As Long As Forever Is
Frank J. Oteri
About this work:
Urban legend has it that on the night of November 4, 1953, exactly 50 years before I completed as long as forever is, Dylan Thomas walked into the White Horse Tavern in New York’s Greenwich Village at around 2 A.M. Depending on whose account, he either ordered 17, 18, or 19 Irish whiskeys. It was his final public appearance. The 1880 Saloon, which still stands, has a room dedicated to his memory where I sometimes drink a few whiskeys in his honor (never double digits!).
The ambiguous quantity of Thomas's alcohol consumption that fateful night determined rhythms I chose. “Here” contains 19 beats per measure. “Time” has 18, and “Still” has 17. “Process” overlaps cycles of 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 beats, creating a completely ambiguous sense of time, while the juxtaposition of 4 and 5 beat cycles in “The Natural Doorway” ultimately yields a cycle of 20, the whiskey he definitely never drank.
One of Thomas's drinking buddies at the White Horse was Noah Greenberg, founder of the New York Pro Musica, who essentially launched the early music movement in America. So it seemed appropriate to counterbalance the whiskey-inspired rhythmic complexity with melodies and harmonies formed from simple medieval modes. “Process” is Mixolydian (a major scale with a flat 7th). “Here” is Lydian (a major scale with a sharp 4th). “Time” is Phrygian (a natural minor scale with a flat 2nd). “Still” is Dorian (a natural minor scale with a sharp 6th). Finally, “The Natural Doorway” begins in the Aeolian (natural minor) and ends in the Ionian (major), alternating between relative majors and minors throughout. The singers are also accompanied by an early music ensemble.
A curious sidenote: at the time he was establishing the New York Pro Musica, Noah Greenberg had a side job as Elliott Carter’s copyist for the First String Quartet, one of the most rhythmically complex pieces of chamber music composed up to that time. I had already begun imagining Thomas’s poems through a sonic landscape of recorders, crumhorn, violone and bells, each independently tracing different rhythmic cycles. Everything is ultimately related to everything else. (The composer would like to thank Elizabeth Guiher for the crumhorn which partially inspired these timbral explorations.)
as long as forever is received its world premiere on December 16, 2005 at the Church of Saint Matthew and Saint Timothy in New York City in a performance featuring soprano Gilda Lyons and tenor Rob Frankenberry accompanied by Daphna Mor and Jorge Taylor, alto recorders; Martha Bixler, crumhorn; Judith Davidoff, viola da gamba; and Roger Zahab, handbells. The ensemble was conducted by Daron Hagen. (Ms. Bixler and Ms. Davidoff had both performed early music with Noah Greenberg in the New York Pro Musica.) To obtain either a hard copy or a PDF of the score and parts, please visit www.blackteamusic.com.
Year composed: 2003
Duration: 00:18:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Two or More Solo Voices with Chamber/Jazz Ensemble, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Soprano, 1 Tenor, 3 Other Wind Instrument(s), 1 Other Percussion Instrument(s), 1 Other Stringed Instrument(s)
Instrumentation notes: 3 Other Wind Instrument(s) = 2 Alto Recorders, 1 Crumhorn;
Other Percussion Instrument(s) = Handbells (I player);
Other Stringed Instrument(s) = Bass Viola da Gamba