As part of the Poetry for Peace project, author and teacher Kitty Jospé will discuss Walt Whitman's poetry and how it used by Ralph Vaughan Williams in his work Dona Nobis Pacem, this Friday (March 10th) at 7pm at the Rochester Brainery.
She kindly agreed to share with us some of the ideas that will be part of Friday's discussion (which is free and open to the public).
Walt Whitman’s poetry is the centerpiece of the text of the Cantata which includes traditional Latin, a British orator’s speech against the Crimean War and selections from the Bible. Ralph Vaughan Williams “translates” the sounds and rhythms” of these Whitman selections from “Drum Taps” composed during the American Civil War.
Beat! Beat! Drums!is the first selection, capturing the snap of snare drum, rapid rhythms and the excitement as troops gather; Reconciliation, filled with repetitions, captures the contradictions of war – can one “save” by killing? The word “carnage” when sung, is colored by dissonance, plied against the lullaby-like quality of the opening and the return to a variation of the opening Dona Nobis Pacem, “Grant us Peace.”
The text for Dirge for Two Veterans paints a picture of the initial bugles and drums on the battlefield by moonlight, where the sisters Death and Night remind us of the outcome of war—
We hope to see you there to hear more about word and text interface in this stunning work.
Poetry for Peace is a collaboration between the Rochester Oratorio Society and the University of Rochester Humanities Center focusing on a performance of Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams. The performance take place on March 24th at 7:30pm at the Hochstein Performance Hall. In addition to the concert, there will be a series of events providing historical and cultural background into the music, the time period, the poetry and related topics, all offered free of charge and open to the public.
