San Francisco Classical Voice

October 17, 1998

It seems strange and sad that it takes the hundredth anniversary of Ernst Bacon's birth to provide an audience with the opportunity to hear his music, which has not received much attention in the Bay Area over recent years. He was strongly connected to this area and lived in San Francisco during the 1930s, when he attended UC Berkeley, receiving a Master's Degree in Music. After a distinguished career of teaching at Syracuse University, he returned to California in the 1960s. This concert was truly a celebration, particularly for those who were hearing this remarkably versatile composer's music for the first time.

The program comprised three sections: Sonata for cello and piano, "A Life;" eleven art songs with piano accompaniment; and "Ecclesiastes," the cantata Bacon wrote for his master's thesis originally under the title of "The Voice of the Preacher." "A Life" is in five movements with titles that suggest the life and death (in 1968 )of his son, Paul: "Birth," "Light," "Love," "Young Manhood," and "Departure." Emil Miland's warm tone in melodic lines and Karen Rosenak's piano, often in punctuating contrast to the cello, successfully traveled along thorny polyphonic paths and successfully conveyed the programmatic intent of the composition.

Elements of jazz were present in other sections of this piece, as were suggestions of "Schelomo" by Ernest Bloch, one of Bacon's teachers at UC Berkeley. The chanson of Paris in a waltz rhythm suggested "Love" and led to the inward meditative sonorities of the final movement about the loss of a son.

Attracted to the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Bacon set songs and other vocal works to her wry and perceptive imagery. Marcelle Dronkers, soprano, and Michael Seth Orland, piano, selected six of the art song settings based on Dickinson's words. Dronkers sang in a clear, bright upper voice, although a bit unfocused in the middle and lower registers, with fine diction and an intelligent delivery of the poetry. Orland was equally fine. Whether Bacon's settings add a third dimension to the illumination of the texts is questionable. Exceptions were "Poor little Heart!" (Dickinson's punctuation, always a marvel and a clue to her meanings), and "Eternity," which the composer rendered a bit literally with large musical gestures.

Like other American composers of his generation, Bacon had an affinity for folk songs, and his songs that reflect this influence are the most poignant. For example "The Red Rose," with Robert Burns' words, in a minor mode and with guitar-like accompaniment made a fine impression. Elsewhere in this group, Bacon's zest for poetry was expressed in the variety of poetry he set in several musically eclectic styles. Those with texts by Millay, Whitman, Lenau, and Goethe reflect his European student days and his admiration for Schubert and Wolf lieder.

"Ecclesiastes," a cantata for soloists, chorus, and orchestra written in 1930, made a strong impact, with the absence of pauses between each of the three parts intensifying the dramatic movement. Chester Patton was outstanding, singing powerfully and expressively in a full, dark bass. He successfully projected the familiar wisdoms of this great text: "The book is a series of observations and reflections by 'one who preaches.'"

Dronker's soprano sailed over the orchestra and was particularly effective in "There be three things too wonderful for me," introduced by a lovely oboe solo played by Helen C. Boucher. The chorus writing often was in unison as in the New England church tradition, as well as in parts. The influence of Brecht and Weill's "Three Penny Opera" was present in a dynamic chorus number in which each verse ended with "Give! Give! Give!" The choral fugue that closed the piece employed all performers in a dramatic finish. The text "And further, by these, my son, be admonished: Of making many books There is no end; And much study is a weariness of the flesh," echos Bacon's words written about himself: "My credentials are in part a lingering amateurism; that is to say, a love that resists too much learning. I have always avoided acquiring more erudition than was necessary...." (In "Notes on the Piano," 1963.)

Conductor Marika Kuzma was completely in control of her forces and very sensitive to the demands of the music. Congratulations are in order for presentation of a concert of this quality and high performance standards and for reminding those of us who knew Ernst Bacon the philosopher, poet, painter, conductor, as well as composer, how powerful his music is today.

(Margot Blum Schevill is a mezzo-soprano and a former Merolina, now a writer, who sang with the San Francisco Opera and for 15 years with the New Music Ensemble of Providence, Rhode Island.)

©1998 Margot Blum Schevill, all rights reserved