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Southern Lament (1997) |
solo piano - 16'
Commissioned by the 1997 Cheltenham International Music Festival for Stephen Kovacevich. First performance: 19 July, 1997 The Pump Rooms, Cheltenham, England. Stephen Kovacevich, pianoFolk music has been a rich vein of inspiration to composers for centuries and a source of material I have used from time to time for my own compositions. Southern Lament is a two movement work for solo piano based on Negro spirituals and ballads I remember from the hot, humid days of my childhood on the Georgia/Florida border. The melodic material for the first piece is from the American ballad, John Henry, a 19th century railway worker whose Pyrrhic victory against the new steam drill became one of the great southern legends: 1st Movement: John Henry Was a Steel Drivin' Man
"John Henry hammered on the mountain,
Hammered till his steel drew fire,
He drove so hard his poor heart broke,
Then he laid down his hammer and he died, Lord, Lord,
He laid down his hammer and he died."
The second movement is based on two slave songs: Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen and I am Troubled, both laments born in the dusty cotton fields by saddened people a long way from home. 2nd Movement: Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Seen
"Nobody knows the troubles I've seen,
Nobody know 'cept Jesus!
Nobody knows the troubles I've seen,
Glory Halelujah!
Sometimes I'm up,
Sometimes I'm down;
Sometimes I'm almost to the ground.
Nobody knows the troubles I've seen,
Glory, Halelujah!"
And the second slave song: I'm Troubled in Mind
"I'm troubled, I'm troubled, I'm troubled in mind,
If Jesus don't help me, I surely will die.
When laden with trouble and burdened with grief,
To Jesus in secret I'll go for relief.
In dark days of bondage to Jesus I prayed,
To help me to bear it He gave me his aid."
© 1997 Stephen Montague