SOUNDING SPACE - Amherst College
ARCHITECT
© 2009
John Downey, Jenny Kallick, Lew Spratlan
CAST LIST
(in order of appearance)
Momus, fallen god and trickster baritone*
Louis I Kahn, architect & nomad tenor
Frank E. Brown, archeologist & teacher baritone*
Woman, architect & muse soprano
August Komendant, structural engineer & friend baritone*
Jonas Salk, research scientist & healer baritone*
*The baritone roles may be performed by one singer to dramatic advantage.
Synopsis
Architect is set in motion by Momus, the impish minor deity expelled by Jupiter from Olympus to Earth, where he persuades mortals to create buildings that glorify the gods, “so monumental and timeless.” Momus remains at work in the complications that arise throughout the piece. The scenes in the drama show us Kahn contemplating Roman antiquity with Frank Brown, of the American Academy in Rome (“The Ruins of Rome are ritual and space”); Kahn proclaiming a kind of manifesto about what a building should be (“First, you have a sanctuary”); a character we call Woman, an amalgam of the women in Kahn’s life, reading a poem Kahn has sent her (“So many selves”); a duet between Kahn and his long-time structural engineer August Komendant (“Dear August, why does everyone bring me down?”); Woman in an end-of-her-rope, virtually wordless mad scene; a duet between Kahn and Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, about their shared vision of a research institute that would foster the union of science and art (“Dear friend, dear artist”); a dream sequence where the institute is imagined and Woman appears once again; and, finally, Kahn, Salk, and Woman in a redemptive trio (“The water will run peacefully to the ocean”).
ARCHITECT PREMIER RECORDING
May 15, 2008, Amherst College, Buckley Recital Hall
SINGERS
TENOR
Jeffrey Lentz
BARITONE
Richard Lalli
SOPRANO
Julia Fox
PLAYERS
FLUTE PERCUSSION
Ellen Redman John Andress
OBOE VIOLIN
Kirsten Lipkens Lauren Basney
HORN VIOLA
Jean Jeffries Amelia Clingman
SAX CELLO
Mary Joy Patchett Jonathan Lewis
MUSIC DIRECTOR/CONDUCTOR
Mark Lane Swanson
RECORDING ENGINEER
Judith Sherman
RECORDING ASSISTANT
Jeanne Velonis
REHEARSAL PIANO
Eric Wubbels
Tim Cheng
PROJECT ASSISTANT
Kendahl Goldwater-Feldman
ARCHITECT
Track 1. Prologue
The Trickster’s Complaint
Two separate worlds are visible during the pre-show and prologue:
Momus, in the garb of an outsider and surrounded by his acolytes, paces with impatience as he recounts his unfair treatment at the hands of Jupiter. The silent chorus of acolytes follows Momus, echoing his actions in movement and expression.
Louis I. Kahn’s architectural office, lit in backlight at first, exudes a flurry of work and intense debate between Kahn and his young female associate.
MOMUS
You need to understand.
Jupiter cast me from Olympus.
I am Momus, the cleverist of gods,
Exiled – sent to earth – where I did not seek to go.
Whether I could keep the flame,
The godly sign, divine insignia,
Was hotly debated by all the gods.
Hoping to win the day,
I convinced mortals to make magnificent buildings,
To glorify the gods.
Soon man shared my desires.
He, too, sought the flame and fire.
Woman waited.
Though she knew his many selves, she trusted.
Track 1. Prologue cont.
The Trickster’s Complaint
Man hoped to capture the light,
A jewel in space -- with a Wink.
But not all our planets obey space and time.
In the end, the gods were not appeased
And the mortals – oh, how they suffered.
The wild pursuit of unending flame and light possessed us all.
But it must be remembered –
I was exiled -- sent to earth, where I did not seek to go.
Mortals and immortals alike blame me.
SCENE 1 – SEEKING THE FLAME
Track 2
Scene 1. Journey -- To Rome
ELectro-Acoustics
They say I bring trouble
I only did what was asked,
Perhaps too well.
Perhaps I’ll trick you too.
SCENE 1 – SEEKING THE FLAME cont.
Track 2
Scene 1. Journey -- To Rome
ELectro-Acoustics
Momus transforms himself into Frank E Brown, a professor of archeology.
Employing his powers to enchant, Momus/Brown entices Kahn to travel with him to a vision of ancient Rome, abandoning the demands of his architectural firm and the equally pressing emotional ties to his young associate. Kahn’s much beloved rug, used for naps, is rolled up and slung over his shoulder as he leaves, giving him an incongruous appearance. His business suit and trademark bow tie contrast oddly with the traveling rug, suggesting the appearance of a wanderer or nomad.
Track 3
SCENE 1A. Discovery
Ritual & Space
Aria & Duo for Brown (Momus) and Kahn
A vision of Roman ruins appears, giving off an aura of being haunted. Kahn and Brown walk about separately but within earshot of one another.
BROWN (in the manner of a lecture)
The ruins of Rome are Ritual and Space
In Ritual life finds order
And Space must embody that order
Sacred incantation rules the construction
Let this space be for worship
The enclosure completed by this ritual act.
Track 3 cont.
SCENE 1A. Discovery
Ritual & Space
BROWN (gesturing to point out these features)
Columns and arches
Terraces and parapets
A clinging mantle of shadow
A luminous center of light—
Duty, and discipline, and decorum
From brick and concrete and stone
Sacred spaces to embrace the cosmos.
KAHN (in reverie, to himself)
The Ruins are my future…
BROWN
The ruins of Rome are Ritual and Space
KAHN (his reverie continues)
Space has tonality.
BROWN
Let this space be for worship.
KAHN (ever more assuredly)
And I imagine myself
Composing a space.
BROWN
The ruins of Rome are Ritual and Space.
Track 3 cont.
SCENE 1A. Discovery
Ritual & Space
KAHN (and even more assuredly)
Lofty and vaulted
With tones, narrow and high
Graduated silver
From light to darkness.
KAHN (moved to recall lines from Edgar Allen Poe’s 1833 Ode to Rome)
“Rome’s crumbling walls; these tottering arcades;
These mouldering plinths; these sad, and blacken'd shafts;
These vague entablatures; this broken frieze;
These shattered cornices; this wreck; this ruin. “
BROWN (approaching and giving encouragement to Kahn)
The ruins of Rome are Ritual and Space.
KAHN (continuing Poe recitation)
“These stones, alas! -- these grey stones—
We rule the hearts of mightiest men: — we rule
With a despotic sway all giant minds.
We are not desolate — we pallid stones.”
KAHN/BROWN (reciting Poe together)
“Not all our power is gone; not all our Fame;”
KAHN
“Not all the magic of our high renown;”
Track 3 cont.
SCENE 1A. Discovery
Ritual & Space
BROWN
“Not all the wonder that encircles us;”
KAHN/BROWN
“Not all the mysteries that in us lie;”
BROWN
“Not all the memories that hang upon,”
KAHN
“And cling around about us now and ever,”
KAHN/BROWN (exultant)
“And clothe us in a robe of more than glory.”
TRACK 4
Scene 1B. Kahn’s Credo
The Flame
Aria for Kahn
Kahn works out his ideas for building sacred spaces. Momus & his acolytes, staying out of Kahn’s way, listen with satisfaction to his statement of commitment.
KAHN (as if in a trance)
“First you have a sanctuary
And the sanctuary is for those who want to kneel.
Inside this sanctuary is the question
And inside is the flame.
Around the sanctuary is an ambulatory
And this ambulatory is for those who are not sure
But who want to be near.
And inside is the flame.
Outside is a court
For those who want to feel the presence of the chapel.
And inside is the flame.
And the court has a wall. (with enjoyment)
Those who pass by the wall
Can just wink at it.
Just Wink …
TRACK 4 cont.
Scene 1B. Kahn’s Credo
The Flame
KAHN
And inside is the flame.
The fellow who first discovered fire (passionately)
Hid it in his cloak.
The flame burned his cloak
And burst into the open.
When dust settles, the Chapel gives the Sun its Shadow (exhausted)
And the treasury of the shadow preserves the flame.”
And inside is the flame. (with fervor & commitment)
Kahn retreats, feeling the weight of the commitment he has made and the sacrifices he must make to fulfill this commitment.
The light changes.
Visible again in Kahn’s office, his associate is alone. She works on blueprints and projects, while attending to the mail.
TRACK 5
Scene 1C. Waiting
So Many Selves
Aria for Woman
Woman (to herself)
I work while I wait.
But he travels.
He seeks a light to guide him.
Now he writes,
“I have captured the flame and its sound.”
So they have also captured him.
The flame will guide him and his many selves.
Woman now reads aloud, at first dutifully, an e.e. cummings poem enclosed in Kahn’s letter:
WOMAN (with concentration)
So many selves,
So many selves (so many fiends and gods
Each greedier than every) is a man
(so easily one in another hides;
yet man can, being all, escape from none).
Woman (repeating & reflecting)
So many selves,
(so easily one in another hides;
yet man can, being all, escape from none).
TRACK 5 cont.
Scene 1C. Waiting
So Many Selves
Woman (increasing emotion)
So huge a tumult is the simplest wish
So pitiless the massacre the hope
Most innocent
WOMAN (repeating & reflecting)
So pitiless the massacre the hope
Most innocent
WOMAN (with a tone of mystery)
(so deep’s the mind of flesh
And so awake what waking calls sleep).
WOMAN (repeating & reflecting)
(so deep’s the mind of flesh
And so awake what waking calls sleep).
WOMAN (with strongest emotion, almost out of control)
So never is most lonely man alone
(his briefest breathing lives some planet’s year,
his least unmotion roams the youngest star)
how should a fool that calls him “I” presume
to comprehend not numerable whom?
Track 6
Numerable Whom
Electro-Acoustic
Woman turns back to her work, still troubled, as the office disappears from sight.
SCENE 2 -- WHITE NIGHT
Track 7
Scene 2A. Reunion
Mix It Right
Duet for Tenor and Baritone
In a comfortable sitting room, perhaps a club, Kahn & Momus, now transformed into August Komendant -- brilliant engineer & old friend – drink and reminisce.
KAHN (slightly self-pitying)
Dear August, why does everyone pull me down, criticizing without understanding?
KOMENDANT (somewhat impatiently)
You are a dreamer not a fighter …
KAHN (defensively, then more friendly)
We have always work together like brothers and countrymen.
We share the memories of those Estonian white nights, stony beaches, and meals of little red potatoes
KAHN/ KOMENDANT
… and delectable lestakala flounder. (they laugh in friendship & enjoy the memory)
Track 7 cont.
Scene 2A. Reunion
Mix It Right
KOMENDANT (mock scolding)
It’s true
But, you call me August, if you liked my advice
Doc, if you questioned what I advise, and
Komendant when you disagree.
KAHN (again defensively, but progressively more inebriated)
Still, I never questioned that you understand what concrete wants
KAHN/KOMENDANT (mock religioso)
We share our love and respect for Concrete
It is a delicacy like our Estonia flounder.
KOMENDANT /KAHN (playful)
Concrete – Concrete – Concrete -- Concrete – Concrete –Concrete
KOMENDANT (swaying to the beat of the music)
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT /KAHN
Concrete – Concrete -- Concrete – Concrete
Concrete – Concrete -- Concrete – Concrete
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT /KAHN
Concrete – Concrete -- Concrete – Concrete
Concrete – Concrete -- Concrete -- Concrete
Track 7 cont.
Scene 2A. Reunion
Mix It Right
KOMENDANT
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT/KAHN
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT
Then time will make it strong
Its beauty will increase.
KAHN/KOMENDANT (competitively)
Concrete – Concrib-badeet-deet
Concrete – Concrib-ba-dih-ba-deet
Concrete – Concra-dib-ba-deet-deet
Con-con-cra-deet -- Concra-dib-ba-deet-deet
KOMENDANT
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT/KAHN
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT
Let the cranes carry it forth
For buildings that will glow – Concrete!
Track 7 cont.
Scene 2A. Reunion
Mix It Right
KOMENDANT/KAHN (over the top)
Concrete – Con-crib-ba-deet Con-crib-ba-deet-deet
Con-crib-ba-dib-ba-dee-ba-deet -- ba-dib-ba-doo-ba
Concrete – crib-ba-con-crib-ba-deet
Con-crib-ba-dib-ba-deet—deet -- Con-crib-ba-doo-ba-dib-ba-deet – Cree-dib-ba-doo-ba
KAHN
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT/KAHN
Mix it right and cure it with the right vibrations.
KOMENDANT/KAHN (again, nostalgic)
Like the pebbled Estonian beaches
It will remain forever.
KAHN (imploring, as Komendant prepares to leave)
Don’t forget me August
Your genius has made my buildings your buildings
KOMENDANT (firmly)
I must go! I cannot delay
KAHN (in his own thoughts)
… has made my buildings -- your buildings
Track 7 cont.
Scene 2A. Reunion
Mix It Right
KOMENDANT (insistent)
I must go!
KAHN (somewhat pleading)
… my buildings -- your buildings
KOMENDANT
I must …
KAHN (interrupting with ardor)
But you understand why we must not hurry.
KOMENDANT (making his exit)
Still I must go. I mustn’t be late.
KAHN (spoken)
Go.
KAHN (with solitary determination)
Delays and promises unfulfilled have brought trouble to my life.
But it is not from weakness or hesitation.
I believe that quick decisions are wrong and block the way to beauty and art.
Track 8
“Unfulfilled”
Electro-Acoustic
Kahn exits, filled with conflict, yet determined.
The scene returns to nighttime in the architecture office and to Kahn’s assistant, who appears desolate & weary. Blueprints are scattered around in a disorganized fashion. Momus only observes at first, then decides to participate, transforming himself into a vision of Kahn, and seduces her in ghostly fashion.
Track 9
Scene 2B. Rejection
So Pitiless
Aria for Soprano
WOMAN
M – m – ah -- ma – -- many selves … (deeply felt, in her expressive personal language)
m-ah oooh –ah -- -- fiends, gods, greedy ma –sss
so pitiless …
(a beckoning call announces the presence of Momus appearing in Kahn’s image)
ah … uh … oooooooo….ah (sensing Kahn’s presence)
zhahbo zhahbo … yah-oo
beebah (beckoning in return)
… zheebah ah-oo …. oo – m – (reaching exhaustion)
Scene 2B. Rejection cont.
So Pitiless
Aria for Soprano
M – m – ah – (as in the beginning but calmer)
… hope most innocent … ss… ah- ooo (again more animated but less despairing)
. . . so never, never is most lonely man alone … (strongly assertive)
ah ee – ah ee ah uh mo (expressing the full measure of her passion and longing)
m …. (devastated, yet with clarity of feeling)
Track 10
Never Alone
Electro-Acoustic
Having reached the depths of despair after her moment of ecstasy, Woman determines to find some peace with her circumstances. She exits.
Momus now understands that he has brought great suffering both to Woman and to Kahn. He transforms himself into Jonas Salk, a wise physician, committed to healing and the union of science and art.
Scene 3 – SOUNDING SPACES
Track 11
SCENE 3A. Healing
Danger Lures Us Forward
Aria and Duet for Tenor and Baritone
Kahn arrives at the building site to meet Salk with whom he will collaborate to make a laboratory. Hoping to fulfill their mutual desire to build a space that enables community and a joining together of science & art, they offer each other encouragement and friendship.
SALK (warmly & confidence)
Dear friend, dear artist, your arrival gives me hope.
Can you build for me a lab’ratory of peace and of stillness?
Where Picasso may come to visit and wish to stay?
KAHN (tentative, exhausted)
Hope lies in dreams,
SALK (encouragingly)
And in the courage of one such as you.
KAHN (taking to his new companion)
I hear what you dream.
Your song knows the past and knows what children desire.
SALK (reassuring)
Your building will give us answers as it grows.
SCENE 3A. Healing cont.
Danger Lures Us Forward
KAHN (overcome with weariness & worry)
My friend, dear healer, I have traveled far.
Watch over me as I sleep a while.
I will listen to your dream.
SALK (comforting)
Sleep now while I watch
Danger lures us forward.
Where the cause is known, the mind consents.
Where it is not known the soul rebels.
Dream now while I keep watch.
Kahn unrolls his rug; he sleeps & dreams.
Salk/Momus observes.
Track 12
Scene 3B. Kahn’s Dream
Never Alone
Aria for Soprano
Woman comes to Kahn in his dream, offering understanding & reconciliation. She is visibly pregnant.
WOMAN
Mmm … many, many selves ... (somewhat carefree, soothing)
so many selves … mm … is a man
So huge a tumult is the simplest wish
Track 12 cont.
Scene 3B. Kahn’s Dream
Never Alone
Aria for Soprano
WOMAN
So pitiless the massacre the hope (recalling the conflict and earlier difficulties)
Most innocent.
Mmm …. So never is most lonely man alone (warmly, with affection)
… ah …. Mmm …
how should a fool that calls him “I” presume
to comprehend not numerable whom?
Woman fades out of the dream.
Track 13
Listen to Your Dream
Electro-Acoustic
As he sleeps, Kahn floats in the recollected sounds of his journey. He is nearly overcome by the glorious sounding space of the building he seeks to make.
Track 14
Scene 3C. Awakening
This Beauty Has Found Me
Aria for Tenor
Duet for Tenor and Baritone
Trio for Tenor, Baritone, and Soprano
Salk waits for Kahn to awaken. Woman watches with delight.
KAHN (unsure & with strong emotion)
Am I awake …or is this what waking calls sleep?
The fiends and gods still hover near (senses the presence of Momus disguised as Salk)
Such comfort I feel to see you again (recalls Woman’s presence during his dream.)
To know that you work while you wait.
I feet the flame within you,
But then I wink, just wink.
You smile, then vanish.
A space, a sound embraces me (Kahn basks in the transcendent sound in his dream)
With the past and the future.
Alone I have traveled, but never alone
To find this beauty and it has found me.
I am awake … yes, and now I can dream. (addressed to Salk with enthusiasm & joy)
From Rome I hear tonality and ritual.
I will build this sounding space
Of arches and courtyards, a facade to the sky
Track 14 cont.
Scene 3C. Awakening
KAHN (fulfilled, grateful)
And water gently flowing.
This beauty has always been and will always be.
KAHN (to Salk as Woman looks on)
Can we go now, together?
SALK-MOMUS (Momus -- appearing as Salk to Kahn, as Momus to everyone else)
Yes, I, too, am ready.
SALK-MOMUS (offering reassurance & praise with intent to heal)
The water will run peacefully to the ocean
The flame will give off light forever.
Here lives the glowing source for all imagination
For science and for art.
KAHN (jubilant)
The water will run peacefully to the ocean
The flame will give off light forever.
Here dwells the glowing source for all imagination
For science and for art.
KAHN/SALK-MOMUS
The water will run peacefully to the ocean
The flame will give off light forever.
Here dwells the glowing source for all imagination
For science and for art.
Track 14 cont.
Scene 3C. Awakening
KAHN/SALK-MOMUS /WOMAN (sharing now the accomplishment & fulfillment)
The water will run peacefully to the ocean
The flame will give off light forever.
There is the hope of love and of redemption
For all who desire.
KAHN/SALK-MOMUS/WOMAN (each returning to their own world)
Ah …
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