Only Changing Lands and Changing Lips:
Life and love in Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs
by
Bethany B. Stiles
An thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
(Voice Performance and Literature)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2014
Doctoral Committee:
Associate Professor Dawn Harris, Chair
Associate Professor Gayle Magee, Research Advisor
Associate Professor Stephen Taylor
Associate Professor Barrington Coleman
1
Table of Contents
I. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...3
II. Biographical Information: Peter Lieberson…………………………………………….4
III. Biographical Information: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson…………………………………10
IV. Evolution of Peter Lieberson’s Vocal Style…………………………………………..13
V. Genesis of Neruda Songs………………………………………………………………18
VI. The Grawemeyer Award……………………………………………………………....21
VII. Drawing Comparisons………………………………………………………………...23
VIII. Issues of Text………………………………………………………………………...26
IX. Points for Consideration……………………………………………………………….28
X. Interpretation……………………………………………………………………………29
XI. The Songs………………………………………………………………………………31
XII. Legacy………………………………………………………………..……………..…47
XIII. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………51
Appendix A: Text and Translations…………………………………………………………52
Appendix B: Form and commentary……………………………………………………..…56
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………60
2
Only Changing Lands and Changing Lips:
Love and Life in Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs
INTRODUCTION
Neruda Songs (2005) came to my attention during graduate work at the University of
Louisville, where the cycle had won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Competition
in 2008. I walked the long hallway featuring photographs of each year’s recipients hundreds of
times, and found myself lingering in front of Peter Lieberson’s picture. As both a mezzosoprano and admirer of Pablo Neruda’s poetry, I was at once intrigued by Neruda Songs. As I
began to research the work, I learned that the cycle is markedly different from the bulk of the
composer's output, as is its companion cycle, Songs of Love and Sorrow (2010). The former was
written for the composer's late wife, acclaimed mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and the
latter following her death from breast cancer in 2006. It is impossible to discuss Neruda Songs
without examining Lieberson’s romantic relationship with Hunt. Her musical influence, his wide
variety of interests and inspirations, and his willingness to expose his personal life in his music
culminated in these two song cycles, which were among the last large pieces he wrote before his
own death from lymphoma in 2011.
This paper examines Peter Lieberson's award-winning song cycle Neruda Songs (2006)
for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, and the remarkable series of events that made it possible.
Though Lieberson has received many accolades for his instrumental works within the classical
music world, his vocal works have remained somewhat obscure. Following biographical
information, I will discuss the evolution of Lieberson’s vocal writing beginning with Three
Songs (1981) through the last years of his life, including how the major influences of twelve-tone
technique and Buddhism influenced his work. Within Neruda Songs, I will discuss the
3
following: genesis, conception, fruition, text selection, premiere, receiving the Grawemeyer
Award, and the lasting legacy the cycle has had on singers and audiences.
Contemporary vocal music has a reputation for being inaccessible and unnecessarily
difficult.1 Students who wish to sing this music find themselves stranded between the classical
vocal techniques they have learned so diligently and the extended techniques found in some
modern music. As does any style or period, contemporary music contains works than span a
wide range of technical difficulty. Lieberson began his career writing predominantly twelvetone music (very little of which was vocal), but ended his career with an outpouring of vocal
works that teem with lyricism and close attention to vocal contour without sacrificing technical
precision. For this reason, Neruda Songs is attractive to singers wishing to champion the music
of contemporary composers. The emotional transparency of the cycle, with so much raw
emotion bound up in the rich harmonies and lyrical vocal lines, makes Neruda Songs a love story
applicable beyond the two people involved in their original conception. This paper examines
how and why the cycle came to be, the popularity it achieved, and the lasting impact it has had
on the world of contemporary vocal music.
PETER LIEBERSON
Peter Lieberson was born in New York City on October 25, 1946 to famed ballerina and
choreographer Vera Zorina and Goddard Lieberson, music critic and president of Columbia
See Allen Gimbel. “The Pleasure of Modernist Music”, ed. by Arved Ashby. American Record
Guide, 68.4 (July 2005): 292-294.; Melody Baggech. "I Can't Learn That!": Dispelling the
Myths of Contemporary Music.” Journal of Singing - The Official Journal of the National
Association of Teachers of Singing 56.3 (January 2000): 13-22.; Sharon Mabry. “New
Directions: Merging Vocal Styles in Contemporary Music.” Journal of Singing - The Official
Journal of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, 55.1 (September 1998): 43-44.
1
4
Records.2 Through his artistic parents and their support of his musical studies, Lieberson’s
musical talents were nurtured and cultivated. His father’s advocacy of Igor Stravinsky’s work
and willingness to record the music of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Charles Ives
exposed Peter to this music at an impressionable age.3 When his father told Stravinsky, an old
family friend, of his son’s aspiration to become a composer, Lieberson recalled that the old man
"sat on a couch in the living room with a blanket draped over his legs, drinking milk laced with
scotch ... [and] said, 'It is not enough to want ... you must be!"4
Long before Neruda Songs garnered him the Grawemeyer Award, Lieberson was
recognized as a promising young composer, the first award being The Rapoport Prize in Music in
1972. The following year, he received The Charles Ives Scholarship, made possible by Ives’s
widow Harmony bequeathing the royalties from her husband's music to be used for scholarships
for young composers.5 He received one of two Goddard Lieberson Fellowships in 1984, which
were endowed in 1978 by CBS Foundation in the memory of the Lieberson’s father for his work
as president of CBS Records.6 In 1992, he received The Arts and Letters Award in Music, one
of four prizes given annually to acknowledge a composer as an artist who has arrived at his/her
own voice.7 Additionally, Lieberson was a five-time Pulitzer Prize finalist in Music for the
2
Steven Ledbetter. "Peter Lieberson". Oxford Music Online, n.d. Accessed 9 September 2011. n.
pag. Web.
3
Peter Lieberson, quoted by David Patrick Stearns, “Peter Lieberson obituary”, The Guardian
Online.15 May 2011. Accessed 1 March 2014. n pag. Web
4
Ibid, n. pag.
5
“The Charles Ives Award.” n. d. Accessed 13 April 2014. n. pag. Web.
http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Ives.
6
“The Goddard Lieberson Fellowship.” n. d. Accessed 12 April 2014. n. pag. Web.
http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Lieberson.
7
“The Arts and Letters Award in Music.” n. d. Accessed 12 April 2014. n. pag. Web.
http://www.artsandletters.org/awards2_popup.php?abbrev=Academy%20Music.
5
following: Piano Concerto in 1984, Variations for Violin and Piano in 1996, Rilke Songs 8in
2002, Piano Concerto No. 3 in 2004, and Neruda Songs in 2006.
Having first received a degree in English literature from New York University in 1972,
Lieberson pursued further study in Musical Composition at Columbia University, earning a MA
in 1974. The integration of the voice into his earliest works was minimal, and either
experimental or Sprechstimme. Immersed in the study of twelve-tone methodology, he recalled
that he felt he was "living a Spartan lifestyle,” one that was "hermetic, sealed, and self-secret.”9
His twelve-tone writing received great acclaim in music circles - a performance of his Variations
for solo flute by the Group for Contemporary Music (1972) led to commissions and
performances from, among others, Speculum Musicae, Oppens, Fred Sherry and Tashi. 10 Most of
his writing at Columbia University featured chamber ensembles, such as Concerto for Four
Groups of Instruments (1972), Concerto for Violoncello with Accompanying Trios (1974), and
Accordance (1975) for eight instruments and chamber ensemble.11
Many of Lieberson’s teachers, including Milton Babbit, Donald Martino, and Charles
Wuorinen, grew into musical maturity in the 1950s-60s, and had been directly influenced by the
influx of ultra-modern composers such as Ernst Krenek, Stefan Wolpe, and Hanns Eisler, who
immigrated to the United States in the 1930s to escape the rise of the Third Reich and ensuing
World War II.12 The 1970s saw the rise of electronic and popular music, though some
“Peter Lieberson”. The Pulitzer Prizes Online. n. d. Accessed 11 April 2014. n. pag. Web.
http://www.pulitzer.org/faceted_search/results/lieberson%2C+peter.
9
Peter Lieberson, "Concept Becomes Experience: A Composer's Journey." The Shambhala Sun,
May 1997. n. pag. Web.
10
Ledbetter, n. pag.
11
“Peter Lieberson.” n. d. Accessed 31 March 2014. n. pag. Web.
http://www.pytheasmusic.org/lieberson.html.
12
Joseph N. Straus, “A Revisionist History of Twelve-Tone Serialism in American Music.”
Journal of the Society for American Music 2:3 (2008), 355.
8
6
composers, Elliot Carter and Ralph Shapey among them, were still attempting to find new and
inventive methods by which to integrate twelve-tone methods into their music.13 Of this era in
composition, brought about by the expansion of Arnold Schoenberg's principles, Lieberson said,
Not all composers were suited to this kind of thinking, but those who were not were made
to feel irrelevant. For the rest of us, this was clearly the path of the future. What was
daunting, however, was the complexity of method. I would erect theoretical edifices
capable of housing multiples of the twelve-minute piece I was working on. The
possibilities were endless: the relationships within one set of notes could be extended to
aggregates of sets and further expanded to multiple arrays of sets. Then one had to realize
all this stuff as music, for performers who needed time to breathe or draw a bow across a
string.14
Yet throughout his career, Lieberson's music has been praised for its color and vibrancy, which
the composer credits partially to his upbringing in such close proximity to the New York jazz
culture and exposure to musicals such as My Fair Lady (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965),
works in which his father had both professional and personal interest through his work with
CBS.15 With the premiere of his Piano Concerto (1983), composed for Peter Serkin and
commissioned by Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) for their centennial,
Lieberson established himself as a promising young composer – as evidenced by the fact that the
concerto was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the recipient of Opus Magazine’s Contemporary
Music Award in 1985.16 In addition to his associations with other major orchestras such in New
York, Cleveland, Chicago and Los Angeles, Lieberson enjoyed long-standing artistic
Ibid, 356.
Lieberson, Shambhala Sun, n. pag.
15
Peter Lieberson. Interview by Frank J. Oteri. "Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs Wins 2008
Grawemeyer." New Music Box, 2 December 2007. Web. 12 June 2013. n.pag.
16
“Peter Lieberson”. Composer long biography courtesy of G. Schirmer Online:
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/long-bio/Peter-Lieberson. Web. n.d., n. pag.
13
14
7
collaborations with Serkin, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax and Oliver Knussen.17 He wrote with a rare
combination of modernistic rigor and Romantic sensuality, the latter coming ever more to the
forefront in his later years.18
Running parallel to the musical influences in his life were those of Tibetan Buddhism.
Upon completion of his studies at Columbia University in 1976, he moved to Boulder, Colorado
to study with Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Vajrayan Buddhist master he had met two years
earlier. It was there he befriended and later married Ellen Kearney, a fellow student of Trungpa.
At their instructor's request, the couple moved to Boston, where they founded and became codirectors of a meditation and cultural program. During this period, Lieberson also earned a Ph.D.
from Brandeis University. He had a teaching position at Harvard University from 1984-88, but
resigned this post to become international director of Shambhala Training in Halifax, Nova
Scotia.19 Another notable student of Trungpa’s, Pema Chödrön, was an American school teacher
before she began to study Buddhism. Based at the same school in Canada, today she is an
ordained Buddhist nun and renowned public speaker. The influence of Trungpa’s teaching on
Lieberson’s music was deep and lasting.
The year 1997 was one of great personal and professional growth for Lieberson. His
spiritualism inspired many of his compositions, including Ashoka's Dream (1997), which would
unite him with his future wife and artistic collaborator, Lorraine Hunt. Lieberson's musical style,
which since the beginning of his relationship with Hunt Lieberson had broadened to incorporate
a richer harmonic vocabulary along with a heightened awareness of the importance of melody,
“Peter Lieberson”. Composer short biography courtesy of G. Schirmer Online:
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/short-bio/Peter-Lieberson. Web. n.d., n.pag.
18
Alex Ross. "The Rest is Noise". Personal blog entry by author, 23 April 2011. Web. 31 May
2012. n. pag
19
Ledbetter, n. pag.
17
8
reached a new level of lyric and dramatic intensity in Neruda Songs.20 Of that time in his life,
he noted:
I think really when I met Lorraine, it was quite an amazing time in my life. I had just had
come toward expressing something that was very personal, and hopefully more universal,
too, because it was a story about a transformation that a human being underwent. Meeting
Lorraine, was who such an intuitive musician, such a powerful presence, so unafraid of
her emotions, so able to access those emotions and express them, a person who could
hold the space on stage in a way I'd never seen before. There was no artifice.21
The couple was married in 1999, the union proving fruitful with regard to artistic
collaboration. His wife’s influence on his vocal writing catapulted Lieberson’s music into the
realm of accessible contemporary vocal music. After her death, he married long-time friend and
former Buddhist nun Rinchen Lhamo, who would become his caretaker and companion in the
last years of his life. He was diagnosed with lymphoma shortly after Hunt Lieberson's death in
2006, of which he said, “I’d been sick taking care of Lorraine, but didn’t get myself checked
out.”22 The couple then moved to Houston where he continued treatment while composing.
Among his last compositions were: The Coming of Light (2009) a commission by Unity Temple
Restoration Foundation and The Chicago Chamber Musicians together with Winsor Music, Inc.
to honor of the 2009 centennial of the dedication of Unity Temple, Frank Lloyd Wright's
modern masterpiece, which was a six-movement chamber work using texts of John Ashbery,
William Shakespeare, and Mark Strand; Songs of Love and Sorrow(2010), another commission
by James Levin and the Boston Symphony Orchestra with texts by Pablo Neruda; and a
commission of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. through a gift from the
20
Stephen Eddins. Rev. of Neruda Songs, by Peter Lieberson/Lorraine Hunt Lieberson/James
Levine & The Boston Symphony Orchestra. All Music Online, n.d., n. pag. Web.
21
Oteri, n. pag.
22
Peter Lieberson, interview by Pierre Ruhe. "R.I.P. Peter Lieberson: The composer in
conversation before the ASO performed 'Neruda Songs’.” Arts Atlanta Online. 24 April 2011.
Accessed 31 May 2012. n. pag. Web.
9
John and June Hechinger Commissioning Fund for New Orchestral Works entitled Remembering
JFK: An American Elegy (2010) for narrator and orchestra, in which Lieberson used excerpts
from three different speeches given by President John F. Kennedy between the years 19611963.23 In a review written towards the end of Lieberson's career, music critic Allan Kozinn
discussed the plethora of elements from which the composer drew inspiration, saying,
When Peter Lieberson began composing in the early 1970s, his compositional hero was
Stravinsky in his late acerbic style, and his teachers included Milton Babbitt and Charles
Wuorinen. But he was also fond of musical theater, Minimalism and jazz; before he
studied composition formally, he learned about harmony by figuring out the voicings on
recordings by the jazz pianist Bill Evans. Mr. Lieberson’s works meld most of those
influences into a cohesive, energetic and intensely communicative style, with brainy,
atonal surfaces that attest to his post-tonal pedigree and a current of lyricism and drama
that gives this music its warmth and passion.24
On April 23, 2011, Lieberson died at the age of sixty-four in Tel Aviv, Israel from
leukemia, a complication from the treatment of lymphoma. He was survived by Lhamo and his
three children from his first marriage.
LORRAINE HUNT LIEBERSON
Lorraine Hunt Lorraine Hunt was born on March 1, 1954 in San Francisco to parents who
were deeply invested not only in the performance of music, but also in its teaching. Her father,
Randolph Hunt, taught and conducted community ensembles and operas, while her mother
Marcia, a contralto, performed and taught vocal music. Hunt studied piano and violin in her
youth, before switching to viola performance, in which she took her degree at San Jose State
University. She became a freelance musician in the Bay Area, before a love interest inspired her
“Peter Lieberson – works”. Courtesy of G. Schirmer Online:
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/44968. n.d. Web. Accessed 22 September
2013.
24
Allan Kozinn. ”Composer Portraits – Peter Lieberson: Portrait Reveals a Collage of
Influences”. The New York Times, 29 September 2009. Web. n. pag.
23
10
to move to Boston, Massachusetts.25 The diligent Hunt also studied voice at Boston
Conservatory during that time, and at the age of twenty-six, decided to devote more time to voice
performance. Her breakthrough came in 1985, when she appeared as Sesto in Händel's Guilio
Cesare, under the direction of Peter Sellars at the Summerfare Festival in Purchase, New York.
Though Sellars' interpretation was highly controversial—setting the story in the contemporary
Middle East, portraying Sesto as an armed terrorist with an Uzi—Hunt's performance received
stellar reviews and she was touted as a promising young star.26 The ever self-effacing Hunt
maintained a low profile while continuing to receive job offers from major companies such as
Glyndebourne, Opéra de Lyon, and the Berliner Philharmoniker.27
Hunt's superb artistry and well-developed technique enabled her to portray a diverse array
of characters from across the period spectrum. The first decade of her professional career was
dominated by Baroque opera, for which she received many accolades, thanks to the ease with
which she negotiated florid passages and ornamentation.28 Ever versatile, Hunt was a champion
of contemporary music well before she met Lieberson. The first met in 1997, when she was
selected to premiere the role of Triraksha in Lieberson’s Ashoka’s Dream, the story of an Indian
emperor in the third century B.C. who renounced violence following his conversion to
Buddhism. Though Lieberson was married with three daughters at the time, the chemistry
between the two would not be denied. Following his divorce from Kearney, Lieberson and Hunt
25
"Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson". Bach Cantatas Website. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Hunt
Lorraine.htm. 29 August 2013. Web, 12 June 2013, n. pag.
26
Ibid, n. pag
27
Ibid, n. pag.
28
See Martin Bernheimer. "Lorraine Hunt Lieberson."Opera News 68: 5 (2003), 60. Music
Index, EBSCOhost (accessed March 17, 2014); R. Moore.. "Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Ravinia
Recital." American Record Guide 72:3 (2009),202-203. Music Index, EBSCOhost (accessed
March 17, 2014).; Gregory Berg. "Lorraine Hunt Lieberson: Handel Arias." Journal of Singing
63:2 (2006), 239-240. Music Index, EBSCOhost (accessed March 17, 2014).
11
married in 1999. Thus began a romantic and creative partnership that would endure until her
untimely death in July of 2006. During her career, Hunt Lieberson remained an active performer,
singing a variety of works ranging from Handel’s Theodora at Glyndebourne in 1996 to Britten’s
The Rape of Lucretia at the Edinburgh Festival in 1999.29 Though noted for her ability to
perform Baroque music, Hunt Lieberson remained dedicated to furthering contemporary
composition, premiering the role of Myrtle Wilson in John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby (1999)
and John Adams’s 2000 nativity oratorio El Niño at the Théaâtre de Châtelet in Paris, as well as
her husband’s song cycle Rilke Songs (1999).30
An intensely private person, it is unknown exactly when Hunt Lieberson received her
diagnosis, but it was certainly by 2005. Early in that year, she once again partnered with Peter
Sellars for a semi-staged recital tour of two of Johann Sebastian Bach cantatas in what proved to
be a tragic foreshadowing of her fate. Wearing a flimsy hospital gown and woolen socks, Hunt
Lieberson performed Bach’s BWV 82 Ich Habe Genung (“I have enough”) as a terminally ill
patient no longer able to endure treatments and yearning for the comfort of Christ. During
performances of the work, Hunt Lieberson—her face contorted with pain and yearning—even
went so far as to yank tubes from her arms while singing Bach’s rich melodies.31 In the last years
of her life, she was forced to cancel many events, including the premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s
opera L’Amour de Loin, which won the Grawemeyer Award for Composition in 2003, five years
before Peter Lieberson’s song cycle would win.32 She was also forced to withdraw from the
world premiere of John Adams’s opera Doctor Atomic (2005) with San Francisco Opera, citing a
29
Alan Blyth. "Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson." Oxford Music Online, n.d. Web. 9 September 2011. n.
pag.
30
Ibid, n. pag.
31
Bach Cantatas website, n. pag.
32
Ibid, n. pag.
12
“back injury” sustained earlier in the year, ultimately replaced by Kristine Jepsen. 33 Her final
professional engagement was the touring production of Neruda Songs with the Boston
Symphony Orchestra in 2006, completed only a few months before she succumbed to breast
cancer at the age of fifty-two.
EVOLUTION OF PETER LIEBERSON’S VOCAL WRITING
Lieberson’s earliest attempt at vocal writing was Three Songs (1981) for soprano and
chamber ensemble. The entire cycle lasts roughly seven minutes and is based on the poetry of
American writer Douglas Penick, a fellow student of Trungpa. Figure 1 contains two excerpts of
the vocal line in“Listen and Hear” from Three Songs, depicting a very different manner of vocal
writing than Lieberson’s later works. In the final measures of examples A and C, the use of text
painting lacks subtlety. In example B, the soprano must cover a wide range in a very short
amount of space. It is difficult to shake the impression that Lieberson’s vocal writing in this
song is based more on compositional strategy – pitch, interval, register, and so on – than on
lyricism or strengths of the vocal apparatus.34 The tessitura in the first two measures of example
C demonstrates the composer’s lack of experience working with the voice. It would be very
difficult to understand words intoned at a piano dynamic at that part of a soprano’s range.
Ben Mattison. “Kristine Jepsen replaces Lorraine Hunt Lieberson in Doctor Atomic.”
Playbill Arts, 19 July 2005. n. pag. Web. http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/2494.html
34
John C. Levey. Concertino for Flute, Harp, and String Quartet Volume I. Technique and
evolution in Peter Lieberson's Three Songs and "Rilke Songs" Volume II. Diss. University of
Michgan, 2009. Ann Arbor: ProQuest: 72.
33
13
Figure 1. Vocal excerpts from “Listen and Hear” from Three Songs
A)
B)
C)
Additionally, Three Songs demonstrates how separate the idea of singer and ensemble
seemed to be in the composer’s mind. Rather than integrate the soprano’s beginning pitch into
the harmonic fabric of the accompaniment, Lieberson prefers the soprano supply new pitch
material upon entering.35 This cycle does not rank among Lieberson's better-known
compositions, but it dates from a pivotal stage in his career, and more importantly, is emblematic
of his early mature style.36
Three Songs was the sole representative of his song writing for nearly twenty years, until
35
36
Levey, 26.
Ibid, 2.
14
the Rilke Songs of 2001. In between, Lieberson composed only two works that included voice.
The first, King Gesar (1991) was the result of a 1988 commission by German composer Hans
Werner Henze for performance at the Munich Biennial for pianists Peter Serkin, Emanuel Ax,
cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Once again utilizing the text of fellow Buddhist Douglas Penick, Lieberson
described the work as,
A monodrama/opera that tells the story of a legendary Tibetan warrior king, Gesar of
Ling, who rose from obscurity to battle the demons that enslave humankind…conceived
as a kind of campfire opera. I visualized a situation akin to Tibetan “performances”: the
campfire in a pitch black night under the dome of an immense starry sky, or, a
daytime community gathering in a very large tent or small town square—familiar
situations in which people eat, drink, and tell stories.37
In the work, a narrator delivers lines above the orchestration while employing various techniques
to depict distinct characters, none of which are sung with classical technique. But Lieberson’s
faith was influencing his work on a greater scale. Chögyam Trungpa’s influential phrase was
influencing every aspect of his life, including music -“first thought, best thought”, referring to a
state of thought that is fresh, open, and responsive.38
Lieberson’s other work for voice between the years 1981-2001 was Ashoka’s Dream
(1997), his first and only opera. As with King Gesar, the opera reflected Lieberson’s immersion
in his faith – the opera tells the story of Ashoka Maurya, a 3rd-century B.C. king of India and the
only ruler to unify India until the 19th century A.D, focusing on Ashoka’s transformation from
angry, isolated young conqueror to enlightened ruler.39 In it, one could find hints of Lieberson's
later style, as it already espoused the some of the expressive melodicism that Lieberson later
37
Peter Lieberson. King Gesar (notes: Sony Classical 57971, 1991): 1.
Lieberson, Shambhala Sun, n. pag.
39
Short synopsis courtesy of Music Sales Classical, n. d. Accessed 10 March 2014. n. pag.
http://www.musicsalesclassical.com/composer/work/922/30192.
38
15
attributed—almost entirely, in fact—to Hunt Lieberson’s influence.40 Critics noted that while
the music was "adequately tailored to the singers' capabilities," it was ultimately "not memorable
enough to fix their characters in our minds."41 Lieberson's voice writing received mixed reviews
following the opera’s premiere in Santa Fe, though many recognized that a change had occurred,
including critic Virko Baley,
Peter Lieberson's harmonic sound owes much to expressionism and serialism. At the
same time, its clear rhythmic pulse, supported by an overall tonal design, allows his
naturally lyrical side to emerge in many affecting moments. The voice is often permitted
to be the bearer of news (as opposed to the orchestra, which in too many 20th century
operas is placed on the stage and the singers relegated to the pit).42
In 2001, Lieberson published Rilke Songs, a cycle for mezzo-soprano and piano. Lieberson's
settings grew out of a full understanding of his wife's extraordinary vocal and dramatic gifts and
are suffused with his intimate awareness of her personal and artistic vitality, as well as the
fragility of her physical health.43 He wrote of the songs,
I think of them as love songs even though the poems themselves are not overtly about
love. They are about being childlike and open…about the breath being a complete
exchange between our own essence and the universe, how the breath seems to go out into
space like our wandering son; the mysterious way in which we might transform
ourselves: “If drinking is bitter, turn yourself to wine (from ‘Stiller Freund’)” To me
these Rilkean insights are gifts of love.44
It is apparent that a drastic shift in Lieberson’s treatment of the voice had taken place. In Rilke
Songs, a thoughtful and careful crafting of the melodic material seemed to emerge in place of the
seemingly mathematical lines of Three Songs. In Figure 2, example A depicts a vocal line that
40
Levey. 72.
John von Rhein."Interior Opera `Ashoka's Dream' Steeped In Zen, But Fails To Make Deep
Connection With Audience." Rev. of Ashoka's Dream, by Peter Lieberson, Douglas Penick, &
Stephen Wadsworth. Chicago Tribune 29 July 1997: n.pag. Web.
42
Virko Baley. "An Evening of Premieres at Santa Fe". Opera Journal 30/3 (1997), n.pag. Web.
43
Eddins, n. pag.
44
Peter Lieberson, Rilke Songs (notes, Bridge Records 9178, 2006): 3.
41
16
emerges from the harmonic material of the accompaniment, providing greater unification
between soloist and ensemble. In example B, Lieberson treats the singer to a descending
chromatic melodic line that allows for maximum expressivity.
Fig. 2: Treatment of the voice in “O ihr Zärtlichen” from Rilke Songs
A)
B)
Though a softer style had emerged within Ashoka’s Dream, Lieberson credited his wife with the
fascinating transformation of his vocal writing,
In 1997 my life, and my composing life, changed completely when I met my wife,
Lorraine. I can't adequately express how much her intuitive and profoundly musical
approach to performance has affected me. Her instincts are fiery and definite in terms of
what needs to be done to elicit the best performance, whether it concerns how a phrase is
shaped, for example, or what needs to be done in terms of the accompaniment. Rarely is
there an emphasis on vocal technique–the musical outcome is the focus of attention. This
has led many to admire her, and for me, admiration has been accompanied by a deep
gratitude for lessons learned.45
45
Peter Lieberson, Rilke Songs: 1.
17
...Hearing [Lorraine] perform I became more and more aware of the significance of
melodic line and what a great performer can do to invest it with meaning and integrity. I
think it is important to remember that for many composers in the 60s and 70s, melody
was simply regarded as one dimension of the musical space. Vocal lines themselves
were generally treated as an instrumental line, without overdue attention to how the
words were articulated, or to the placement of consonants and vowels in particular
registers, or even to the complexity of the vocal instrument itself.46
GENESIS OF NERUDA SONGS
"I am so grateful for Neruda’s beautiful poetry, for although these poems were written to
another, when I set them I was speaking directly to my own beloved, Lorraine."47
Lieberson's homage to Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), who penned
Cien sonetos de amor, describes the timelessness and transcendence of the lovers' words. Born
Ricardo Eliezer Neftali Reyes y Basoalto, Neruda adopted the pseudonym under which he would
become famous while still in his early teens.48 He was a highly prolific author whose main
subjects were love and eroticism (Veinte Poemas de Amor y una Canción Desesperada, 1924),
metaphysics (Residencia en la tierra, 1933), and politics (Canto General, 1950). 49 He was a
prominent member of the Communist Party in Chile, receiving the nomination for president from
the party in 1971, though he withdrew after reaching an accord with the nominee of the Socialist
Party, Salvador Allende. He was appointed as Chilean Ambassador to France, and while serving
his post in Paris, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.50 His failing health forced him
to resign the post and return to Chile, where he died in 1973 just days after a right-wing political
46
Lieberson, Rilke Songs: 1.
Peter Lieberson and Pablo Neruda. Neruda Songs: For Mezzo-soprano and Piano. New York:
Associated Music Publishers; [2011], c2005. Print.
48
“Pablo Neruda.” Biography courtesy of The Poetry Foundation, n. d. Accessed 9 April 2014.
n. pag. Web.
49
Daniel Party. “Pablo Neruda.” Oxford Music Online, n.d. Accessed 9 April 2014. n. pag.
Web.
50
The Poetry Foundation, n. pag.
47
18
coup killed President Allende and seized the government.51 Though much of his writing is
infused with ideology based upon his revolutionary views of Chilean politics, Neruda is perhaps
best known for the sensuousness and eroticism of his poetry. “Traditionally,” stated Rene de
Costa in The Poetry of Pablo Neruda, “love poetry has equated woman with nature. Neruda took
this established mode of comparison and raised it to a cosmic level, making woman into a
veritable force of the universe.”52
Written and dedicated to his third wife Mathilde Urrutia (1912-1985), Neruda's ravishing
Cien Sonetos de Amor is divided into four parts: Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. Five
sonnets were selected for use in the cycle: "Si no fuera porque tus ojos tienen color de luna...",
"Amor, amor, las nubes a la torre del cielo...", "No estés lejos de mí un solo día, porque cómo...",
"Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño en mi sueño...", and "Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres....".
The five excerpts deal explicitly with the "joy, sensuality, fusion, ecstasy, and triumph" of love.
The first and second poems are found in the Morning section, the third from Afternoon, and the
final two from Night. From that point on, Peter did not consult with Lorraine while he was
writing the songs, presenting them as a fait accompli. She noted, "We'd been together for a
while, so he was really tuned into my voice. And so I didn't really have to say much at all about
what he had written for me. He was right on, as far as range and technical ease of the vocal
lines."53
It was quite by chance that the love sonnets that so aptly described the Liebersons'
relationship came to be the lyrics of the song cycle. As evidenced by the color of the home she
51
Ibid, n. pag.
“Pablo Neruda.” The Poetry Foundation, n. pag.
53
Jeff Lunden. "Lieberson's 'Neruda Songs', Tracing Love's Arc". National Public Radio:
Weekend Edition Saturday, 30 December 2006. Web. Accessed 12 June 2013. n. pag.
52
19
shared with her husband in Santa Fe, Hunt Lieberson adored the color pink.54 Perhaps it was for
that reason that, while at the Albuquerque airport in 1997, Lieberson’s eye was drawn to the
rose-colored cover of a copy of Neruda’s love poems translated into English by Stephen
Tapscott. "They were so passionate and beautiful and the words were words that I would've
spoken to Lorraine," Lieberson recalled. "And I thought, immediately, on the spot, that I must set
these—at some point— for Lorraine."55
The opportunity came in 2003, when Lieberson received a co-commission from the Los
Angeles and Boston symphonies. Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor and music director of the LA
Philharmonic and Grawemeyer Award recipient in 2012, originally requested that the
commission result in a concert; Lieberson noted that the concept evolved into a desire to write a
song cycle that his wife could perform. Since she spoke Spanish, Hunt Lieberson would read the
sonnets aloud with her husband and marked the ones she preferred. Lieberson recalled that while
the two did not necessarily agree on which specific poems should be set to music, his wife was
certainly involved in the initial stages of the process.56
Written and dedicated to his beloved, Mathilde Urrutia, Neruda's ravishing Cien Sonetos
de Amor is divided into four parts: Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night. Five sonnets were
selected for use in the cycle: "Si no fuera porque tus ojos tienen color de luna...", "Amor, amor,
las nubes a la torre del cielo...", "No estés lejos de mí un solo día, porque cómo...", "Ya eres mía.
Reposa con tu sueño en mi sueño...", and "Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres....". The five
54
Katherine Boyle. "'Neruda Songs' at the Kennedy Center: A lost love's legacy". The
Washington Post, 27 September 2012. Web. 12 September 2013. n. pag.
55
Lunden, n. pag.
56
Ruhe, n. pag.
20
excerpts deal explicitly with the "joy, sensuality, fusion, ecstasy, and triumph" of love.57 The
first and second poems are found in the Morning section, the third from Afternoon, and the final
two from Night. From that point on, Peter did not consult with Lorraine while he was writing the
songs, presenting them as a fait accompli.58 She told National Public Radio in 2004, "We'd been
together for a while, so he was really tuned into my voice. And so I didn't really have to say
much at all about what he had written for me. He was right on, as far as range and technical ease
of the vocal lines."59
By the time Neruda Songs was published, it seemed as though the two artists were of one
mind, from a creative standpoint. Conductor James Levine, who took the podium for the 2005
premiere with Boston Symphony, called the songs "a kind of miracle," and called attention to
Lieberson's compositional shift from twelve-tone music to the velvety lyricism of Neruda Songs,
noting, "Peter, who has written a great many thorny pieces early on, somehow was inspired to
another kind of music in this piece. These songs, I think, fall in the category of very great and
very accessible, which is a combination almost as rare as the opposite."60
THE GRAWEMEYER AWARD
Neruda Songs has enjoyed great success among academic and general audiences alike.
A major catalyst to its popularity has been through the University of Louisville. Every year, the
university presents the Grawemeyer Awards, which draw nominations from around the world.
In 1983, H. Charles Grawemeyer, a successful entrepreneur and prominent patron of the arts, set
up a $9 million endowment to award distinguished work in the areas of Religion, Psychology,
57
Robert Hilferty, "Concerts Everywhere: New York City - Boston Symphony: Lieberson,
Strauss, Mahler," American Record Guide 69/2 (2006): 29.
58
Lunden, n. pag.
59
Ibid, n. pag.
60
Lunden, n. pag
21
Ideas Improving World Order, Education, and Music Composition. The university's website
notes,
Grawemeyer distinguished the awards by honoring ideas rather than life-long or
publicized personal achievement. He also insisted that the selection process for each of
the five awards--though dominated by professionals--include one step involving a lay
committee knowledgeable in each field. As Grawemeyer saw it, great ideas should be
understandable to someone with general knowledge and not be the private treasure of
academics.61
Today, the annual winner in each category receives a prize of $100,000. The first
Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition was given in 1985 to Witold Lutoslawski for his
Symphony No. 3, chosen from among 204 submissions. Dedicated to promoting higher
education, Mr. Grawemeyer stipulated that the winner of the Composition award must serve a
week-long residency to work with the enrolled composition students at the university. Despite
just having undergone rigorous treatment for cancer, Peter Lieberson fulfilled this duty and
served in residence from April 14-18, 2008. His stay culminated in a lecture featuring the 2006
live recording of Neruda Songs with James Levine, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, and the BSO.
The international competition boasts entries from around the world, all vying for the
coveted award. Though there have been several American composers besides Lieberson to win
the award (including John Adams, John Corgliano, and Joan Tower), the majority of winners
have been composers outside the United States: Harrison Birtwistle, Gyorgy Ligeti, Krzysztof
Penderecki, and Tan Dun, among others. The 2013 Grawemeyer Award in Music was awarded
to Dutch composer Michel van der Aa for his multimedia cello concerto Up-close, described as a
“highly innovation fusion of musical and visual art.”62
“The Grawemeyer Awards: History.” n.d. The University of Louisville, 2009. n. pag. Web.
Accessed 14 March 2013.
62
“The Grawemeyer Awards: Current Winners.” n. d. The University of Louisville, 2009. n.
pag. Web. Accessed 12 March 2014.
61
22
The judging process is completed in three tiers: the first two are judged by selected
members of academia (theorists, composers, etc.), while the third tier (which ultimately selects
the grand prize winner) is comprised of prominent arts patrons who do not earn their living in the
creative arts—a more "democratic" system, according to Mr. Grawemeyer.63 Professor Marc
Satterwhite, Grawemeyer coordinator and professor of composition at the University of
Louisville, described the first two tiers as, “… looking for pieces which are both "well-made"
technically, and which also have a potential appeal to a general classical music audience.
Academically we are looking for the usual things: a convincing structure, imaginative use of
musical materials, and competent scoring.”64
In 2008, Lieberson's submission Neruda Songs garnered him the coveted prize. His work
was chosen from more than 140 compositions entered from around the world. University of
Louisville composition instructor and director of the awards program, Marc Satterwhite, noted
that, “The piece has beauty and surface simplicity, but great emotional depth and intellectual
rigor as well." Lieberson himself took an especial pride in this particular award, noting,
I have to say I never really concern myself too much with prizes, awards, and so on. But
this one is meaningful to me precisely because it is for the Neruda Songs and because of
the kind of panels that are involved for the Grawemeyer. There are lay people, so to
speak, involved, too. It's such a meaningful piece to me, so it's very nice that the prize
was awarded to it.65
DRAWING COMPARISONS
Neruda Songs has been compared to many other song cycles in terms of mood, purpose,
and style. As Peter Lieberson presented the cycle as a gift to his beloved, it calls to mind Robert
“The Grawemeyer Awards: Background.” n.d. The University of Louisville, 2009. n. pag.
Web. Accessed 12 March 2014.
64
Satterwhite, Marc. Personal interview. 28 March 2014.
65
Lieberson, interviewed by Oteri, n. pag.
63
23
Schumann’s Frauenliebe und –Leben (1840), set to poetry by Adelbert von Chamisso. The
sentiments of both cycles depict the arched form of love as seen through the eyes of a woman.
But whereas Chamisso's words depict a younger, more innocent, and somewhat reserved portrait
of the relationship, Neruda’s poetry is of a decidedly more sensual, sexual nature.
Important musical differences also exist between the two works. For example, while
Schumann’s cycle comes full circle (with the piano closing the cycle with the singer’s original
melodic material in the original key), Lieberson's last movement finds the singer and
accompaniment of equal importance outlining a G major triad, gently fading away into the
tranquility of two lovers who have said all they could to one another and find closure in having
done so. In this way, Neruda Songs more closely resembles the closing bars of Gustav Mahler’s
Das Lied von der Erde (1908-09), wherein the tide of Der Abschied recedes peacefully on the
word “ewig” (forever), without ever fully resolving to a cadence. Written after a year of
devastating personal issues, Das Lied is considered somewhat of an opus ultimum, a concept
long honored and respected by critics and historians as the final work which formally brings the
composer's career to a conclusion.66 Though Lieberson did not yet know he was ill, his wife’s
cancer had progressed to the point of her canceling almost every other engagement except
Neruda Songs. Perhaps Lieberson’s beautiful, lyrical cycle was to be his wife’s opus ultimum,
the crowning achievement to a diverse and spectacular career, even if that was not its original
intent.
For that reason, Neruda Songs is often likened to Richard Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder
(1948), his opus ultimum that was apparently planned and executed as such.67 The Lieder
66
Aubrey S. Garlington. Richard Strauss's "Vier letzte Lieder": The Ultimate "opus ultimum".
The Musical Quarterly 73:1 (1989), 79.
67
Ibid, 80.
24
occupy an analogous place in the final years of German Romanticism,68 the lushness and
decadence of which Lieberson incorporated in Neruda Songs. Though he would compose other
works after this cycle, Neruda Songs was the full bloom of Lieberson’s final and more lyrical
compositional period. In addition to being a celebration of their marriage, the songs may also
have been a cathartic, restorative experience for both Peter and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson as they
approached the end of their time together.
One of Lieberson's most decorated compositions, the cycle won the 2008 Grawemeyer
Award for Music Composition, and the first recording, a live performance under Levine,
received three Grammy nominations, including one for the music itself.69 While such awards do
not necessarily guarantee a long programming life for a work, Neruda Songs has garnered quite a
following in recent years and has become a favorite among popular audiences. Sarah Connolly
gave the European premiere in London, and Kelley O'Connor has sung the music with a number
of orchestras.70 The heartbreaking circumstances surrounding Lieberson's works for his wife had
previously resulted in singers perceiving them to be “off limits" in the sense that the songs
belong to Hunt Lieberson, and that further performances might be considered disrespectful to her
memory.71 Although the songs were so integrally related to the person for whom they were
written, Lieberson expressed his feelings regarding other soloists taking up the cycle, saying, "I
think it might be more difficult for the singer than for me. I don’t think Lorraine would have
wanted them to be only her province. Even if she were alive today, I don’t think she would want
68
Ibid.
William R. Braun, “LIEBERSON: Neruda Songs and THEOFANIDIS: Symphony No. 1”.
Opera News, V. 76, No. 5 (2011), n.pag. Web
70
Braun, n.pag.
71
Kelton, 258.
69
25
that. She’d want other singers to sing them, I know she would."72 O'Connor, chosen to perform
the songs with the Chicago Symphony, contacted Lieberson prior to the performance to ask if he
would be willing to work with her, and he invited her to Hawaii where he was staying with his
family.73 It was there that Lieberson worked with the young mezzo, and gave his blessing to her
performance.74
The allure of Neruda Songs seems to be the result an obsession with the deeply sensual,
ultimately tragic love story behind them. All five songs begin with a strikingly low pitch,
imparting a particular weight to the cycle.75 The cycle also happens to be some of the
composer's most accessible and aesthetically pleasing work. In discussing the appeal of the
songs, art journal critic Robert Hilferty said, “[Lieberson] has never been so lyrical. [Neruda
Songs] is a ravishing work, saturated with love. It's a gorgeous score, mostly tonal, though spiked
with pungent dissonances. The composer seems to have abandoned his hard edge, and Neruda
Songs was so much the better for it.76
ISSUES OF TEXT
Associated Music Publishers, Inc. released the cycle in piano-vocal reduction in February
2011, two months before the composer's death, further bolstering the cycle's accessibility for
recital programming. Included were English translations by author Stephen Tapscott, who noted,
Literary translation is often a well-intentioned process of unfaithfulness in the service of
a greater fidelity. To make a readable poem in the target language, one needs to recreate
effects that parallel those of the original poem. The process commits strategic distortion,
for a trans-substantive effect. In some ways, the work a good translation does, finding
72
Lieberson, int. with Oteri, n.pag.
Kelly O'Connor, interview with user: gatheringnote. http://vimeo.com/17626836. Web.
74
Ibid.
75
Sheppard, n. pag.
76
Robert Hilferty, "Concerts Everywhere: New York City - Boston Symphony: Lieberson,
Strauss, Mahler," American Record Guide 69/2 (2006): 29.
73
26
ways to reconstitute the elusive "poetry," resembles the mandate of good musical
settings.77
Meant to be poetic translations rather than literal ones, Tapscott’s work on the Sonetos has been
generally well received. In fact, composers such as David Braid, Judith Cloud, Richard Peter
Maddox, Morten Lauridsen, and others have set several of his English poetic translations.78
Because he did not speak Spanish, it was Tapscott's translations that made Neruda’s poetry
available to Lieberson. The composer chose to set the original language, maintaining the
integrity of color and character of the sonnets. Lieberson found himself at ease with the love
sonnets, saying, “Perhaps I have some feeling for language. I don’t know. But Neruda’s Spanish
is very beautiful and so evocative and so melodic in its own way, so musical. I actually find
English the most difficult language to set.”79
Neruda's Cien Sonetos have a "plot" in their sequence that metaphorically suggests a
patterned relationship and a single day (in stages moving from day to night).80 It is easy to see
how organically the poems could be interpreted to represent the arc of a relationship or even the
transition from life to death. Lieberson's selection of sonnets and sensitive musical settings,
coupled with an intimate knowledge of his wife's instrument, created a cycle that offers a
concentrated microcosm of the Sonetos. Lieberson's settings enfold the narrative, "translating" it
to a dimension of experiential time that stretches out the statement, prolonging and deepening
and transmuting the melodic line faithfully and slowly, even in the vowels of the Spanish words
themselves—as if longing for a little more time.81
Stephen Tapscott, "Fidelity.” Opera News. 73/2 (August 2008): 68.
Ibid.
79
Ruhe, n. pag.
80
Tapscott, 68.
81
Tapscott,68.
77
78
27
POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION
Many critics and audiences familiar with the composer’s earlier works have agreed that a
substantial shift had occurred following his union with Hunt, but labeling his new style has
proved challenging. William Braun stated, “Lieberson's music, in its harmonic vocabulary, its
textures and its orchestration, is Bergian.”82 American composer, theorist, and distinguished
professor Stephen Taylor claimed that Lieberson’s late style is very much copied on that of Berg,
noting, “Much of the cycle sounds like Berg. In fact, the opening motive in the first song is
reminiscent of Lulu.”83 Although other scholars and reviewers have liberally applied the term
“Romantic” to this later style, such a designation is perhaps misleading because Lieberson was
not solely harkening back to an earlier period, but rather blending his early training with the
nuance of vocal writing learned from his wife. Though it does not condense into a tidy
classification, perhaps it would be more accurate to characterize Lieberson's new work as freer,
less cerebral, and more open to intuition while retaining his impeccable craftsmanship,
exquisitely colorful orchestration, and discerning critical ear.84 Lieberson’s work from this late
period consists of the first music that came to his mind, instead of utilizing the more formulaic
methods at which he excelled in academia. He said, “What I was looking for was something
pointed and poignant and very human, because it could expand out, so that it becomes
everyone’s experience.”85 This open-minded attitude toward accessibility would go far toward
endearing his works to audiences and critics alike. In Neruda Songs, Lieberson shed the angular
reticence of a lifetime and mined the florid intensity of Handel, the violent grace of flamenco,
82
Braun, n.pag.
Stephen A. Taylor. Personal interview. 8 April 2014.
84
Eddins, n.pag.
85
Lieberson, interviewed by Ruhe, n. pag.
83
28
and the elemental eloquence he learned from Lorraine Hunt.86
Each of the five songs presents a distinct collection of melodic and harmonic material.
Employing motive material creates unity amongst both the sections of the respective movements,
but also the cycle as a whole. In his original program notes, Lieberson described each sonnet as
reflecting “a different face in love’s mirror.”87 Despite the verses of the Chilean poet, Latin
influences are primarily confined to the use of maracas in the fourth song and the occasional
guitar-like spacing of some chords.88 The beauty of the poetry and the original language,
however, are enhanced by Lieberson’s sensitive settings. Rapid metric changes create a fluidity
of verbiage, maintaining and matching the integrity of Neruda's carefully chosen syntax within
the vocal line. In Raising the Gaze (1998), for example, Lieberson sought to evoke the spirit of
dance through a complex web of shifting meters.89 In Neruda Songs, the dance-like feeling is
maintained through this technique, but also creates a feeling of precariousness, even instability,
that propels the narrative forward toward the end: the end of the relationship and the end of the
life, but, we are gently reassured, not the end of the love.
INTERPRETATION
While Neruda Songs is most certainly a musical depiction of the arched trajectory of a
romantic relationship, I have found in the study of the songs a related lens through which to view
the cycle. Like Robert and Clara Schumann, who were struck by the tragedy of the German
86
Justin Davidson. "A Place of Shaggy Wildness." The New York Times, 13 May 2011. Web.
n.pag.
87
Deanna Hudgins. “Neruda Songs”. Los Angeles Philharmonic Music and Musicians
Database, n.d., n.pag.
88
Braun, n.pag.
89
Barrymore Laurence Scherer. A History of American Classical Music. Naperville, Illinois,
(2007): 215.
29
composer's deteriorating mental health, so were Lieberson and Hunt affected by the diagnosis of
her breast cancer.90 As the cycle was composed around or following the diagnosis of the
terminal illness, I assert that the songs can also be loosely viewed as representations of the five
stages of grief as introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: grief, anger, bargaining, depression, and
acceptance. Originally conceived as a study to help caretakers and medical professionals better
serve dying patients,91 the stage model has been criticized because it projects an imagined series
of emotions that laypeople use a measurement of how a bereaved or terminally ill patient is
coping. Some of the harshest criticism of the model came from Kübler-Ross herself, when she
noted that the stages should be applied flexibly because some individuals may not feel every
emotion, or if they do, they may feel them in a different order than in the model. The five stages
have become a mainstay in social work, counseling, hospitals, medical schools, nursing
programs, seminaries, and popular media, as well as self-help literature for the bereaved
appearing in magazines, books and influential websites.92
Given their prevalence within our culture, it is possible that the stages played some part,
even subconsciously, in the compositional process of Neruda Songs. Given that music is often
used to express emotions, it is natural to wonder how many compositions have been written
within the various stages. Regarding Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, author Beverly
Lewis Parker asserts that the five stages of grief certainly seem applicable, though she states that
90
Katherine Kelton. Rilke Songs, The Six Realms (Violoncello and Orchestra), Horn Concerto
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, mezzo-soprano; Peter Serkin, piano; Michaela Fukacova, violoncello;
William Purvis, horn. The Odense Symphony Orchestra, Justin Brown and Donald Palma,
conductors. Liner notes by Peter Lieberson and Robert Kirzinger; texts enclosed; English
translations by Stephen Mitchell. 2006. Bridge 9178. by Peter Lieberson. American Music 28:2
(Summer 2010), 257.
91
Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, On Death and Dying. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1969.
92
Camille Wortman. "Coping with the Death of a Loved One: The Seductiveness of Stages",
This Emotional Life on PBS. Accessed 25 January 2014. Web. n.p.
30
it is not possible to know a composer's conscious intent during a work’s composition, nor can the
relationship between terminal illness and a work of art as merely a matter of cause and effect.93
This sentiment certainly applies to an examination of Neruda Songs. Just as Kübler-Ross stated
that the stages are not concrete, neither is their manifestation within Neruda Songs. When
considering the parallels between Kübler-Ross's theory and Lieberson's cycle, it is necessary to
keep in mind that speculation and subjective inquiry are necessary to humanistic studies.94 This
hypothesis is simply a micro-interpretation of a singular (yet profound) event in life, rather than
the macro-interpretation of the many levels of emotion that can accompany an entire
relationship.
In addition to the solo mezzo-soprano, Neruda Songs is scored for piccolo, two flutes,
oboe, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets,
vibraphone, glockenspiel, crotales, high suspended cymbal, maracas, low tom-tom or surdo (with
bass drum or other large beater), harp, piano and strings. The approximate performance time is
thirty minutes.
THE SONGS
The first song, “Si no fuera porque tus ojos tienen color de luna...” (If your eyes were not
the color of the moon), conjures up the infatuation at first glimpse of the beloved. This is not
unlike the sentiment exhibited in “Seit ich ihn gesehen” (Now I have seen him) in Schumann’s
Frauenliebe und –Leben. Whereas Schumann’s setting of Adelbert’s poetry praises all the things
the beloved is, Neruda’s text presents a converse list song, the text openly adoring the beloved:
"If you were not....., I could not love you." Another striking parallel is that both songs begin
93
Beverly Lewis Parker. "Parallels between Bartók's "Concerto for Orchestra" and KüblerRoss's Theory about the Dying", The Musical Quarterly 73:4 (1989): 533.
94
Ibid.
31
with a feeling other than overwhelming excitement—for Schumann, a breathless first glance; for
Lieberson, a languorous intoxication. Neruda's text is a converse list song ("If you were not..."
instead of "You are..."), presented in an “if-then” format. The A section provides a series of
antecedents, and it is not until the end of the B section that the first textual consequent is given.
The first three measures are sparsely orchestrated, yet perfectly embody the composer's
marking sultry, languid. Rapid changes of meter lend an air of unpredictability without
segmenting the work. The ascending bass motif ('languid') introduces the movement, is
presented several times throughout in both full and fragmented forms, and supports the singer's
"Si no fuera" motive (Figure 1).
Fig. 1: Motives in “Si no fuera porque tus ojos…”
a) 'Languid' (mm. 1-2, accompaniment)
b) "Si no fuera..." (mm. 4-5, voice)
The inversion of the "si no fuera" theme at m. 19 indicates impending change. A spritely
32
new mood infuses the music at m. 22, the dancing marking of which is assisted by a sudden shift
into a lively 5/4. Drowsy luxuriousness gives way to vivacious abandon in the B section. The
light, dance-like qualities of this section evoke the “butterflies in the stomach” feeling of a
newfound interest.95 In this section, the music “dances” as marked, but also uses text painting to
depict the winding of the “enredaderas” (vines) with grupettos in both the accompaniment and
the voice. Both the text and music continue to intensify through the continuation of denied
resolutions through m. 28, until finally the accompaniment trills and cresecendos through a series
of cluster chords in ascending octaves (m. 30) towards the emphatic "Oh, bien amada!" This
emotional climax is also the first textual consequent—the 'then' to Neruda's list of “ifs.”
Melodically, the second repetition of "Yo no te amaría" is an altered treatment of the “languid”
theme, a scalar presentation with whole-tone flavor accompanied by a similar alteration in the
bass. Repetition of the text solidifies the depth of the lover's devotion as the now delicate
ascending motif carries the momentum upwards after the voice descends a perfect fifth at the end
of the phrase.
The second song, "Amor, amor, las nubes a la torre del cielo..." (Love, love, the clouds
went up the tower of the sky), captures the excitement of a freshly budding romance. Here is the
parallel to Schumann's second and third songs, “Er, der Herrlichste von allen” (He, the greatest
of all!) and "Ich kannst nicht fassen, nicht glauben" (I cannot grasp it, nor believe). Within in the
grief model, this movement could be interpreted as “denial”—a driving, almost frantic attempt to
maintain normalcy. While the first movement is sultry and languid, this movement leans toward
the exotic Espagne à la certain French composers such as Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy,
and features a sparkling orchestral introduction, a more melismatic vocal line, and snappy
95
Peter Lieberson, quoted in Hudgins, n.pag.
33
rhythms.96 This movement is joyful yet mysterious in its evocation of nature's elements: fire,
water, wind, and luminous space.97 Figure 2 shows the two main themes that are employed in
the A section (mm. 1-39).
Fig. 2: Motives in “Amor, amor, las nubes…”
1) Brilliant running (mm.1-4, accompaniment)
2) Joyful leaping (mm. 12-16, voice)
The use of shorter phrase lengths and text repetition creates the feeling of breathlessness.
With the exception of the 4/8 bar at m.4, the A section contains a long passage of music in the
same meter (mm. 1-44). The A' section provides additional metric stability in mm. 51-93, again
varying only once in m. 54. More than the others, this song pulses with an unrelenting
96
W. A. Sheppard. "Recording Reviews: Peter Lieberson - "Rilke Songs"; "The Six Realms";
Horn Concerto; "Neruda Songs". Journal for the Society of American Music 4, no. 1 (2010): 114.
97
Peter Lieberson. Composer's note. Neruda Songs. With poetry by Pablo Neruda, translations
by Stephen Tapscott. Milwaukee, WI: Associated Music Publishers, Inc., 2011. Print.
34
persistence that builds tension through the first section, refusing to linger in any one tonal area
too long. The leaping melodic contour and repetition of the word “amor” in mm.12-16 feels
frenetic, almost mechanical. The melisma in mm. 23-26, which the accompaniment imitates,
feels constricted with its limited range and lack of forward motion. A second melisma in m.31
breaks free, fittingly on the word “triumfantes”, covering a wider range and thus propelling the
energy towards the climax of "y todo ardió en azul" in mm. 36-39. A short transitional passage
(mm. 40-44) calms the exhilaration of the first section with a ritardando and decrescendo, thus
ushering in the B section.
This section, marked “suspended”, undulates gently under Neruda's words with a floating
D-flat, E-flat, G-flat, and A-flat cluster chord presented in three octaves, and a pedal E-flat
firmly in the bass. The calm of this moment is fleeting, however, as A' suddenly reengages in
mm.51-93, utilizing motivic material from the A section. Measure 94 begins a new section, C,
marked “meno mosso” with a shift to 6/8 and a return to E-flat as the implied tonal area. Within
the moods of the A’ and C sections respectively, Lieberson achieves continuity through the use
of altered vocal material from the opening section (Figure 3). In the A’ section, the text invites
one to "come to see the starry cherry water"- the color red is presented in florid motion, as it is
with the word "love" in the first A section, which also associated with red. The arch of the
melodic contour crests very rapidly, with the highest note (F) occurring as a 32nd note on the
final beat of m. 66. The final interval of the excerpt is a perfect fourth. In the C section, the text
also invites one to "come to touch the fire of instant blue" - blue is represented by a more tranquil
tempo and relaxed delivery of the text. In addition, the arch is not a singular motion, but an
extended presentation in which rests are included. The climax occurs on the downbeat of m. 99,
finally allowing the note to blossom before continuing the phrase, which ends with a metrically-
35
extended version of the same interval in the first excerpt.
Fig. 3: Alteration of vocal thematic material in “Amor, amor, las nubes…”
a) “Ven a ver” (mm. 63-69, voice)
b) "Ven a tocar" ( mm. 96-98, voice)
An expansive, recitative-like passage follows the C section, in which tremolos and rolled
chords dominate the accompaniment. The vocal line is fragmentary, as if making a series of
divine discoveries in one’s surroundings and trying to take in all the wonder. The delicate
rippling of the accompaniment creates a current of sound that pulses towards the final section,
which is preceded by a final instance of the “brilliant” theme presented as the singer's first
limited melisma. This time, however, the melisma feels more connected to both its present
location and the coming material. Additionally, the melisma seems to break away from the
limited range by falling a seventh from C-flat to D-flat, an interval greater than any of its
predecessors. The melisma becomes a transitional vehicle for the final section.
Measure 129 begins the final section, B'. Though it appears markedly different from the
original B, the two sections share a similar mood (marked “tranquillo”, the first “suspended”).
Again, the evocation of mood is charged by the mention of “azul” in m.130 and a sense of calm
prevails. Additionally, though now in bass clef, the pitch content is the same as the first
36
presentation of the material. There is now an interesting division of the beat, in the 32nd notes
with rests interspersed. This division of the beat could be interpreted as mimicking the lapping
of waves, or more intimately, a heartbeat. This rhythmic motion ends the song, after all of the
rhythmic force and vitality of the opening, is both poignant and reassuring. From the perspective
of the stages, the heartbeat serves as a calming transition from the intensity of denial to the
aching of depression in the next song. In this section, Lieberson uses material from the first
movement (Figure 4) to connect these two songs which share poetry from Neruda's Morning
section. Additionally, m. 140 introduces a grupetto figure that figures prominently into the
following movement.
Fig. 4: Recurrence of thematic material as unifying factor between Songs 1 and 2
4a) Text and contour of 'del aire'
i. "Si no fuera..."( mm. 13-14, voice)
ii. "Amor, amor, las nubes...", (mm. 133-34, voice)
37
4b) Ending interval of vocal lines
i. "Si no fuera..." ( mm. 63-64, voice)
ii. "Amor, amor, las nubes..." (mm.137, voice)
The center song of Lieberson’s arch, “No estes lejos de mí un solo día” ("Don’t go far
off, not even for a day”), suddenly pivots in mood. From the jumble of emotions in Neruda's
Morning section, there is a jarring turn into Afternoon. The love has deepened, and the
dependency on the beloved is displayed in the largo movement. The singer’s lament of fear is
represented by the textual repetition and tightly knit melodic line, as if an attempt to enfold the
lover musically, and keep him or her in place.98 This then could be imitation of life—perhaps a
musical manifestation of the despair or depression that can accompany a life-altering event, such
a cancer diagnosis. The narrator pleads repeatedly (or in Kübler-Ross' model, bargains)
desperately with the encroaching feelings of desolation that accompany the thought of parting
with a beloved.
98
Sheppard, 114.
38
The ear recognizes D-sharp, the first notated pitch, as the tonal center for the movement.
This low, ominous note sets a somber tone that is enhanced by the hollow open sonority above
which the singers enters in m.3. For much of the song, the E-flat sounds as a pedal tone,
anchoring the perception of key much as the narrator seeks to anchor the beloved. Two distinct
motives appear emerge: 1) the pleading of "no estés lejos de mi" stepwise ascending, then leaps
falling and 2) the sighing "un solo día" (Figure 5). Altered variations of these two main themes
appear throughout, providing further unification throughout the piece (Figure 6).
Fig. 5: Motives in “No estés lejos de mi…”
a) Pleading (m. 3, voice)
b) Sighing theme (m. 5, voice)
Fig. 6: Alterations of themes
a) Pleading (m. 21, voice)
39
b) Pleading (mm. 57-61, voice)
c) Sighing (mm. 36-39, voice)
The fourth song,“Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño en mi sueño” (And you are mine.
Rest with your dream in my dream), begins with a declamatory, almost frenzied repetition of the
first line. The repetition of a triplet figure with its accented first beat seems to summon the
40
vocalist. Although A-like material returns at the end of the piece, this figure is featured only
once, and in altered, incomplete form at m. 130 (an interpretation of abridged themes in the final
section, mm. 129-134 is discussed later). Interestingly, the first two instances of "Ya eres mía"
begin with the melodic emphasis on the word "mine," but the next three place greater emphasis
on "and you" through a descending pattern, perhaps an homage to the equal partnership between
the two lovers following the reassurance that the beloved will “not go far off,” from the previous
movement. Though the text is comforting, the accentuated opening section creates an aura of
insistence or even perhaps anger that the beloved has only just now been found and time is
running out. The foreboding mood is supplemented by the use of jarring melodic interval
relationships, especially on words with generally positive associations, such as “dreams,” “love,”
and “eyes”, respectively (Figure 8).
Fig. 8: Instances of musical 'foreboding' in “Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño…”
a) Tritone on "sueño” (m. 11, beats 3 & 4, voice)
b) Tritone, dissonance in chord "amor" (m. 23 b. 3 A flat to D natural and the
presence of a minor second in m. 24, b. 1, accompaniment)
41
c) Tritone on "ojos" (m. 98, beat 1, voice)
With these examples in mind, a strong case can be made for the influence of KüblerRoss's stages. The omission of any poetry from the Evening section might represent the sudden,
jarring diagnosis of terminal illness—lovers suddenly thrust into night without the gentle fade of
light during the evening hours. The listener is thrust into the poetry of Neruda's Night, and
Lieberson employs an interesting concept to suddenly thrust the listener into a new soundscape;
the inclusion of a Latin American bossa nova rhythm in the middle of the song seems at once
puzzling, and does not appear clearly motivated by anything in the poetry.99 It does, however,
introduce a new and drastically different ambiance within the cycle. The snappy Latin rhythms
might also represent a final surge of energy, allowing a moment of brief respite from the
impending finality. Syncopation is prevalent throughout, with two main themes providing
continuity (Figure 9). The first motive, found only in the accompaniment, employs a contrary
sweeping motion in opposite direction across the bar line to usher in a decisive chord on the
99
Sheppard,115.
42
downbeat. The second motive stresses the bossa nova groove, as it occurs mostly on usually
unstressed beats of a measure, is pitched higher, and marked staccato against a more static
texture underneath. Frequent metric changes create both feelings of precariousness and perpetual
motion.
Fig. 9: Motives in “Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño…”
a) Contrary 'sweeping' motion (m. 4, accompaniment)
b) 'Sweeping' motive (m. 73-74, accompaniment – into instrumental interlude)
c) 'Groove' rhythm (m. 13, accompaniment)
43
d) 'Groove' rhythm (m. 26-30, accompaniment)
Once again, this movement bears a similarity to Schumann’s Lieder in that the
accompaniment and voice share equal importance in the storytelling. This technique is clearly
displayed beginning with the pickup to m. 68. The voice gradually intensifies and broadens,
essentially passing the storyline to the accompaniment in mm. 74-90. The contrary sweeping
motive ushers in the interlude, dispelling the illusion of divisiveness as a lush chord (C, D, E-flat,
B-flat, F) blossoms on the downbeat of m. 74. The sweeping motive creates a series of rushes—a
similar but smaller one occurs at m. 108, followed by a larger one at m. 116—perhaps one last
burst of energy, of life's blood. A third instance occurs in mm. 128-129, but fails to achieve the
intensity of any of its predecessors, as if all of the energy has been spent and all that remains is a
bittersweet memory of such vitality. Neither the voice nor the accompaniment will attain that
level of intensity for the remainder of the cycle. Following its turn as narrator, the
accompaniment reengages the lively syncopated rhythm at m. 91, as if inviting the voice to join
once again.
44
The final notes of the movement are sounded on the marimba, playing its spritely eighthnote pattern that has dotted the musical landscape throughout the song but this time, it appears in
truncated form, signaling, perhaps, that the lovers' energies have been spent, leaving only a
delicate shell. As it is presented, the figure offers no completion, neither as its complete
previous grupetto form, nor for the ending of the song. The staccato B-flat lingers hazily, though
the feeling is not one of intentional denial of resolution so much as it is anticipation of the peace
to come. It is from this driving expectation that the opening chord of the final song blooms in
the key area of G major. The strings play a B-natural, the third of the new chord, and there is a
gentle release into the final movement.
After the whirlwind journey of emotions in the previous movements, an instant peace
envelopes “Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres” (My love, if I die and you don’t). Acceptance of
the inevitable has descended upon the narrator, that merciful moment that comes after a battle
with pain, fear, and mortality. As shown in Figure 10, the final song alternates between a
transcendent, 3–ˆ 1–ˆ 2–ˆ 1 rocking gesture in the violins suggestive of a lullaby and of an
infinite love, and a darker tone, complete with a funereal tattoo in the low strings.100
Fig. 10: Rocking motion in “Amor mio….” (m. 1, accompaniment)
The elegant yet simple theme is fully presented four times: the first (m.1) and last (m. 64) are in
100
Sheppard, 114.
45
G major, while the second (m. 11) and third (m. 58) are in F major. A partial entry appears in m.
18 in E major, lasting only two measures and preceding a five-bar rhythmic interlude. Another
altered version appears in m. 49 with D as the tonal center, the more decorous triplets pulsating
under the first presentation of the text "Pero este amor, no ha terminado, y así como no tuvo
nacimiento, no tiene muerte. [Amor] es como un largo río" (But this love, it has no end, and just
as it had no birth, it has no death. [Love] is like a long river).
Though the movement begins firmly in G major, Lieberson raises the tonic to G-sharp on
the pickup to m. 3 on the singer's first word, “amor.” Again, the use of unexpected chromatic
pitches lends a bittersweet ambiance to this opening section. The singer's piano repetition of
"amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres," suggests that the persona is using what little strength they
have left to convey a final message—that death must not have the last word. Keeping with the
recurring theme of water, the movement flows along, sometimes slowing, but never stopping.
Measures 20-24 are a bridge to a new recitativo section, where Lieberson creates the aural
soundscape of Neruda's words; here, dust, sand, time, water and wind are sweeping the two
lovers towards each other, and not a moment to soon. Measures 41-45 are an exuberant climax,
the music swelling as the singer exclaims, "Oh pequeño infinito!" (Oh little infinity!), followed
by "devolvemos...."(we give it back it…). Tremolos crescendo from piano to forte across the bar
line to a luxurious yet dissonant chord on the downbeat of m. 42, a B-major chord above low
octave C-sharps. This motion is sequenced again in mm. 43-44, but with an intensified
accompaniment which doubles the vocal line in accented octaves. Lieberson noted, "The more
you appreciate the impermanence, the more you appreciate all the little moments that take
place."101 This section of music embodies that very ideal, that what is so monumental can also
101
Lieberson, interviewed by Ruhe, n. pag.
46
be ephemeral.102
The music continues on with a lullaby-like melody, and despite a lack of rhythmic
intensity, never feels stagnant. The emotions of the preceding movements seem to be absorbed
into this final moment, as though the cycle has been a singular journey, showing how the rate of
harmonic change, the densities and the rhythms are all purified and simplified to an elevated
conclusion in the fifth song.103 Of this heartbreaking finale, Alex Ross said, “The vocal line ends
on a B, and afterward the same note is held for two slow beats by the violas, as if they were
holding the hand of the singer who came from their ranks. The composer is holding her hand,
too. The final word is ‘amor.’”104 This ending is reminiscent of the closing bars of Das Lied von
der Erde, in which the soloist gently fades into a gentle orchestral undulation. In an analysis of
Der Abschied, theorist Stephen Hefling remarks, “this dissolution signifies the ecstatic fusion of
Death with the persona represented by the singer.”105 In a final gesture of peaceful acceptance,
both Mahler and Lieberson musically depict a passing as comfortable as falling asleep in a warm
embrace.
LEGACY
The first recording of Neruda Songs, a live performance under Maestro Levine, received
three Grammy nominations, including one for the music itself.106 While such awards do not
necessarily guarantee a long programming life for a work, Neruda Songs has garnered quite a
following in recent years and has become a favorite among popular audiences. Kelley O'Connor
102
Ruhe, n. pag.
Braun, n.pag.
104
Alex Ross, “Fervor: Remembering Lorraine Hunt Lieberson”. The Guardian Online, 28 May
2013, n.pag. Web.
105
Stephen E. Hefling. Maher: Das Lied von der Erde. New York: Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2000: 106.
106
William R. Braun. “LIEBERSON: Neruda Songs and THEOFANDIS: Symphony No. 1.”
Opera News 76:5 (2011), n. pag. Web.
103
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first performed the cycle with the Chicago Symphony and subsequently in New York in 2008,
while Sarah Connolly gave the European premiere at The Barbican in London in October 2010.
The heartbreaking circumstances surrounding Lieberson's works for his wife had previously
resulted in singers perceiving them to be “off limits" in the sense that the songs belong to Hunt
Lieberson, and that further performances might be considered disrespectful to her memory.107
Although the songs were so integrally related to the person for whom they were written,
Lieberson expressed his feelings regarding other soloists taking up the cycle, saying, "I think it
might be more difficult for the singer than for me. I don’t think Lorraine would have wanted
them to be only her province. Even if she were alive today, I don’t think she would want that.
She’d want other singers to sing them, I know she would."108
O'Connor, as the first singer chosen to perform the songs with orchestra since Hunt
Lieberson, contacted the composer prior to the performance to ask if he would be willing to work
with her. He graciously invited the young singer to Hawaii where he was vacationing with his
family. There Lieberson worked with the young mezzo, and gave his blessing to her
performance. Despite this, O’Connor mentioned in an interview that when performing Neruda
Songs, she always felt as though “he [Peter Lieberson] was there and she [Lorraine Hunt
Lieberson] was there….it is very much ‘their’ story.”109
LEGACY: SONGS OF LOVE AND SORROW (2010)
At the time of Hunt Lieberson’s death, her husband was composing an ongoing project
for the New York Philharmonic; a 40-minute work for baritone, mezzo-soprano, chorus and
107
Kelton, 258.
Lieberson, interviewed by Oteri, n. pag.
109
Kelley O’Connor. “Kelley O'Connor talks about Peter Lieberson's Neruda Songs with
TGN.” Interview with user GatheringNote. http://vimeo.com/17626836. n. pag. Web accessed
10 February 2014.
108
48
orchestra entitled The World in Flower (2007). The premiere was postponed due to the work's
delayed completion, the result of Peter serving as his wife's primary caretaker in the last months
of her life. Her involvement was impossible due to illness, and on July 3, she succumbed to the
disease. Not long after, Peter was diagnosed with lymphoma, but amazingly, orchestrated the
work while undergoing chemotherapy in a Houston hospital.
James Levine had approached Lieberson backstage at Carnegie Hall, during the final tour
of Neruda Songs, about composing as second cycle for Hunt Lieberson, featuring more of
Neruda's love poems. Lieberson recalled telling Levine that he did not believe a sequel would
work well, noting, "I didn't feel like it, frankly."110 He toyed with the notion of writing a scena
instead, or perhaps a musical tribute to his late wife. But in that time, Lieberson fell in love with
and married his long-time friend and former Buddhist nun, Rinchen Lhamo. Lieberson drew
strength from Neruda’s poignant words: “He said love is like a river, it has no birth and death,
just changing lands and changing lips. I found it to be very true myself, because when I was
really recovering from grueling treatment, all of a sudden, I fell in love again, so these things
happen.”111 Lieberson credited his new wife's love and support with giving him the strength to
write another song cycle, and her presence in his life meant that the new work would not be
solely a farewell to Hunt Lieberson, nor would it be an elegy. What was to be a tribute set of
“Farewell Songs’’ became Songs of Love and Sorrow, reaching for a wider panoply of human
emotions as distilled in Neruda’s love sonnets, the same deep poetic well from which the original
cycle was drawn.112 Of Songs of Love and Sorrow, Lieberson noted, "Elements of Lorraine and
110
Ruhe, n.pag.
Peter Lieberson, interview by Andea Shea. “Songs of Love and Sorrow...And Love Again”.
National Public Radio: WBUR 90.9, Boston. 25 March 2010. Radio broadcast. n. pag.
112 Jeremy Eichler. "At BSO, Lieberson returns to Neruda's well." The Boston Globe Online, 27
March 2010. Accessed 31 May 2012. n. pag. Web.
111
49
our love are definitely in this piece, and things that she evoked in me and that I remember about
her. And there there's also elements of my new love, and there's elements of life that have taken
place over the last three years."113
Hesitant to write another cycle for female voice, Lieberson opted to compose Songs of
Love and Sorrow for baritone. On March 25, 2010, Lieberson's new song cycle debuted with
James Levine conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra; only this time, it was Gerald Finley
who breathed new life into the Sonetos. The subtle dissonant harmonies, the lyrical gestures, and
floating melodies recalled Neruda Songs, yet there was an infusion of new experiences into the
introspective words. Lieberson's choice of sonnets reflected loves past and current: "Des las
estrellas que admiré..." (Of the stars I admired…), "Plena mujer, manzana carnal, luna caliente..."
(Full woman, carnal apple, hot moon…..), "Cantas y a sol y a cielo con tu canto..." (The sun and
the sky sing your song…), "Tal vez no ser es ser sin que tú seas..." (Nothingness is to be without
your presence…), and "Amor mio, al cerrar esta puerta nocturnal..." (My love, as we close this
nocturnal door…). Songs of Love and Sorrow also further solidified Lieberson's lifelong
devotion to Buddhism and the manner in which he embraced "the pain and impermanence of
life."114 Regarding Buddhism's impact on his life and music, Lieberson noted,
I have faith in the truth, and that has come from what the Buddha said and what my
teachers have taught me and from personal experience. So I don't have blind faith that
things will be OK. And the first truth that the Buddha taught was the truth of suffering.
This isn't a depressing truth, it's simply a fact. There's nothing one can hold on to; at the
same time, a tremendous love and poignancy dawns when one realizes that. A love for
others, a love for life, a love for experience of life itself.115
113
Lieberson, interviewed by Shea, n. pag
Lieberson, interviewed by Ruhe, n.pag.
115
Lieberson, interviewed by Shea, n.pag.
114
50
CONCLUSION
Given Lieberson's once-total immersion in twelve-tone methodology, the evolution of
compositional style seems miraculous. Were it not for a chance encounter during the premiere of
a new American opera, Lieberson's late style may not have existed as we know it. The
significance of this shift is broad and lasting in that it illuminated a new pathway open to
contemporary composers—that of more accessible modern music. Unable to compete with the
rigid reliability of computer systems that program pitches at will, those singers wishing to
promote contemporary art song and opera generally find themselves adrift between academic and
popular schools of composition. To be sure, Lieberson's early training in serial composition had
a positive impact on his later work; his music remained intellectual in many ways, though he
treated the voice with more care than he had previously. Many hailed this “approachable’’ style,
but Lieberson says it’s less a matter of being accessible than being “more naked — something
that wants to come through and allowing it, whatever its form should be.”116
That Neruda Songs was given a prestigious award by a panel of artistically oriented
laypersons speaks to the depths with which audiences resonate with the cycle. That the work is
frequently programmed in concert bespeaks the success of Lieberson's late style. Perhaps it is
partially because of the beautiful and tragic story behind the songs, but certainly their popularity
can be attributed to the fact that this cycle sounds like music. Lieberson’s late writing blends
simplicity and lyricism with technical difficulty, rhythmic intricacies, and unusual harmonic
colorations, allowing beauty and intellect to flourish simultaneously. In regards to finding this
“mature” voice, Lieberson said,
Some people are blessed seeing it right away; for me it took a long time. I think a piece
like “Red Garuda” is one of my better pieces, but apparently quite different from the
lyricism of “Neruda Songs.” I can assure you that equal attentiveness went into both
116
Weininger, n. pag.
51
those works. Probably my earlier pieces were more about testosterone, then I found love,
and that’s what you’re hearing now in my music.117
Leonard Bernstein once said, “The key to the mystery of a great artist is that for reasons
unknown, he will give away his energies and his life just to make sure that one note follows
another… and leaves us with the feeling that something is right in the world.”118 There is such
poignancy in these words when considering Lieberson’s untimely death just a few years after
composing such glorious musical monuments as Neruda Songs and Songs of Love and Sorrow.
Even if one were unaware of the engrossing story behind the music, the cycle is strong on
compositional and technical merit alone. It is a credit to the composer that, while the cycle
creates an aural soundscape of the love between two specific people, there is a sense of greater
applicability that transcends its original purpose. In this way, Neruda Songs is both musically
and emotionally accessible. The combined efforts of Peter and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson have
produced a rich emotional narrative that not only invites the listener into the lives of two deeply
private people, but also to imbue in it a fresh perspective. Neruda Songs reinvents itself each
time it is performed. The cycle, like the love Neruda described the final line of Soneto XCII, “…
has not ended: just as it never had a birth, it has no death; it is like a long river, only changing
lands, and changing lips.
117
Ruhe, n. pag.
"Leonard Bernstein."BrainyQuotecom. Xplore Inc, 2014. 4 March 2014.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/leonardber130850.html.
118
52
53
54
55
Appendix B – Discussion of structure of Neruda Songs
1. "Si no fuera porque tus ojos tienen color de luna"
A
mm.1-22
B
mm.22-35
a) 22-28
b) 29-35
languid, sultry, indolent, yellow & amber
Themes: 'indolent' ascending disjunct
14 metric shifts (2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
Text all antecedents w/o resolution...
Light, dancelike, text painting 'vines'
Ecstatic release, text finally gives consequent
Denied full cadence*
bridge
mm. 36-45
stagnant accomp, <> melodic contour
B'
mm. 46-71
tag
a') 46-57
b') 58-64
mm. 65-71
light, lilting accomp, different vocal structure
still within the mood
"
ecstatic release, abbreviated version of above
"B" mood, lilt, light, denied full cadence
2. "Amor, amor, las nubes a la torre del cielo"
A
mm. 1-44
light, joyful, brilliant, quick
Themes: 16th note & disjunct
B (abbreviated)
mm. 45-50
slower, dreamy, Eb tonal area (pedal point)
A'
mm. 51- 80
as before, voice does not repeat 16th theme
bridge
mm. 81-93
instrumental bridge....
C
mm. 94-105
Eb reestablished as tonal center on downbeat
of 94 and pedal point again altered B
material in 96 (new time sig, left hand
rhythms new), altered disjunct theme in
voice at mm. 96, 97-8 on "ven a tocar"
D
mm. 106-128
recitativo section, piano has 16th note
theme. the rocking water motion of the B
section is lead into by 'los ultimos secretos
de la espuma' (secrets of the sea foam)
56
B'' (extended)
mm. 129-141
accomp. to left hand, chords are now broken
into smaller rhythmic cells from the initial B
section, but Eb is reestablished once again in
pedal point. Vocal line still recitativo like in D'
though more metered mm. 130-134
unifying: both songs 1 & 2 end with the vocal line of a falling p5 (morning interval?)
unifying: Song 2 ends with the recognizable grupetto figure that becomes prominent in
Song 3. A truncated version appears to end Song 4 > bookending the inner three songs
3. "No estés lejos de mí un solo día, porque cómo...."
A
mm. 1-11
Themes: pleading (m3), sighing (m5)
sparse accompaniment, begins low strings
Grupetto appears 1st time (m.11)
E is set up as tonal center via rooted bass
B
mm. 12-34
*unifying: dotted 8th/32nd rhythm propels
the line forward; mostly used across bar
lines to set up new tonal area
Interp:
pleading, conversational, rapid text
accented strong bass, tenuto
more legato vocal, repetitive text,
propelled forward by unifying rhythm
a) 12-20
b) 21-34
trans.
mm. 35-44
a)25-39
b)39-44
rapid text/accomp to begin
"comes to kill/choke" - fast = fear
mm. 42 & 43 interjection of A material
mm. 44 accel as pre-interjection
C
mm. 44-49
D
mm. 50-64
whole tone flavor w/ C# pedal
largest swell of emotion - actually naming
the fear "dissolve on beach" rather
than it being an amorphous thing
One last statement of the dotted figure leadin to 'dearest'...prepares the recit
C# tonal center/ground bass
recitative-like, limited range
'muriendo' repetition falls lower each time
grupetto figure appears m. 63
feels like a decisive cadence with low c#
57
4. "Ya eres mía. Reposa con tu sueño en mi sueño"
A
mm. 1-12
declamatory, “and you're mine", triplet figure in
accompaniment, first instance of the sweeping
theme in contrary motion in m.4, no decisive cad.
B
mm. 13-52
light & dancelike, bossa nova rhythm, displaced
accented eighth-note figure on usually falling on
beats 3 & 4.
brief interlude in which 5/8 and 7/8 dispel rhythmic
stability, but still contains the eight-note figure
(mm.30-37)
Bridge
(mm.38-52)
mm. 53-58
C
mm. 59-73
D
mm. 74-90
C’
mm. 91-118
E
mm. 119-128
A’
mm. 129-134
transitional passage that sill contains the syncopated
rhythms, similar to the interlude mentioned above
mm. 30-37
mostly colla parte, greater freedom in the vocal line
as the accompaniment becomes more stationary,
unification via the eighth-note figure in m. 67. The
sweeping motion in m. 73 ushers in the next section
instrumental interlude with the series of ‘rushes’,
feeling of expansion because of the octave
doublings and wide range, and ff markings bring the
passionately marking to life
syncopated beginning, freer vocal line with colla
parte marking, less active rhythmic accompaniment
underneath the vocal line
tremolo accompaniment beneath a lyrical, legato
vocal line, mm. 126-128 rolled chords create a
feeling of openness which transitions to final sec.
descending A material in vocal line and triplet fig.
makes a partial return, but feeling is more subdued,
grupetto fig. makes final partial appearance, ending
on a suspended B-flat and unresolved
5. Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres…”
A
mm. 1-19
(mm. 11-19)
Bridge
mm. 20-24
sustained, peaceful, rocking 3–ˆ 1–ˆ 2–ˆ 1 motion in
the upper accompaniment. Tonal area of G Major,
though the singer enters on raised scale degree 1.
presentation of the A material in tonal area F Major
light, graceful, most rhythmic accompaniment of
the song, accentuated weak beats and syncopation
reminiscent of that in the fourth song.
58
B
mm. 25-48
(mm. 41-48)
C
mm. 49-57
A’
mm. 58-73
recitative-like vocal line above tremolo
accompaniment, serves to create tension,
opportunitity to accentuate the poetry since the
accomp. texture is thin – wheat, water, wind, etc.
tremolo accompaniment, but this is the vocal climax
of the song above B Major triad/C-sharp pedal, then
gradually ritards into next section w/ m. 48 setting
up D as new tonal area
ornamented triplet of A section quarter note
rocking, begins with tonal center of D, transitory
recit-like two measures into next section
return of rocking motion in F Major through m. 63,
then presents back in original tonal area of G Major,
5^ - 3 motion creates tension in pickup to mm.7071, finally the singer sings pure B-natural at the end
and there is an authentic cadence in G
59
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