Vocal Composition of the Day, Installment 2:
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird"
for
Mezzo-Soprano and String Quartet
(1985 - Revised 1993 - 14 minutes)
Poem by Wallace Stevens
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" is my breakout composition, meaning it is the one where I knew that I was on my way to finding my own voice as a composer, no matter what musical language I use: tonal, modal, dodecaphonic, microtonal, etc. I wrote it while I was a student of Arthur Berger at the New England Conservatory.
It was one of (get this) thirteen winners of a 1984-85 Broadcast Music Incorporated ("BMI") Award to Student Composers for that award! Thirteen was a lucky number for me at that time; go figure.
When I walked into the ballroom in New York City in which the thirteen winning pieces were placed on display by BMI forty years ago, I immediately noticed that the powers that be at BMI got the composition teacher attribution wrong for my piece even though I instructed them otherwise: see the attached photo. Of course Arthur Berger made the trek from Cambridge, MA to NYC only to be greeted by this folder. He looked at me and said, "So you gave Harold credit and not me." Then he walked away. Awkward!
As for the music, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" was heavily influenced by the late musical language of Arthur Berger: it consists mainly of 0-1-2 and 0-1-3 trichords. Irrespective of the terse musical language, I tried and succeeded at making the melodies lyrical, and the string quartet accompaniment and the melodies evocative of the poem of the same name by Wallace Stevens. The poem was first published in 1917 in the journal Others and is in the public domain. The music is unabashedly atonal, featuring numerous musical subtleties in the vocal and string writing. Aside from singing, the vocalist is also required to perform Sprechstimme and spoken words. Even the string players perform some vocal sound effects. The effect is simultaneously austere and delightful.
The unrevised version of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" was first performed by Susan Klebanow, mezzo-soprano, Lisa Crockett, violin, James Cook, violin, Leonard Matczynski, viola, Leslie Svilokos, violoncello, and David Hoose, conductor, on 4 December 1984, in Slosberg Recital Hall at Brandeis University. Follow the next URL to listen to this performance.
The revised version has yet to be performed.
Follow the next URL to view a new scrolling score music video for "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" on my YouTube channel which I created to encourage live performances. The score is that of the revised version, but the track is of the unrevised version; see above. Those who can read music will be able to tell the differences.
"Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" is available for licensing from me, and for sale from Sheet Music Plus. Follow the next URL to visit the distributor's product page for this title.
Follow the next URL to view a watermarked PDF score of "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" on my website.
I hope you enjoy "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird". Thank you for your time and attention.
Stanley M. Hoffman, PhD
Link to my website: https://www.stanleymhoffman.com
Biography Published in Grove Music Online (The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Oxford University Press)
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