Music, School of
Randall Snyder Compositions
Document Type
Manuscript
Date of this Version
1973
Citation
Manuscript, 1973
Abstract
Dramatis personae: Artist, Narrator, Chorus
Synopsis
PROLOG
Perceiving society as decadent, an artist ruminates over his existence. A narrator describes the chorus as they reluctantly assemble on a black box stage.
SCENE 1
Painful thoughts force the artist to remember his past as essentially a trilogy of forces: (1) Caritas – mystical religious feelings embodied in the Latin liturgy; (2) the narrow space between the five lines – an allusion to the musical staff and his career as a composer; (3) post puterbific thoughts – physical, carnal instincts. The chorus dismisses the composer’s concerns as superficial. They speak of their rural, unsophisticated existence with booth pride and despair. 2 The artist speaks in poetic fashion of his music, each composition seen as silvery pods in an eclectic parade as the chorus continues to dismiss the artistic life as inferior to their sense of reality. The artist cries out that the chorus does not understand him and represents a dangerous threat to humanity. In a weary voice, the artist becomes defensive, viewing his life as a failure, the result of external forces, beyond his control. He returns to the Parade of Pods with a more nuanced analysis, depicting them as “Guyots”, isolated, submerge fragments, buried by the chorus. They in turn scorn his retreat into self-absorption; Instead, under the aegis of the one-eyed Wotan, they speak of copulation and a well-ordered existence.
SCENE 2
The artist recalls a particular happy time of his youth – “days of ochre sunsets”, only to be brought back to the sterility of the present. The chorus offers examples of their art, preaching that only below (i.e. physical life) can truth be found, permitting only the occasional embracement of fantasy. The artist typifies their “art” as boring. Instead of leading a practical life, he will “burn mine in the open sun”. The narrator seems to agree with the chorus, suggesting that the success of the play lies on their “admittedly inexperienced shoulders.”
SCENE 3
The Artist speaks of Caritas coming in a vision while contemplating the Eucharist, segueing to a speculation of the origins of organic life. The chorus is unhappy with this discussion, demanding more sensual soliloquy… Ignoring the chorus, the artist continues with his vision of creation, and the origin of sin. Needless to say, the chorus finds this unsatisfactory. The artist ends the scene with a pastoral description of God.
SCENE 4
The narrator notes and laments on the inactivity on stage; then gratefully acknowledges a spokesperson emerging from the chorus. The spokesperson questions the artist: how can one accept both the religious and artistic doctrine, with the pods being inferior to the god-vision. The artistic experience representing the sensory-phenomenological, while the religious a noumenal, numinous one. The spokesperson ends with a question, the “most exasperating enigma” to the artist: why one so full of life wishes a “serious decline.” Doesn’t he see this as a mere romantic attestation?
SCENE 5
The artist explains that the pods were but a foretaste of the god-experience. In death he’ll be able to hear more god-music. The chorus vehemently disagrees. From this point on, chaos ensues, all actors extolling their own versions of reality.
EPILOG
The narrator reflects on the foolishness of the play, asking for the forgiveness of the audience.
Comments
Copyright 1973, Randall Snyder. Used by permission