Four American Laments

From A Far Cry’s performance of “America Noir” on Nov 1, 2019. A Far Cry performs a set of pieces by American composers that commemorate both private and public death. The four pieces in this set were written between 1935 and 1960 by people whose lives were threatened by racism, bigotry, and persecution. George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings” was originally titled “Lament” at its premiere in 1946. It is dedicated to the memory of his grandmother, Malvina King, who had related stories to him about her experience as a slave. Vivian Fine’s “Piece for Muted Strings (Elegiac Song)” includes the dedication “for the children of Spain,” written in 1937 as fascist forces led by General Francisco Franco were prevailing in the Spanish Civil War. Igor Stravinsky’s “Double Canon (Raoul Dufy in Memoriam),” written in 1959 after Stravinsky had been living in the United States for twenty years, is dedicated to a French artist he never met. It also incorporates the compositional techniques of his longtime rival and fellow Los Angeles resident, Arnold Schoenberg, who had died in 1951. Samuel Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” while never explicitly labeled an elegy by the composer, has been used for public commemorations of the deaths of FDR, JFK, Princess Grace of Monaco, Albert Einstein, 9/11, the victims of the 2016 Orlando night club shooting, and victims of COVID-19, among many others. Barber himself set the elegiac Latin Agnus Dei prayer to a choral version of this piece.