Beginning at the Beginning ... with Text

I tend to hate starting things, especially after the minutes (hours) wasted of wondering where exactly to start, the frustrated probing at various pathways into the heart of the subject, and the desperate scrabbling in thin air for words, pitches, or whatever small component makes up the medium at hand. But when you sit down to begin a composition with text, this problem nearly takes care of itself. Starting with the text is necessary to address the compositional questions and quandaries that lie further down the path, and if you’re lucky enough to have a text that you love, it might even serve as inspiration in the early stages of churning out notes.

The first question is, however, where do you acquire the text?

I’m actually writing this because I’ve had the opportunity to work with three methods for the acquisition of text. I composed my first texted piece for a choral competition in early 2009, which specified the text to be used for the SATB ensemble. My second vocal piece was an art song that I wrote and translated the text for, and my third and current chamber project is based around public domain poetry excerpts. Each had their own challenges and quirks, but ultimately your treatment of the text—text setting, dramatic arch, text expression or depiction, etc.—is the same.

For the choral competition, the first minor dilemma I faced was whether or not I truly liked the text that was provided. I didn’t love it, but the competition seemed like a good opportunity to work under a close deadline and compose faster. In reflecting back on that experience, I realize that it didn’t occur to me then to really take into consideration how to make my piece—my one version of this preselected text, out of all the others also being written—more unique. I was more concerned with getting the piece done on time, which for a first-time competition entry was not a bad goal. But if I composed under these parameters again, with the text being picked for me (and being picked for everyone else), I would focus more on how to make my score stand out when unique text choice is no longer an option.

The major problem that I now face with the choral piece I wrote is the text’s copyright. It was translated into English by someone who worked with the organization holding the competition, and upon completion of the competition I received an email notifying me that one, I did not win (no big deal though), and two, (far more annoyingly!) if I ever wanted to have my piece performed publically I would need to email the text translator for permission. Needless to say, I was never inclined to do this, and never had that work performed. In truth it would probably not be too difficult to get permission for a performance at a university, yet it’s an aggravating complication and I have considered writing my own text instead to fit the music—but that’s a project for another day. Ultimately, the copyright problem I faced with this piece likely contributed to the desire to set my own text in my following vocal work.

My next vocal piece was largely inspired by the recent gravitation of cinematic music and scoring toward dramatic choirs declaiming in the mysterious, ancient language of Latin. More specifically, it was inspired by the Latin solo in this Final Fantasy trailer. I loved the way Latin sounded, and I really wanted to avoid the inconveniences of using copyrighted text, so I took one and a half years of Latin here at Redlands in order to be able to write and translate lyrics for an art song. I faced less “technical” difficulties overall in using my own text, though I can see that the extra time needed for creating the text as well as the possibility that you may feel inclined to keep editing it could both be problematic. At one point, I had to make a couple of changes in the vocal line due to the correction of minor errors in my translation.

Throughout the process of writing the initial English text, I kept in mind how I wanted the piece to function structurally. Four-line stanzas became the common structural unit, between which I planned to place small piano interludes, and the “climactic” stanza was longer and placed at an appropriate point in the overall dramatic arch. Its contrast of inner text structure and length also allowed for a logical and supportive change of tonal center. Keeping these kinds of general musical ideas in mind during the writing of the text was essential in establishing a synthesis of the music and lyrics from the very beginning, as was identifying key moments throughout the stanzas that the music should most effectively build up to. Though my translation wasn’t perfect, I was pleased with the final result, and the knowledge that this creation is completely mine, words and all, was far more fulfilling.

For my current project, I decided I wanted to work with someone else’s poetic language, and this quickly turned into the poetry of several someones, so that I could trace an abstract narrative of my own conception between the texts (sort of like the way George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children* unifies the unrelated Lorca poems, except with multiple authors). Due to my impression of requesting copyright permission, at the time, consisting of many unanswered emails, angry rejection letters, promising of the firstborn child, etc., I chose to use only public domain texts (see above: reluctance to contact choral text translator). Any work in the “public domain” is no longer covered by intellectual property rights and is therefore available for public use. How did I, in this particular case, find texts that I identified with and felt were appropriate for this project, out of all the poetry that currently exists in public domain? With this public domain poetry website and its convenient random-poem generator. I kid you not. It took some time and careful weeding, but with the help of this site and others like it I was able to compile four poetry excerpts that capture the theme of my piece, Verisimilitude—and they’re all free of copyright hassle!

While selecting these excerpts, I made sure to keep musical considerations in mind in addition to the thematic narrative. I knew that I wanted several instrumental interludes as well as an effective dramatic arch to the work as a whole, and recognizing this framework played an important part in the picking of the excerpts and the ultimate arrangement of the text orders. With the texts finally chosen and the order determined, I was able to outline the general structure of the piece: Prelude (contrabass solo), First Texted Movement (introductory, expansive), Interlude, Second Texted Movement (developmental, quickening), Interlude, Third Texted Movement (climactic, dark), Fourth Texted Movement (releasing tension, expanding), Postlude (contrabass solo). Ultimately, these structural and developmental considerations are not all that different from the processes applied to works from mandated or personal text sources.

Just remember that if you use a copyrighted text—especially if you expect a public performance!—you must have permission. Composition competitions and lawyers are very particular about that sort of thing.

_{* I linked to this version only because it is conveniently on Youtube; however, I strongly recommend that you find a recording with the original mezzo, Jan DeGaetani!}