Drei Brücken, the choral piece that was commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Center, premieres tomorrow with Christopher Eanes conducting. Yes, tomorrow. I can't believe I wrote this piece so quickly.1 Fortunately, I've been working with a wonderful librettist over the past ten years who was able to create a concept for this piece in mere hours.
As I mentioned before, this piece will depict Cincinnati's past, present, and future via the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, the current Brent Spence Bridge, and the future Brent Spence Bridge. Here's the text (by Kendall A.)
Roebling
This industrial churn,
the motor’s low growl
calls out to those,
buried beneath the fold,
calls out to those
not working
to pick up your tools
to move your hands
to carve a beacon,
to release the fire
from the coal.
Juncta
Juvant.
Brent Spence 1
Here
flows
These battles to determine who’s most oppressed
render us all functionally obsolete.
We don’t need sympathy,
the
river
below
while
we
we don’t need empathy,
we need spans stretching between us
and pavement that doesn’t crumble beneath our feet.
stagnate
above
Brent Spence 2
Those glittering lights
obscured by river’s fog
transmit but don’t receive
from this opposing shore.
Remember Rankin’s hill,
remember to light the lamp,
remember to open ‘freedom’s path,
remember, please, to listen
for unsilenced voices
seeking their way in.
And here's what it looks like.
This kind of looks like two land masses plus a bridge, don't you think?2
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1. My emails imply that I started this project on July 20 and sent a final draft to the conductor on August 6. I think that's a little over two weeks.
2. My Microsoft Paint skills will never cease to amaze me.