My dear friends:
Last night the New York Philharmonic and I performed Mahler’s Second Symphony– The Resurrection– in tribute to the memory of our beloved late President. There were those who asked: Why the ResurrectionSymphony, with its visionary concept of hope and triumph over worldly pain, instead of a Requiem, or the customary Funeral March from the Eroica? Why indeed? We played the Mahler symphony not only in terms of resurrection for the soul of one we love, but also for the resurrection of hope in all of us who mourn him. In spite of our shock, our shame, and our despair at the diminution of man that follows from this death, we must somehow gather strength for the increase of man, strength to go on striving for those goals he cherished. In mourning him, we must be worthy of him.
I know of no musician in this country who did not love John F. Kennedy. American artists have for three years looked to the White House with unaccustomed confidence and warmth. We loved him for the honor in which he held art, in which he held every creative impulse of the human mind, whether it was expressed in words, or notes, or paints, or mathematical symbols. This reverence for the life of the mind was apparent even in his last speech, which he was to have made a few hours after his death. He was to have said: “America’s leadership must be guided by learning and reason.” Learning and reason: precisely the two elements that were necessarily missing from the mind of anyone who could have fired that impossible bullet. Learning and reason: the two basic precepts of all Judaistic tradition, the twin sources from which every Jewish mind from Abraham and Moses to Freud and Einstein has drawn its living power. Learning and Reason: the motto we here tonight must continue to uphold with redoubled tenacity, and must continue, at any price, to make the basis of all our actions.
It is obvious that the grievous nature of our loss is immensely aggravated by the element of violence involved in it. And where does this violence spring from? From ignorance and hatred– the exact antonyms of Learning and Reason. Learning and Reason: those two words of John Kennedy’s were not uttered in time to save his own life; but every man can pick them up where they fell, and make them part of himself, the seed of that rational intelligence without which our world can no longer survive. This must be the mission of every man of goodwill: to insist, unflaggingly, at risk of becoming a repetitive bore, but to insist on the achievement of a world in which the mind will have triumphed over violence.
We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. And with each note we will honor the spirit of John Kennedy, commemorate his courage, and reaffirm his faith in the Triumph of the Mind.
Leonard Bernstein, 25 November, 1963
Responding to Violent Events
Yesterday, so many of us went to work with heavy hearts, our minds on France, and faced choirs filled with hearts and minds equally heavy. Far, far too often we are finding ourselves in front of a group of singers just after receiving word of a tragic, violent world event. How can we manage our own deep feelings, while helping others through theirs? University of Washington professor Dr. Giselle Wyers offered this advice:
As artists I think we know that we are emotional sponges and can often end up internalizing and wrestling with very difficult emotions. That is part of what makes us able to create and make music. But it can also lead us to feel paralyzed and wrought with despair. So here are some ideas of what might help.
1) Be informed with reputable media sources, but limit your exposure to terrifying images and sensational reporting.
2) Don’t try to solve yet. Be in the confusion.
3) “Bless and release” each victim’s final moments by imagining them being held by a loved one.
4) Try to create- anything- cook a good meal, knit, draw, write a letter. Get the feelings out on paper or in music.
5) Allow your emotions to flow and notice how they change and fluctuate.
6) Exercise, keep the adrenal glands flushed.
7) Give to a charity you believe in.
8) Think about what you can offer others who are also trying to contextualize the world’s recent events.
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What do you do in the face of global tragedy? How do you help yourself, and your choristers?
Ronald Richard Duquette says