Fathers
Score title
Fathers
Composer
Lori Laitman
More about the composer
Date
Instrumentation
Library copy
Program note
Fathers sets poems by Sri Lankan poet Anne Ranasinghe and the late Russian poet David Vogel, whose work I had previously drawn on for Holocaust 1944 and Daughters. A sequel to Daughters, Fathers also focuses on the parent-child bond permanently altered by the Holocaust: Ranasinghe's father was murdered by the Nazis and David Vogel was arrested by the Nazis, then disappeared forever.
The dark subject matter and length of the poems You, Father, Last Night I Dreamt, and I Saw My Father Drowning created particular challenges. To balance the work structurally and psychologically, I created fragments from the short, hopeful last song, Don’t Cry, and “buried” them throughout the cycle.
You, Father underscores the idea of a camera capturing a moment in time with sections repeatedly coming to a close with a fermata. Last Night I Dreamt employs word painting and extremes of timbre to create a dreamy, surreal atmosphere. The motif for I Saw My Father Drowning is transferred between instruments and voice, and the piano’s sparkling upper register creates the effect for the “sky’s canopy” at the song’s close.
The full version of Don’t Cry ends the cycle. The completion of this theme, with its soothing and repetitive nature, reinforces its use as a “healing balm.”
The dark subject matter and length of the poems You, Father, Last Night I Dreamt, and I Saw My Father Drowning created particular challenges. To balance the work structurally and psychologically, I created fragments from the short, hopeful last song, Don’t Cry, and “buried” them throughout the cycle.
You, Father underscores the idea of a camera capturing a moment in time with sections repeatedly coming to a close with a fermata. Last Night I Dreamt employs word painting and extremes of timbre to create a dreamy, surreal atmosphere. The motif for I Saw My Father Drowning is transferred between instruments and voice, and the piano’s sparkling upper register creates the effect for the “sky’s canopy” at the song’s close.
The full version of Don’t Cry ends the cycle. The completion of this theme, with its soothing and repetitive nature, reinforces its use as a “healing balm.”