XIX.
"Chorale and Stretto"
celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of women's right to vote
(1996) 4:30
SATB Chorus
Commissioned by the Elizabeth C. Adams Middle School Chorus, Guilford, CT-Amanda Wallner, Music Director
Set in the three simple "Greek" modes-lonian, dorian and aeolian- (as the American democratic system was modeled after the democracies of Greece), this celebratory piece sings the praises of the nineteenth amendment to the United States Constitution. The four sections of the composition represent a chronological journey from 1776 and the penning of the Preamble to the Constitution-We the People-through the struggle (stretto) for recognition of the right of women to vote to the year 1920, in which the nineteenth amendment was ratified and added to the Constitution, and the subsequent celebration of the anniversary year, 1995.
The text contains the most apparent message, combining the Preamble of the Constitution and the Nineteenth Amendment, and adding the names of nineteen women who have distinguished themselves as world-class artists, scientists, naturalists, or otherwise great thinkers.
In the first section, the Preamble is set so that references to the United States of 1776 can be heard through short musical quotes from the Star-spangled Banner, the British Grenadiers, and My Country Tis of Thee. The second section of the composition contains the first names of the nineteen women, set in short repeating rhythmic patterns (called "motor rhythms," a subtle musical reference to the Freedom Train). Motor sounds are made by both the voice rhythms and the clapping of the musicians (clapping being a reference to applause-the aural reinforcement of a good thing happening). The third section presents the text of the Amendment XIX, set with a counterpoint of the names of Important women. The fourth and final section is presented as a great celebration-church-like harmonies with off-beat clapping and a repeated refrain, all accompanying the names of women; "Sarah Caldwell" brings the total to nineteen! (The final chord contains within it a suspension drawn from the final Amen often heard in church hymns, representing the actual meaning of the word, "Amen," (I believe) and serving as testimony to the righteousness of this celebration.)
Text
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure the domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
"Seventeen seventy-six."
"The right of the citizens.. .Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, Harriet Tubman, Sally Ride, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Constance Baker Motley, Sarah Winniemucca, Christie MacAuliffe...of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account of sex."
"Nineteen twenty."
"Celebrate, voters. Celebrate...Helen Keller, Grace Hopper, Rachel Carson, Ella Grasso, Vilma Martinez, Ru Chih Cheo Huang, Dian Fossey, Elma Gonzalez, Wilma Mankiller, Barbara Jordan, Sarah CaIdwell."
"Celebrate Nineteen, in perpetuity."
