Once
(Liner notes from 1969 Vox LP by the composer)
Once is an attempt to give concrete expression to the emotion triggered by the senseless slaying of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is an emotion that goes beyond that of grief – perhaps the closest word is “dismay.” There are many people who did not nor do they now feel this emotion. Many will forget or have already forgotten the message embodied in the life of this noble man – for time takes away the immediacy of human crises and replaces them with new ones. Once is meant to stop that flow of time momentarily in order to ponder once again that which was communicated to the world on April 4, 1968.
Music is an expression of human emotion. This is a fact which we are ignoring in our attempt to create “art.” In our concern for novelty we have isolated ourselves from folk and mythological traditions which are so essential to the spontaneous reception of the ideas and emotions which can be contained in music. When the contemporary composer is faced with the task of actually expressing something, he is apt to find little in his bag of tricks to aid him, and he is obliged to turn to that which is called “traditional.”
Once makes extensive use of negro spirituals and Gregorian chant. The opening prologue for soprano solo is a simple rendition of the beautiful spiritual, “You May Bury Me in the East.” This is followed by a Chorale Prelude on Three Spirituals for organ, low brass and percussion, which gradually takes on the feeling of a death march. The three spirituals, “Free at Last,” “We Shall Overcome” and the verse of “Balm in Gilead” are used contrapuntally among themselves with very little extra material. It builds to a climactic, agonized rendition of “Free at Last” and then dies quickly away.
At this point the narrator recites a poem by the great Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore. “The Trumpet Lies in the Dust” is amazingly appropriate to the central theme of Once with its emphasis on remembrance and on action – “Tonight thy trumpet shall be sounded!” The trumpets are now heard for the first time, playing the verse of “Balm in Gilead,” the words of which would be,
“Sometimes I feel discouraged
And think my work’s in vain
But then the Holy Spirit
Revives my soul again.”
After this fanfare, the chorus enters for the first time singing, “Free at Last,” the spiritual to which Martin Luther King referred so eloquently in his Lincoln Memorial speech. After the soprano solo enters the setting becomes more and more “free,” leading quickly to a climactic high B-flat in the solo with full chorus and organ. The remainder of this movement leads directly into a complete setting of “Dies Irae” from the Latin Requiem Mass.
It is with the “Dies Irae” that we seem to starting in the direction of a “requiem” proper, however it is actually at this point that the mourning superseded by commentary. The traditional Gregorian sequence, “Dies Irae,” is woven into the musical structure of this movement, the bass viol introducing it immediately at the opening bars.
The text describes the terrible Day of Judgment which awaits us – when the great trumpet will sound a much more terrifying fanfare then we heard in the “Free at Last” section – the three trumpets and organ play here in unison as if on a gigantic shofar to announce the coming of the Judge. While Death and Nature stand aside in stunned awe, the Book of Life is brought forward in which is written the deeds of every soul – the music is a fugue representing the great procession of Saints and Angels come to bear witness. The music thins our quite suddenly at the words. “Nil inultum remanebit” – “nothing useless will remain.”
The soprano enters at this point with the words, “Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?” – “What shall I, who am so miserable, say at that time?” This is the most poignant and important line of the poem from the standpoint of this particular piece of music: What am I going to say when I am asked what I did about this situation in which we find ourselves today? DID I stand on the side of LOVE or on the side of HATE, or did I conveniently straddle the fence? This section, a personal plea to God for help, reaches a climax at the words, “Mihi quoque spem dedisti” (Since Mary Magdelene and the Thief were forgiven, there is Hope for me.) At this point the band and organ take off in a jubilant, jazzy rendition of “Balm in Gilead.” The section ends with a plea to be placed among the sheep when they are separated from the goats – a theme which will occur later in the Epilogue.
The last section, beginning at, “Confutatis maledictis” builds quickly to a huge climax at “Lacrimosa dies illa,” which is actually the only point in Once in which all of the musical forces are employed together, with the soprano singing the powerful Gregorian melody over the entire orchestra and chorus. This quickly subsides into the closing “Pie Jesu,” entreating for the peaceful repose of the departed soul, ending on a C major chord which is really the first point in the entire piece which seems to have no continuing motion.
The narrator returns to read a prayer which is not only central to the Jewish memorial service but anticipates a time in which all men will be Brothers and corruption and evil will be no more – when the Lord will reign for ever and His Name shall be One.
The Epilogue seems to start as a repetition of the opening Chorale Prelude, but the brass disperse the feeling of mourning with a triumphant C major rendition of “Free at Last” which drowns out the mournful organ. Then comes an abrupt change in mood in which the theme of Choice is brought up in a swift, biting setting of James Russell Lowell’s “Once to Every Man and Nation Comes a Moment to Decide.” This text is from a long poem Lowell wrote titled “The Present Crisis” – which was emasculated for use in Protestant Hymnals – and here some of the more biting lines have been restored to their proper place: such as the part about the sheep and the goats, the coward standing aside till his Lord is crucified, the multitude making virtue of the faith they had denied (here the tradition hymn tune is used for irony.) The soprano returns once more to ask the final question (singing the same music as that of “Quid sum miser tunc dicturus”): “Hast thou chosen, O my people?” The work ends with the chorus and instruments asking the same question.
The title, Once, is taken from the Epilogue, but its meaning applies in various ways to the whole work: Past, Present and Future.
Once there was a man named Martin Luther King, Jr.
Once – that is right now – comes the moment to decide;
Once there will be a day of reckoning when it will be too late to undo the past.
We must decide whether to Hate and pay a terrible price – or whether to Love.