Quilt Panels —2003
The 40-minute song cycle was, appropriately, one of savage intensity. In a sweeping performance, D.C.’s Different Drummers and the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington, supported by members of the All Souls Jubilee Singers, created a musical memoir that was pleading and warm, emotionally tempestuous and filled with sonic experimentation. Quilt Panels, conducted by Different Drummers artistic director K. Scott Barker, unfolds in eight movements to reflect the story of the AIDS Memorial Quilt.
—Washington Post
Movements
I. Names (prologue)
narrators, chorus and band
II. Stitching No. 1
chorus
III. Unfolding
band
IV. Stitching No. 2
chorus
V. Letters
narrators, chorus and band
VI. Stitching No. 3 (Quilt Facts)
speaking chorus and percussion
VII. Spirit
band
VIII. How To Make A Quilt Panel (lullaby and epilogue)
narrators, chorus and band
Program Note
In 1986 I moved to Philadelphia to begin my graduate studies in music composition. I was 22 and I had never met anyone living with AIDS. The following year, I began volunteer work as a “buddy” to a person living with HIV. I wanted to be a part of the lesbian and gay community in my new home, and I wanted to do something other than write and study music all day, every day. I wanted to make a difference in the life of someone living with AIDS, no matter how small. Sixteen years later, I reluctantly resigned from my activities as a “buddy” volunteer, feeling the need to devote more of my time and energy to my family (my partner of 13 years, and our daughter), my teaching and my creative work. In the same year, I completed this 40-minute composition, Quilt Panels (for my love, for my grief, for my letting go). Writing this music has taken me on a powerful and emotional journey—it is a culmination of forces in my life, both private and public. I hope that this music might make a difference somehow, that through it perhaps my “buddy” work will continue.
Just as the Quilt represents the lives of men, women and children from all walks of life, the individual movements of Quilt Panels reflect various aspects of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, its story, images, emotions, words and colors. The texts sung by the chorus come from a variety of sources, including: names provided by the members of the chorus and band of loved ones they wish to remember, remembrances in the form of letters from the contributors to the Quilt, a list of materials found on the Quilt, instructions on how to make a Quilt Panel, and the words from a familiar lullaby (“The Little Horses”). I hoped to fashion a unified and compelling structure out of the choral texts, particularly through the repetition of the names found on the Quilt.
In the first movement, (Names – prologue) the narrators read “full” names, as we would hear them read at a display of the Quilt. Gradually the names become more “informal,” shortened to first names only, whispered by members of the chorus, then spoken, called out and, finally, sung. After an instrumental interlude, the chorus enters singing a bluesy, wordless vocal line, which eventually changes into repeated statements of “No”—Denial, as reported in Kubler-Ross’s seminal work on death, life and transition in ON DEATH AND DYING. (Consider that the final movement of Quilt Panels is a lullaby, suggestive of Acceptance). The climax of Names reveals a short three-note fragment of the lullaby, “The Pretty Little Horses,” which is expanded on in the final movement. As the music fades away, we hear the narrators continue to read names.
Stitching No. 1, the second movement, for chorus and piano, features a rhythmic and melodic weaving together (could it be a sewing motive?) of first names provided by the members of the chorus and band in memory of their loved ones.
In the third movement, Unfolding, for band, I’ve sewn together new melodies and patches of music from my earlier compositions that, in some way, are connected to issues of AIDS. These include Winter Toccata (solo cello), Phoenix (two flutes), and incidental music for a production of The Laramie Project (about Matthew Shepard). Unfolding also incorporates patches of music found in other movements of Quilt Panels, thus sewing together different ideas about the Quilt. The diverse musical ideas found within this movement (and from movement to movement in the piece as a whole) are often dramatically juxtaposed, rather than smoothly connected, much in the same way one might experience the powerful, sometimes surprising diversity of expression found in the Quilt. The themes in the instrumental movements (III, VII) are often played by soloists or groups of soloists from various sections in the band, suggesting those individuals and groups who contributed to and are memorialized in the Quilt.
Stitching No. 2, the fourth movement, is a companion piece to No. 1, beginning in the same manner, then moving into a comparatively more lyrical, passionate section. The rhythmic “sewing” motive continues throughout, fading away in the end.
The fifth movement, Letters, for chorus and band, features both spoken and sung passages from texts collected in THE NAMES PROJECT BOOK OF LETTERS, interspersed with expressive solo instrumental melodies. Rather than tell a single story from beginning to end with these letters, I assembled short fragments and sentences that were particularly resonant (sometimes quietly devastating) for me to read and contemplate. I took special care to include letters written by mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, lovers and friends, students and teachers, HIV positive and negative, and so forth.
Stitching No. 3 (Quilt Facts), the sixth movement, is a brief interlude, a reminder that in our darkest hours we always manage to find humor and magic. The text is a simple (sometimes touching) list of items found on the Quilt panels, layered over a whispered version of the names from Stitching Nos. 1 & 2.
Spirit, the seventh movement, was initially titled Defiance, as in “Do not go gentle into that good night.” Keep on living, keep on loving, keep on keeping-on in the face of adversity. I eventually chose the word Spirit as the title because of its related meanings: strength, courage, character, guts, will, determination, heart. This is pure dance music, rhythmic grooves layered and juxtaposed.
In How to Make a Quilt Panel, we hear the familiar lullaby, “The Little Horses,” as the centerpiece of the movement. Combined with the reading of the instructions provided on how to create a memorial quilt, I hope that this lullaby will provide solace, a safe space in which to “let go.” At the movement’s end, the chorus returns to whispering names, just as they began the piece, coming full circle.
I am deeply grateful to the musicians who commissioned Quilt Panels, D.C.’s Different Drummers and the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington. I would like to extend particular thanks to Scott Barker, Jana Fry, Jill Strachan and Paul Heins. I am equally appreciative of those with whom I have worked at ActionAIDS in Philadelphia over the past sixteen years, for their love, support and guidance.
Reviews
World AIDS Day was marked Monday at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at Maryland with the “December 1st Project,” an evening of choral and symphonic music that included the world premiere of “Quilt Panels (for my love, for my grief, for my letting go),” by Robert Maggio.
The 40-minute song cycle was, appropriately, one of savage intensity. In a sweeping performance, D.C.’s Different Drummers and the Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington, supported by members of the All Souls Jubilee Singers, created a musical memoir that was pleading and warm, emotionally tempestuous and filled with sonic experimentation.
“Quilt Panels,” conducted by Different Drummers artistic director K. Scott Barker, unfolds in eight movements to reflect the story of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. The music was intended to re-create the experience of viewing that ever-growing tribute to those who have died with the disease, and the performance expertly managed the complexity of such a task.
The piece began with a solemn reading of names of the dead over thickly layered voices of the chorus, and hauntingly skeletal symphonic creations. The listener then journeyed through a musical jigsaw puzzle whose pieces ranged from somber uncertainty to a tender acceptance. During the fifth movement, passages from letters were read and sung with a raw beauty that stung.
During the final movement, “How to Make a Quilt Panel,” a rush of voices whispered a fury of names over a melancholy lullaby, while a crisp voice read instructions on how to create a quilt panel.
Beth Buchanan, Washington Post, December 3, 2003
