Rhapsody De Profundis (2024)
Alone
For John Clare
Invocation to Man Who Became the Body of History
Rhapsody De Profundis for Soprano and Concert Pianist is a journey from dark to light, through the work of three master poets. The poems have depth, various facets of meaning and an immediacy/urgency that speaks to the dramatic form of art songs. The complexity and insightfulness of the language call for reflection and illumination. Themes of the pursuit of depth and meaning, and the varying degrees of success in that pursuit, are woven through each poem in highly contrasting ways.
The title Rhapsody, came from the nature of the poems which convey an epic journey through various types of transformation: emotional, spiritual, psychological. “De Profundis” translates to “Out of the Depths” as this song cycle is a journey from the dark/disturbing to a pursuit of meaning regarding the initial darkness. It additionally references Psalm 130 (“De Profundis”) from the Bible: a cry to the creator of the universe amidst deep sorrow and confusion
Edgar Allan Poe’s “Alone” focuses on the horrifying experience of confronting a demon amidst a lonely childhood. In this musical setting, after a foreboding, but wistful intro, capturing the carefree and playful sounds of childhood in the piano, the soprano sings the woes of being an outcast child. The music evolves into terror/excitement. This section, beginning with “Then, in my childhood” and culminating in an encounter with a demon, depicts innocence being shattered. The piano chords marked “violent” convey the appropriate horror. The soprano vocalizing: “ah,” can be heard as a musical “scream” and/or a sigh of desperation amidst the piano: unwinding its twisted counterpoint of previous themes, dissolving to a single note - the desolation that plagues the heart from trauma.
John Ashbery’s poem “For John Clare” is an epic exploration of confusion, dissolution with cold city life, claustrophobic neuroses of social constraints, artistic endeavors, among other themes. Full of inner turmoil and contradictions, the poem attempts to shake free from the monotony of surface-level observations while remaining engaged with life’s tragedies and non sequiturs. It often remains trapped in superficial observations and/or their contradictory subtexts. Its three paragraphs have become three distinct movements. The title references poet John Clare, an equally complex poet. Furthermore, “For John Clare” explores themes of loosing one’s artistic voice, authenticity of authorship, payment for art, art as entertainment (whether that demeans it) nature as inspiration, dead artists looming over the living ones, among others. Ashbery’s language pulls us out of space/time and reflects on the absurdities and conflicts/contrasts of life. The music highlights and embody these contrasts, while illustrating Ashbery’s themes. It culminates in a notion that possibilities abound in the future, and yet it is someone else’s past, while also being a creation (the upper left hand corner likely referencing the beginning of a novel): a “sail” referencing the vastness of the ocean of possibilities of meaning in art/life and the blank slate of the artist; as open and still as those ocean waters.
Karol Wojtyla's poem “Invocation to Man Who Became the Body of History” is an outcry to the author/artist of creation and to mystery. The poem seeks satisfying meaning in a bold way, with an address to the author of meaning. It explores man’s history being embodied in a single human - the “Man.” The Invocation seeks that soul, heart, desire, suffering, will and emotion be burnt up in a “holy shame” or humbling of the self, and that humanity find it’s ultimate design, depth/height, and ultimately its heart. The piano contains many dense harmonies: a reflection of the veiled nature and blinding light in examining ultimate questions, and broad gestures: a portrait of seemingly infinite comprehensibility. The sweeping soprano deals with breadth and depth in the poetry. The intention of this sort of musical portrait is to convey the idea that the more we question, the more questions and mystery we find, engaging us in the process of mystery rather than product. I will leave it to the listener to decide whether the ending of this reflects a pursuit or an arrival.
“Rhapsody de Profundis” is thus a journey from trauma, to dissolution, to a blinding light, often within moments of humility/shame, that calls one to meaningful pursuit.
