Requiem: The Good Fence (2010) part 2; Westminster V.I. Choral Concert

Part 2 of part 6 of the concert.
Westminster Choir College's Vocal Institute choral concert at the Princeton University Chapel, 7/17/10.
-Requiem: The Good Fence - Blake Henson
Westminster Vocal Institute Choir
Solid Brass
Samantha Scully, Soprano
Andrew Skitko, Baritone
Conducted by Dr. James Jordan

The Good Fence: Synopsis by Blake Henson

In order to compose a Requiem for those who have fallen victim to acts of
terrorism, one must begin to understand why such a tragedy has occurred. If a definite answer were to be had, no doubt the author would find his/herself the recipient of the Nobel Prize. Alas, the source of terrorism is not so black and white. When was the first act of terrorism? Now that has a more definite answer: Sarah.

God said to Abraham, "Look toward the heaven and number the stars and so
shall your descendants be." But Abraham's wife, Sarah, thought she was getting too old to have children and God wasn't coming through on His promise. So she sent Abraham to the bed of her maid, Hagar, and Abraham and Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. Not long after that, God fulfilled his promise to Sarah (as He had always intended to do) and Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac. Shortly after, Sarah said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman and her son, for the son of a slave will not be heir with my son Isaac."
And so it began: Jews the sons of Isaac. The Arabs the sons of Ishmael.
The Good Fence is not a work that calls for an end to terrorism, or even mourns those killed in its bloody fray, but rather a work that describes the profound ability pluralism has. That is, how assimilation is rarely an answer, but a drive to preserve individual cultures and to respect one another and continually strive to grow and work together is the only hope we as a global community have for living in peace.

Along the northern Israeli border into Lebanon there is a fence known to locals as "The Good Fence" that bares both countries' flags over a plaque inscribed in Hebrew, Arabic, and English with the quotation:

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
That we may walk the paths of the Most High.
And we shall beat our swords into plough shares,
And our spears into pruning hooks.
Nations shall not life up sword against nation -
Neither shall they learn war anymore.
And none shall be afraid,
For the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken."
-Isaiah 2.4

The Good Fence is a work inspired by the call for peace inscribed into The Good Fence incorporating Enqlish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic depicting the simple yet profound idea of pluralism. Diatonicism and chromaticism play against and with one another. Strong, stoic statements in Arabic are echoed by simple, more lyrical expressions in Hebrew, all, of course, being tied together thematically. And where each performer (soloists and chorus) represents a different social faction (much like an unstaged opera), they all come together with their respective themes which-while being performed unchanged-continually reappear, beginning to work together in a call for a peace that never comes. Although The Good Fence incorporates Christian, Muslim, and Jewish texts, the work is not specific to any religion forming instead a modern requiem for all mankind.

- Blake Henson

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