anti-war sentiments, the work combines the Latin Mass for the Dead with excerpts from the poetry of World War I casualty Wilfred Owen. The concert/drama includes dramatic readings and video presentations.  

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