JM-129 Glory! (A History Lesson) for Double Treble Choir (SSAA/SSAA), Piano & Snare Drum (optional) Music by John Muehleisen Based on a poem by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) Commissioned by Northwest Girlchoir, Sara Boos, Artistic Director, in commemoration of their 35 th Anniversary Season www.johnmuehleisen.com Choral Works of John Muehleisen PERUSAL SCORE DO NOT DUPLICATE Please contact composer to purchase copies. www.johnmuehleisen.com
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(A History Lesson) Choral Works of John Muehleisen
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JM-129
Glory! (A History Lesson)
for Double Treble Choir (SSAA/SSAA), Piano & Snare Drum (optional)
Music by John Muehleisen
Based on a poem by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
Commissioned by Northwest Girlchoir, Sara Boos, Artistic Director,
in commemoration of their 35th Anniversary Season
www.johnmuehleisen.com
Cho
ral W
orks
of J
ohn
Mue
hlei
sen
PERUSAL SCOREDO NOT DUPLICATE
Please contact composer to purchase copies.
www.johnmuehleisen.com
"Sic transit gloria mundi,"
"How doth the busy bee,"
"Dum vivimus vivamus,"
I stay mine enemy!
Oh "veni, vidi, vici!"
Oh caput cap-a-pie!
And oh "memento mori"
When I am far from thee!
Hurrah for Peter Parley!
Hurrah for Daniel Boone!
Three cheers, sir, for the gentleman
Who first observed the moon!
Peter, put up the sunshine;
Patti, arrange the stars;
Tell Luna, tea is waiting,
And call your brother Mars!
Put down the apple, Adam,
And come away with me,
So shalt thou have a pippin
From off my father's tree!
I climb the "Hill of Science,"
I "view the landscape o'er;"
Such transcendental prospect,
I ne'er beheld before!
During my education,
It was announced to me
That gravitation, stumbling,
Fell from an apple tree!
The earth upon an axis
Was once supposed to turn,
By way of a gymnastic
In honor of the sun!
It was the brave Columbus,
A sailing o'er the tide,
Who notified the nations
Of where I would reside!
Mortality is fatal --
Gentility is fine,
Rascality, heroic,
Insolvency, sublime!
Our Fathers being weary,
Laid down on Bunker Hill;
And tho' full many a morning,
Yet they are sleeping still, --
The trumpet, sir, shall wake them,
In dreams I see them rise,
Each with a solemn musket
A marching to the skies!
A coward will remain, Sir,
Until the fight is done;
But an immortal hero
Will take his hat, and run!
Good bye, Sir, I am going;
My country calleth me;
Allow me, Sir, at parting,
To wipe my weeping e'e.
In token of our friendship
Accept this "Bonnie Doon,"
And when the hand that plucked it
Hath passed beyond the moon,
The memory of my ashes
Will consolation be;
Then, farewell, Tuscarora,
And farewell, Sir, to thee.
- Emily Dickinson
Annotated Text for Sic transit gloria mundi
Stanza Line Text Translations & Annotations 1 1 “Sic transit gloria mundi” Latin phrase: “Thus passes the glory of the world” or “Fame fades”
This phrase originates in Thomas à Kempis’s The Imitation of Chirst. It is also used as part of a tradition during papal coronations in which a barefoot monk interrupts the procession three times, holding a burning clump of flax or hemp. After it goes out, the monk says "Pater sancte [Holy Father], sic transit gloria mundi" to remind the new Pope that, despite the grand procession, he is still a mortal man.
2 “How doth the busy bee,” Quote from a 1715 Isaac Watts hymn, famous during Dickinson’s time. Assumed by some to draw a parallel between bees and being industrious in the spirit of the Protestant “work ethic.”
“How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower!”
3 “Dum vivimus vivamus Latin phrase: “While we live, let us enjoy life “ or “While we are alive, let us live fully”
4 I stay mine enemy! Not sure the source of this.
2 5 Oh "veni, vidi, vici!" Latin phrase: “I came, I saw, I conquered!” Julius Caesar used this sentence as the full text of his message to the Roman senate in 47 B.C. to describe his recent victory over Pharmaces II of Pontus in the Battle of Zela in Zile, a town in contemporary Turkey. Caesar's terse remark simultaneously proclaimed the totality of his victory and served to remind the senate of his military prowess.
6 Oh caput cap-a-pie! Latin phrase: “head to foot”; also translated more familiarly as “from head to toe”
7 And oh "memento mori" Latin phrase: “Remember you are mortal”
8 When I am far from thee! An indication of separation from a “sweetheart” in keeping with this poem being a valentine of sorts. Perhaps it indicative of her longing for William Howland, the recipient of this “valentine.”
3 9 Hurrah for Peter Parley! "Peter Parley," was an imaginary old man with a gouty foot who taught history and geography to a generation (or two). He was the pseudonym of the writer Samuel Griswold Goodrich (1793–1860), who wrote more than 70 books under that name, some with coauthors. Dickinson would have been familiar with these books during her youth. Examples of Goodrich’s books under the persona of Peter Parley include:
Peter Parley's Method of Telling about Geography (1829) Peter Parley’s Method of Teaching Arithmetic to Children (1833) Peter Parley’s Book of the United States (1833) Peter Parley’s Book of Poetry for Children (1834) Peter Parley’s Dictionary of the Animal Kingdom (1836) Peter Parley’s Almanac, for Young & Old (1837)
10 Hurrah for Daniel Boone! A reference to the American pioneer, hunter, and folk hero Dainel Boone (1734-1820), who was also a militia officer during the Revolutionary War.
11–12 Three cheers, sir, for the gentleman Who first observed the moon!
Most likely a reference to Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), who was the first to observe the moon through a telescope. Could be a reference to Ptolemy (83–161 CE), who developed theories for the motion of the moon and for the phases of the moon.
4 13–16 Peter, put up the sunshine; Patti, arrange the stars; Tell Luna, tea is waiting, And call your brother Mars!
This stanza is likely a parody of “Polly put the kettle on,” a Mother Goose nursery rhyme published in 1791, the first stanza of which is:
Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on, Polly put the kettle on,
And we’ll all have tea.Note how Dickinson combines the parody of the nursery rhyme with the astronomical references, which elaborate and extend the reference to “the gentleman who first observed the moon!” that ends the previous stanza. The source of the names Peter and Patti are unclear; however, the planetary references to Luna (the moon) and Mars are in keeping with the astronomical theme of this passage.
5 17–20 Put down the apple, Adam, And come away with me, So shalt thou have a pippin From off my father's tree!
Clearly a reference to Adam in the Garden of Eden, but with a twist. Since this is a valentine for William Howland, does she see herself as the Eve to William’s Adam? In fact the word “pippin” can also be defined as “beauty,” perhaps referring to herself as the “pippin From off my father’s tree,” thus offering herself to her “Adam” as a substitute for the apple from the tree in the Garden of Eden.
6 21 I climb the "Hill of Science," Probably a reference to a work by Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743–1825), a prominent 18th-century British poet, essayist, and children’s author. Dickinson was likely familiar with her works and probably read “The Hill of Science” in school.
22 I “view the landscape o’er,” Reference to another Isaac Watts hymn, There is a land of pure delight
Could we but climb where Moses stood, ��� And view the landscape o’er, ��� Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood, ��� Should fright us from the shore.
23–24 Such transcendental prospect, I ne’er beheld before.
“transcendental” could be a reference to the Transcendentalist movement that flourished in New England from 1836–1860 during a large part of Dickinson’s life. It would have reached a peak around the time that she wrote this poem in the early 1850s.
7 25–28 During my education, It was announced to me That gravitation, stumbling, Fell from an apple tree!
A reference to Sir Isaac Newton & the popular story of an apple falling on his head while he was sitting under an apple tree, presumably leading to his theory of gravitation (a story that has been debunked, along with Washington’s famous cherry tree story). Could this also be a reference back to the apple tree of stanza 5?
8 29–32 The earth upon an axis Was once supposed to turn, By way of a gymnastic In honor of the sun!
Probably a reference to Atlas, who was condemned by Zeus to stand at the western edge of the Ouranos (the Sky) and hold up Gaia (the Earth ) on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. According to Wikipedia, “a common misconception is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but this is incorrect. Classical art shows Atlas holding a Celestial Sphere not a Globe.’s
9 33–36 It was the brave Columbus, A sailing o'er the tide, Who notified the nations Of where I would reside!
This one needs no explanation, except to note the wry twist in lines 35–36.
10 37–40 Mortality is fatal -- Gentility is fine, Rascality, heroic, Insolvency, sublime!
In lines 39–40, Dickinson appears to be commenting on certain aspects of the commercial world of her time, in which unscrupulous profiteers leveraged bankruptcies as a common method of profiting from the economic failure and misery of others. Accordingly, “Rascality” refers to those unscrupulous profiteers and “Insolvency”
refers to the bankruptcies of the day, which were sublime only to those who could profit from it.
11–13 41–52 Our Fathers being weary, Laid down on Bunker Hill; And tho' full many a morning, Yet they are sleeping still, --
The trumpet, sir, shall wake them, In dreams I see them rise, Each with a solemn musket A marching to the skies!
A coward will remain, Sir, Until the fight is done; But an immortal hero Will take his hat, and run!
Another historical reference here, this time to the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston in 1775, where many Colonialists lost their lives. The references to “laid down” and to “sleeping” at the end of stanza 11 are to those who had lost their lives in the battle.
The “trumpet” in stanza 12 probably refers both to the military trumpet call of reveille, used to rouse soldiers in the morning and to the biblical reference of the trumpet that announces the resurrection of the dead mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17:
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an Archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” (NKJV)
The word “wake” in stanza 12 is most likely refers to the resurrection of the biblical passage. Despite Dickinson’s rejection of much of the church in which she had been raised and its strict Calvinist dogma, she nonetheless had a more-than-adequate knowledge of the Bible and of basic theology, her days as a young girl having begun with family scripture readings, which provided a rich source for many of her poems.
While the first two of the three stanzas (11-12) pay homage to the fallen, the final of them (#13) carries an ironic twist, the historical or personal source of which is not clear. Perhaps it simply continues the nonsensical character present in much of the poem.
14–16 53–64 Good bye, Sir, I am going; My country calleth me; Allow me, Sir, at parting, To wipe my weeping e'e.
In token of our friendship Accept this "Bonnie Doon," And when the hand that plucked it Hath passed beyond the moon,
The memory of my ashes Will consolation be; Then, farewell, Tuscarora, And farewell, Sir, to thee.
Stanzas 14 and 15 are likely an homage to the Scottish poet Robert Burns from whom Dickinson borrowed the dialect for “weeping e’e” and the famous “Bonnie Doon.” The reference to “Tuscarora” is unclear, but seems important. It is possible that these three stanzas might be a reference to her father’s impending two-year term in Congress, which began a year later in 1853.
Some thoughts about Dickinson’s poem, Sic transit gloria mundi and my setting of it
Sic transit as a Valentine The poem was written in 1852 by the 21-year-old Dickinson as a valentine for William Howland, a graduate of Amherst College, a tutor, and a clerk in her father’s law office. Howland was so taken with the poem that he submitted it for publication in the Springfield Daily Republican, the poem being “signed” only with the occasion and the date: “St. Valentine – ’52.” (It is the first of only a handful of her more than 1700 poems to have been published in her lifetime.) Emily’s sister-in-law, Susan Dickinson, referred to Howland’s act as “love turned to larceny” The poem was prefaced with a rather playful, yet impersonal address to Dickinson. The author of this preface was the Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Republican, Samuel Bowles, a friend of the Dickinson family (it is unclear whether or not either Bowles or Howland knew the identity of the author). The preface reads:
The hand that wrote the following amusing medley to a friend of ours, as “a valentine” is capable of writing very fine things, and there is certainly no presumption in entertaining a private wish that a correspondence, more direct than this, may be established between it and the Republican:”
(N.B. During this time of her life, Dickinson still participated in normal social activities, such as dances, calling on friends, and attending book club readings and concerts. Accordingly, Emily was still actively engaged with others in the Amherst community socially, including Howland, but soon after began entering her more reclusive life in her mid-twenties.) Valentines of Dickinson’s day were sentimental, much as they can be today, but they were also meant as a catalyst for interaction between the sender and the recipient, a kind of witty and literary “flirtation.” With respect to the first aspect, this valentine is a parody, nearly a “burlesque,” i.e. a grotesque mockery of existing forms, certainly a notch or two above a simple parody. With respect to its catalytic intent, Thomas Johnson, the author of the definitive Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, published in 1955, indicates that “the purpose of valentine exchanges [of that day] was carried forward: to surprise the sender by a riposte and to keep up the badinage as long as possible.” According to the Random House dictionary, a riposte is either “1. a fencer’s quick thrust given after a parry” or “2. a quick sharp reply in speech or action” and badinage is “1. Playful banter” (noun) or “2. To banter or tease” (verb). Certainly the publication of Dickinson’s poem came as a great surprise to her and could be considered as a brilliant riposte on the part of Howland.
Sic transit as “history lesson” The entire poem seems to be a recollection of snippets of facts and fiction from Dickinson’s school days, which she wove into a crazy quilt made up of Latin phrases, quotes from textbooks & literature, and references to scientific discoveries, historical events, and mythology. Virginia Walter Jackson says of this poem in her book Dickinson’s misery: a theory of lyric reading, “Whatever we make of these lines, it would be difficult to make them a lyric. [Samuel] Bowles [publisher of the Springfield Daily Republican] uses the Tennysonian term ‘medley’ [to refer to ‘Sic transit Gloria mundi’] and that seems about right, combined with the ‘valentine’ that provided the lines’ occasion. They appear to be what they probably were: a pastiche from various sources, most of them textbooks, one of them Shakespeare,…a cultural grab bag of languages, texts, stories, myths, aphorisms, and bon mots [i.e. well-chosen words or witty remarks].”
Michael West, in his book Transcendental Wordplay: America’s Romantic Punsters and the Search for the Language of Nature explains the poem and its motivation as follows.
“Eluding doctrinaire religion and feminism by returning home to Amherst, she threw herself into the thick of village amusements. She enjoyed a reputation as a cut-up. Combining a burlesque sermon with mock-epic, her earliest surviving manuscript poem is a comic valentine. She cultivated this genre assiduously. Forbidden by Mount Holyoke authorities, it allowed her to skewer clichés, parody religious, political, and academic bombast, and generally exercise a talent for whimsical nonsense.
“This valentine so amused its recipient and others who copied it that it wound up in the Springfield Daily Republican in 1852 (the first of Dickinson’s poems know to have been published). The first three stanzas…mock textbooks, the fourth discombobulates the nursery rhyme ‘Polly, put the kettle [on],’ while the sixth travesties Watt’s hymn ‘There is a land of pure delight’ by adapting it to an academic nirvana. Like most hymn lyrics her poetry took shape as parody—that is, par-odia, to suit an existing tune. [T]he jeu d’esprit suggests how humor helped her maintain a safe distance from people and events with deep claims on her allegiance. The punning theology of the fifth stanza…(pippin = an apple/a beauty) lets her present herself coyly as a seductive Eve. The effusive Romanticism of sentimental valentines is mocked in a way that honors the intelligence of the reader, yet the irony created such intimacy with whoever fathoms it that one wonders whether the missive is devoid of conventional sentiment.”
NOTE: Despite the fact that I’ve provided a fairly detailed set of annotations for the text of the poem, I’m confident that there are many other references and allusions yet to be discovered.
Notes on the Musical Setting When looking for a text for this commission from the Northwest Girlchoir in celebration of its 35th Anniversary, I wanted to look for something that would be appropriate for girls and young women between junior high school age and late teens. When I ran across “Sic transit gloria mundi” and discovered that Dickinson had written it at the age of only 21, I thought that it might afford a text to which the young women of NWGC could relate, particularly with its manifold and often quirky references to historical events, which would be as fresh in the minds of the young women singing the text as they would have been for Emily herself. In addition, the text provided a range of emotions from humor & nonsense to heartfelt emotion & poignancy, all of which promised rich potential for a musical setting. The poem was written in 1852 by the 21-year-old Dickinson as a valentine for William Howland, a graduate of Amherst College, a tutor, and a clerk in her father’s law office. Howland was so taken with the poem that he submitted it for publication in the Springfield Daily Republican, the poem being “signed” only with the occasion and the date: “St. Valentine – ’52.” (It is the first of only a handful of her more than 1700 poems to have been published in her lifetime.)
In keeping with the sense of parody and the mocking style that Dickinson used in her valentine, as well as her almost “postmodern” juxtaposition of styles in what might be called the textual equivalent of a patchwork quilt, I decided to use a parallel style in the music, incorporating parodies of folksong, musical theater, jazz, children’s songs, waltzes, and marches. Thus the music acts as an analogy to the kaleidoscopic interplay of historical, scientific, literary, religious, and mythological references. To help unify the musical setting and emphasize the theme of the opening line as well as the title that I chose for the work, I introduced a “Gloria!” refrain intended to capture the pomposity of worldly glory. Each statement ends with a musical portrayal of the fading glory of the poem’s first line, with the exception of
the final statement’s militant shout. While Dickinson’s poem ends on a more somber note, I decided to reprise the opening stanzas in order to close the musical setting with the same ironic tone that is sustained throughout most of the poem.