Remembering Our Fathers

For orchestra and three female voices

The Roles

Luigia Polzelli - soprano
Emma Wedgewood Darwin - mezzo-soprano
Mary Todd Lincoln - soprano

The Text

The text of the final trio, where the women each sing different poems, allows a chance for them to sing directly about the men themselves. The texts come from:

Haydn - The Spirit's Song is a poem by Anne Hunter. She was a contemporary of Haydn, and he often set her poems to music, including his own setting of The Spirit’s Song.

Darwin - The text is from the very famous 'In Memoriam A.H.H.' by Charles Darwin’s contemporary, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Darwin’s writings caused quite a stir (and still do!) with regard to Evolution vs. Creation, and so Tennyson’s words are most pertinent.

Lincoln - The text is the last stanza of Walt Whitman’s 'O Captain! My Captain!' penned shortly after Lincoln’s assassination.

The Music

The final trio borrows from Haydn’s exquisite Adagio from his Symphony No.44. Haydn had wanted this music played at his own funeral, but an invasion by Napoleon shortly after his death pre-empted that wish and Mozart’s Requiem was played instead. States Stephenson: "I figured that for the 200th anniversary of his death, it was time to honor Haydn’s request!"

FINAL TRIO

set to music from Haydn’s Symphony No. 44 ‘Funeral’ - Adagio

Sung simultaneously:

Haydn

from The Spirit’s Song
by Anne Hunter (1742-1821)

Hark! Hark, what I tell to thee,
Nor sorrow o'er the tomb;
My spirit wanders free,
And waits till thine shall come.
All pensive and alone,
I see thee sit and weep,
Thy head upon the stone
Where my cold ashes sleep.
I watch thy speaking eyes,
And mark each falling tear;
I catch thy passing sighs,
Ere they are lost in air.

Darwin

from In Memoriam, A.H.H.
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Who trusted God was love, indeed
And love Creation's final law
Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek'd against his creed.

I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it when I sorrow most
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

Lincoln

from O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

O Captain, My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.

Sung together:

'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

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