The Music of Lori Laitman, now available as PDFs
Fathers — song cycle for mezzo-soprano with piano trio
SM-000581019
- Composer
- Lori Laitman
-
Lyricist
-
Anne Ranasinghe, David Vogel
- Publisher
- Enchanted Knickers Music
- Genre
-
Classical / Song
- Instrumentation
- Piano, Violin, Cello, Mezzo-soprano
- Scored for
- Quartet
- Type of score
- Full score, Piano-vocal score
- Duration
- 12'0"
- Language
- English
- Difficulty
- Difficult
- Year of composition
- 2003
Description
Fathers (2002, rev. 2010) sets poems by the late Sri Lankan poet Anne Ranasinghe and the late Russian poet David Vogel. I had previously set their poetry in my Holocaust 1944 and Daughters song cycles and continued to be interested in their work. Fathers can be considered a sequel to Daughters, as it also focuses on the parent-child bond permanently altered by the Holocaust. Ranasinghe's father was murdered by the Nazis and David Vogel was arrested by the Nazis and perished at Auschwitz.
The dark subject matter and length of the poems “You, Father,” “Last Night I Dreamt,” and “I Saw My Father Drowning” created particular challenges. To balance the work structurally and psychologically, I created fragments from the short, hopeful last song, “Don’t Cry,” and “buried” them throughout the cycle.
“You, Father” underscores the idea of a camera capturing a moment in time with sections repeatedly coming to a close with a fermata. “Last Night I Dreamt” employs word painting and extremes of timbre to create a dreamy, surreal atmosphere. The motif for “I Saw My Father Drowning” is transferred between instruments and voice, and the piano’s sparkling upper register creates the effect for the “sky’s canopy” at the song’s close. The full version of “Don’t Cry” ends the cycle. The completion of this theme, with its soothing and repetitive nature, reinforces its use as a “healing balm.”
This cycle is available in several versions: baritone with piano trio or with flute, cello and piano; or mezzo-soprano with piano trio or flute, cello and piano.
The World Premiere took place April 27, 2003 at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA at Music of Remembrance’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Concert. The premiere recording can be heard on the Naxos CD along with the Vedem oratorio, also commissioned by Music of Remembrance.