In Memoriam: a celebration

As to why IN MEMORIAM: a celebration... As a Jew, I can't avoid the weight of our history. Our resilience as a people has been strengthened through the millennia with every adversarial contact. Yet, in spite of the negative aggression, we survived. And, in the process, created a legacy of knowledge and community, which has lasted for almost six thousand years. Jerry Jacobs, who this work is dedicated to, miraculously survived a six-year hysteria when the world proved how inhuman the human race can be. From the age of ten to sixteen, starting in the Lodz, Poland ghetto, he subsequently found himself in such camps as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Buchenwald and Rehmsdorf. When you first meet Jerry, you would never know he was someone survived such an irrational horror. He embodies someone who celebrates life with deep conviction for the arts and humanities. A successful textile merchant and grandfather, he established the Interfaith Concert of Holocaust Remembrance and commissioned me to write this choral orchestra work for the fourth annual concert, which had its world premiere at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in front of four thousand people on November 13, 1993. As we became friends, we inevitably began talking about his past. Instead of getting a better understanding of this insanity that we call the Holocaust, I found myself dealing with even greater incongruities of logic to such an extent as to almost believe that what he had witnessed was not possible. But, unfortunately for the so many who died, it was very possible! And, this loss of brothers and sisters, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters was our greatest tragedy. How could one keep his/her belief in G-d after such a horrendous event? Why would G-d allow this to happen to his chosen? It became clear to me, this was the final coup de grace for us, and that now, in fact, we would always intervene and prevent such a thing from ever happening again. This ultimate sacrifice guaranteed us the where-with-all for our survival as a people, and never again will we passively accept injustices that are thwarted at us. And, we will celebrate our survival so that those who died will not have died in vein! We will celebrate our oneness as our aspirations for knowledge and humanity reaches for G-d. Our belief in G-d is unshaken. Our belief in ourselves is unrelenting. And, our future is guaranteed because of this resolve. I wanted to write a work that embraced the flood of emotions that filled me culminating with the blowing of the shofar, our oldest traditional ritual that brings in the New Year. Then I thought about Jericho and the trumpeting that brought the walls tumbling down. Why not have twelve shofars representing the twelve tribes of Israel? Why not reenact and possibly trigger our genetic memory with such a triumphant sound? But to my amazement, upon hearing the first performance, the six of the twelve shofars we were able to find did not evoke a memory of history, but the voices of the dead. ORCHESTRATION 1 Flute 1 Oboe 1 Bb Clarinet 1 Horn in F 1 Bb Trumpet 8-1st Violins 6-2nd Violins 4-Violas 4-Celli 2-Basses (when expanding the string section, keep in mind the woodwind quintet should be doubled in size so that during the forte sections, they will be heard. The strings should never be smaller than 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, the chorus never smaller than 3, 3, 3, 3) Chorus: Sopranos Altos (div.) Tenors Basses (with incidental Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass solos) 12 Shofars running time: (15:42)