I Hear America Singing —2004

World premieres of new music are rare in Reading, but on Saturday, the Reading Choral Society welcomed Robert Maggio’s spare and exciting “I Hear America Singing” to the choral repertory. Its brief five minutes are filled with drama and insight, and I must admit that on first hearing, all I wanted was to hear it again.

—The Reading Eagle

Text

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,
Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe
and strong,
The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,
The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves
off work,
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the
deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,
The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter
singing as he stands,
The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the
morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,
The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at
work, or of the girl sewing or washing,
Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,
The day what belongs to the day-at night the party of young
fellows, robust, friendly,
Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Walt Whitman

Program Note

David De Venney asked me to write a bold, American concert opener for the Reading Choral Society’s 130th anniversary. He wanted music that would “open people’s ears” and “get their blood stirring.” Walt Whitman’s poetry has long been a source of inspiration to me—I first set his words to music when I was in college and have often returned to his poetry over the years. I chose this poem because it sounds like a national anthem to me—something I needed to hear in these somewhat dark times for our often-splintered nation. I also was drawn to the musicality of the form, which is a long, expanding list of everyday people going about their daily tasks, as observed in the poet’s words, “singing what belongs to him or her and to none else.” Whitman’s focus on blue-collar laborers attracted me as well. The list of Americans, you may note, includes neither the stockbroker nor the computer programmer, nor does it include the college professor and composer! Whitman’s subjects are working-class Americans, people who work with their hands, people who ultimately form the body of every nation. I chose to reprise the opening line, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,” several times during the course of this 5-minute piece not only to provide musical structure, but also to serve as a reminder of one of the main themes of the poem: that we Americans are a diverse chorus of brothers and sisters, each of us singing our own songs side by side.

Reviews

World premieres of new music are rare in Reading, but on Saturday, the Reading Choral Society welcomed Robert Maggio’s spare and exciting “I Hear America Singing” to the choral repertory. Its brief five minutes are filled with drama and insight, and I must admit that on first hearing, all I wanted was to hear it again. DeVenney [the RCS’s conductor] obliged. As an encore to the one-hour program, the RCS sang Maggio’s work again. On second hearing, the sparkle and vibrancy in the marriage of Whitman’s words and the composer’s vividly persuasive music announced a significant contribution to the American choral literature. One could sense the grit and industry of Whitman’s mechanic, carpenter, mason, shoemaker and others as portrayed by Maggio’s score and brought to vigorous life by the chorus. Bravos to Maggio, DeVenney and the singers, all of whom seemed more relaxed in the second performance.

John Fidler, Reading Eagle, Reading, PA, November 8, 2004