David, are you familiar with Ned Rorem's War Scenes? Also, George
Butterworth and Ivor Gurney are two British composers who died during the
World Wars and whose outputs include some songs which reflect their
experiences in war. Also in this vein you will find a few songs by John
Ireland to texts by the English poet Rupert Brooke, who also was killed in
action. If you are looking for repertoire in German, check on the songs
of Czech Viktor Ullmann, one of the most promising composers of his
generation, who was murdered by the Nazis at Theresienstadt (among others -
Theresienstadt was the 'show' camp where many outstanding artists,
playwrights, composers and writers were kept, most of whom were murdered
at Auschwitz in the last few days of the war when the Germans knew they had
lost.) Though composed as a response to the AIDS crisis, John Adams' "The
Wound Dresser" is on poetry of Walt Whitman, written while he served as a
nurse during the Civil War. This is an incredible piece of music.
Mark
"Sing on the interest, not on the principal" - Florence Page Kimball, to
her student Leontyne Price
"The voice is not a fist." - Fritz Wunderlich
"I sing with a slim voice." - Birgit Nilsson
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On Tue, 26 Nov 2002, David Grogan wrote:
> To all you repertoire gurus...
>
> The school I work in tends to be rather one-sided in its political thought.
> I was thinking I might help a little with some anti-war (or pro-peace) songs
> for my students. I ran into the Bernstein "They're so Pretty" the other
> day, and thought that songs like that might enhance some thinking.
>
> Any good pieces...any voice range, but mostly easy to moderately difficult
> pieces would fit my students' needs.
>
> Thanks so much!
> David Grogan
> Longview, Texas
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