wmm. mm Class Book. i\a.Jb CDi!^'iig!itN"__l_54J COPXRiGifr DEPosm V THE WILL OF SONG WORKS BY PERCY MACKAYE PLAYS The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy. Jeanne d'Arc. A Tragedy. Sappho and Phaon. A Tragedy. Fenris, the Wolf. A Tragedy. A Garland to Sylvia. A Dramatic Reverie. The Scarecrow. A Tragedy of the Ludicrous. Yankee Fantasies. Five One-Act Plays. Mater. An American Study in Comedy. Anti-Matrimony. A Satirical Comedy. To-MoRROW. A Play in Three Acts. A Thousand Years Ago. A Romance of the Orient. Washington. A Ballad Play. COMMUNITY DRAMAS Caliban. A Community Masque. Saint Louis. A Civic Masque. Sanctuary. A Bird Masque. The New Citizenship. A Civic Ritual. The Evergreen Tree. A Christmas Masque, The Roll Call. A Masque of the Red Cross. The Will of Song (with Harry Barnhart). OPERAS Sinbad, the Sailor. A Fantasy. The Immigrants. A Tragedy. The Canterbury Pilgrims. A Comedy. Rip Van Winkle. A Legend. POEMS The Sistine Eve, and Other Poems. Uriel, and Other Poems. Lincoln. A Centenary Ode. The Present Hour. Poems of War and Peace. Poems and Plays. In Two Volumes. ESSAYS The Playhouse and the Play. The Civic Theatre. A Substitute for War. Community Drama. An Interpretation. ALSO {As Editor) The Canterbury Tales. A Modern Rendering into Prose. The Modern Reader's Chaucer (with Professor J. S. P. Tatlock). AT ALL BOOKSELLERS THE WILL OF SONG A Dramatic Service of Community Singing DEVISED IN COOPERATION WITH HARRY BARNHART BY PERCY MACKAYE For Use as a Two Days' Song Festival in Two Parts PART I: SOUL OF EARTH PART II: SOUL OF LIGHT Cover Design by Claude Bragdon BONI AND LIVERIGHT New York 1919 Copyright, 19 19, by Percy MacKaye and Harry Barnhart All Rights Reserved No performance of this work may be given without first obtaining permission to do so. Those desiring to obtain such permission should communicate with the Director of **The Will of Song/' New York Community Chorus, 130 East 22d Street, New York City, ^:13 ©Cf.A536356 DEDICATION The Garden of Song lay in the torpid landscape High walled about, trim-shorn, Shut away from the raucous wilds of a blatant America. An old exotic ivy gloomed on the gate-way Forbidding to little children and light-hearted old folks Who paused as they passed, to look in Where long-trodden paths were lined with respectable hedge- rows, Intricate, ornate, established, Geometric, escarped with rococo, Well watered by new rubber hose And graced by the well-painted motto: "Keep off the grass." The walls of the Garden of Song were edged with sharp glass To keep shrill gamins from climbing over and shouting To disturb the Elite in their highly professional practice; For beyond the walls, the landscape Lay parching with niggardly drought, SuUen, sordid, mujffled by monstrous machines, Except where, scrambling out of the cinders of coal-pits, Or deep from the city's canyons. The squealing merry-go-rounds and braying music halls Blazoned electric midjoiight and morbid noonday. The Garden of Song lay in the parching landscape Well walled and watered, sufficient unto its own. Till a puff of wind, a wind from the wide horizon, Blew out of the west Roughening the well-shorn hedgerows, Rumbling with low, far thunder. V DEDICATION But the walled-in Elite, absorbed in professional practice, Did not listen as yet to the murmuring heart of America Borne on the wind, for their bustling committees were busy Escorting from over-sea the ever-arriving MaestroSj Lodging them in gilded loggias To inculcate their systems — the illustrious Basso — Soprano — Tenor — ed — A Uo, So, in meticulous worship. They pursued undisturbed their highly professional practice, Till a gust of wind once more, and a cloud of the whirlwind, Crispened the torpid air. And the west sky darkened. And the ominous heart of America Murmured again more loud. And the first pelt drops came pattering Brisk on the pate of the tallest Maestro Who paused in his teaching, to put his professional hat on. And cried out: "Disciples, The weather is changing : I think we should raise our umbrellas ! " Then the thunder burst and the pouring tempest Loosed in the long-parched land a dormant fecundity Terrible in vigor. Beautiful with burgeoning desire; And there came — with a rushing together Of winds and of whirlwinds — With a cry of youth — a yearning, articulate, Harmonious clamor. Clamor unchained from the song-proud heart of a people — There came, on a cloud of fire, A Spirit — a Soul enormous, impassioned, serene, Chanting aloud from the whirlwind: "Sing! Sing! Let us sing! For our Lord is Song! Sing! Let us sing! For the life of the world — The love which begetteth our life, our Lord is Song! Our Lord, who leadeth us, is the heart of a child Which singeth aloud for joy of his being alive. For joy of his being together with all who live. Our Lord is He who maketh the desolate places Musical with rushing of waters, mingling together. vi DEDICATION Our Lord is He who shepherdeth all who are lonely, Yea, as a flock he maketh his millions one. Sing unto Him! Let us sing! For our Lord is Song! " Then a hush: and against the fiery heart of the cloud, The Spirit's shadow shone forth, stretching outward his arms, Enormous, impassioned, serene: Cave-man, he loomed, and Christ — stretching outward his arms, One moment husht — then made his choral sign: Instant, a sudden simlighit flooded the world; The pouring tempest was still'd; Beneath him the walls of the Garden of Song were revealed Rended, and widened, even unto the hills Of the wild horizon; And outward, upward, everywhere from the earth, Sprang from the cinders of coal-pits, Gleamed in the canyons of cities. Bloomed from the niggard, parching places of drought, Wild flowers — ^wild flowers ! Varied, unstinted, prolific — Till even the long-trodden paths, the respectable hedgerows, The trimmed, exotic shapes of the Garden were tangled With infinite native blooms Nested with choiring birds; And from them — even as a myriad fragrances of sound — Rose, to the mighty choral sign of the Spirit, Hearts, hearts of America, chanting in communion: ''Our Lord is He who maketh the desolate places Musical with rushing of waters, mingling together. Sing! Sing! Let us sing! For our Lord is Song!" vu CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY PASS Dedication v Prefaces I. Harry Barnhart to Percy MacKaye xi II. Percy MacKaye to Harry Barnhart xiii Dramatis Personje xxii Time aito Place xxiii Ground Plan of Setting xxiv Elevation View of Setting xxvi TEXT OP ''THE WILL OF SONG" Prelude i ACTION I. "Ourselves" 3 II. "Voices of the World" 8 III. "Hunger and Bread OF Life" .... 12 IV. "NoMoRE Will I Be Afraid" .... 14 V. Spring 17 VI. " O, I Will Chant Me a Happy Prayer " . 19 VII. Play 22 Vni. "Bread OF Life Has Quickened Me" . 24 IX. Song 27 Finale 28 Ix CONTENTS PART II PAGE Prelude 31 ACTION I. "We Grope Apart: Who Shall Unite Us?" 33 II. Imagination 36 III. "And God Said: *Let There be Light'" 37 IV. "The Creation" (Part I) 40 V. " Mine and Thine are Mingled in Ours " 41 VI. "Nearer TO Thee" 44 VII. Soul of Light 45 VIII. "And Man Became A Living Soul" . . 47 IX. "The Creation" (Parts II & III) ... 49 X. "And There Was Light" 50 Finale 52 APPENDIX Musical Program and Notes 55 By Harry Barnhart Setting for Production 60 By Irving Pichel Program of the Orange Production 62 Program of the Buffalo Production 67 PREFACES I: Harry Barnhart to Percy MacKaye Dear Percy: When I came to you with my outline and general plans for a two days' spring festival, it was the call of a great thing which had come out of the heart of the people in the Oranges of New Jersey and Buffalo, N. Y., where there has developed a won- derful community festival spirit, highly creative in character, through the constant regular weekly rehearsal and '^ sings'' of the Community Choruses for the past three seasons, the year round, indoors and out of doors. A true yearning of the people of this kind is always satisfied, and it is the singing of the people, done in the proper way, that calls forth this lofty, creative impulse as nothing else can. This im- pulse is for an expression of a consciousness already awakened for neighborliness, friendliness, brother- liness, confidence in each other, a lifting of the soul that it may touch the higher spirits, making this consciousness tangible and within the practical grasp of everybody. The singing of the people seems to get at the soul of things and calls forth their higher will, which gives us the conception of ^'Soul of Earth," *'Soul of Light," '^The Will of Song," and those other eternal, metaphysical characters. People love to talk to their own souls because in this way we are led by our higher selves, through the em- xi PREFACE: I ployment of song and music, dance and play, color and light and all those wonderful things that are within our grasp, to make and develop a new fes- tival of the people. Then it is the yearning of the people that has created it. The poet, the musician, the leader, the mechanic, the contributor of money, the workers, all become, in this way, such glorified creators! The people asked the poet to speak, and you in a few days came forth with a great, new creative community drama called ^*The Will of Song." Within a fortnight in May, it had been produced by the Community Choruses of the Oranges and Buffalo, before great crowds, fifteen hundred people taking part in each place. Its effect was much like the parable of the loaves and fishes. The multitude came hungry, there was ample for all, and the people went away satis- fied with abundance to spare. The people are tired of arguing about and resur- recting the past. They are eager to chant the new laws of the future, and to sing the songs of a true brotherhood. In ''The Will of Song,'^ I feel that we have ac- cumulated and put into tangible expression, and released to the people, some of the most funda- mental principles of the socializing of man. The contribution can well be reckoned with as being of vital importance in determining the quality of the new social order that is fast coming upon us. It is not for us to feel, or allow others to feel, that we are the inspired artists, but rather to realize that it has been our humble privilege to serve the people, who themselves have been the creators, xii PREFACE: H Out of long years of humbly serving the people, and inspiring them in song, has come this most beautiful dramatic service through song. I am grateful for your splendid cooperation, and to all of the Community Choruses, and to those who have had faith in me as a student and leader in this^movement. Your friend and co-worker. /^,5?:44/«X^ II: Percy MacKaye to Harry Barnhart Dear Harry: Your work and my work have been moving towards one goal, since long before either of us was born. So it is not strange that, after some years of separate groping for each other, you and I should now join hands in a common creative task. But first there was considerable groping, Harry, and considerable wrestling of the spirit! Do you remember that night, a year ago last autumn, the little table in a corner of a New York restaurant (in Eighth Street, was it?) — how you and Arthur Farwell and I sat there together into the small hours, and grappled with an elusive Idea? That Idea — hard to lay hold on with words — rose up amidst us, astral, naked and calm as the ghost of an oriental wrestler, oiled with the oint- xiii PREFACE: II ments of Buddha, and — with thrusts of imperturb- able jiu jitsu — kept our combative Yankee intel- ligences staggered and sprawling apart? How are art and social service to be reconciled? How the devil (in Yankee '^doxology'') can Community Singing be dramatized? How shall the Hermit Soul of an individual poet give valid, spontaneous expression to the Com- munal Soul of assembled multitudes? Can Inspiration be organized and rehearsed? How may the surging Tides of Man be sluiced in Conduits of Art, without losing their primal glory and momentum? So, with his ticklish question points, the deft Wrestler dug our metaphysical ribs, and we winced — but with no grimace of laughter then. No; that night for us there was serious business at hand. For all this soul searching sprang from a serious alternative: Were we three co-workers for a community ideal to join together in a new, imminent adventure, or were we to work apart? The new adventure was the proposed production of a masque of community singing, ^*The Evergreen Tree,'' which I had recently written, and for which Arthur Farwell had just finished composing the music. Each one of us had dedicated himself to serve community song; but Arthur and I were artists who must needs go apart separately (her- mits on the country hills, forsooth!) to soliloquize forms of expression for the seething hearts and souls of multitudes, caged chiefly in swarming cities: whereas you, Harry, — you were (and are) an artist so constantly, so intimately in touch with the very well-springs of all community art — the xiv PREFACE: II presence of the people themselves convened for expression — that you, as Chorus Leader, conjuring the inmost spirit of Spontaneity at every moment, have naturally enough seemed to yourself less con- cerned with evolving processes of an art than with testifying to processes of a miracle. So it was no wonder — that hour before dawn, as we rose from our little table in the restaurant, — that you wrung our hands and parted with Arthur and me, saying — in the metaphors of affection: " Get ye behind me, sons of Sathanas! I go my ways: go yours — and a merciful God along with you! Go your way, Arthur Farwell, apart to your composer's study! Go your path, Percy Mac- Kaye, to whatsoever place whence you summon the disciples of Drama and Lighting and Dance and Pageantry, to clothe the Great Unseen of Song in visual symbols. Not for mine! The Great Unseen Itself, with workaday pants and no pedestal — that's good enough for Harry. You're all right, boys, but I'm right. So the top o' the morning to you!" And the morning came up, grayly. That was about a year and a half ago. You can imagine, then, how I felt — only a few weeks ago — when I heard the knocker of the little stable-house in East Seventeenth Street bang with brass thunder, heard your voice in the hall and the vigor of your step on the stair, and saw you looming there in my doorway, sharpening your eyes with laughter. Before you spoke, I felt what had happened: You had joined my path by your own path, not by a cross-cut. The Great Unseen, that held us XV PREFACE: II both by the hand, had led us — by separate experi- ences — together. Your choruses in the Oranges and Buffalo were in need of a dramatic festival, to fulfil their expand- ing growth of expression in Community Singing. You brought me a rough outline of ideas for such a festival, born of your experience in common with the singers you were leading. You brought me also your own and the singers' invitation to evolve from your sketch-outline some form of dramatic ritual, appropriate to-day for those spon- taneous beginnings of an art of to-morrow. Would I do it? Could anything prevent me, my dear Harry! At the time, I was under very great pressure of other work, but that night I began the '^Will of Song.'' The results, so far as such results can be put in type, are published here: but how can such things, however unpretentious, be printed? All poetry is meagre apart from the voice that should chant it; the voice that may chant it is meagre devoid of the soul that imagines it. Then how much more so, when this soul is multiple, and not only multiple voices but manifold visualizing must be focused and harmonized through a co- operation which can be conjured only by spell of an inspired leadership like your own! These considerations are important to more than the reader of this book: they are important to all social workers who may fancy, merely by organizing the outward forms and facilities of community art, that the art itself can thereby be galvanized into being. You have been always right, Harry, a thousand xvi PREFACE: II times right, in believing (and acting on your belief) that only a primal spontaneity can ever constitute the abiding cornerstone of community art — in song, or drama, or their union. No sounding labels, no superimposed financierings, for ** Com- munity Singing,'' '^ Community Drama," Commu- nity Theatres, '' can ever be substitutes (may indeed be only obstructions) for those urgings of the people's hearts which cry out for impassioned utterance of their joy and sorrow and beauty. In these printed pages, then, are concealed, more than revealed (entirely revealed only for those who can participate in remembrance or imagina- tion) those opportunities for the spontaneous out- pourings of popular aspiration in song, indicated here in the recurrent, structural portions of this work marked by printed directions to the effect: **Here the people take part in community singing." In this regard *^The Will of Song" is, I believe, the first work in its field to utilize the untrained singing of the people as a structural part of its artistry. For the first time, also, in this work appears (for the trained participants) an experimental invention which I do not hesitate to believe is the most im- portant modern contribution to communal dra- matic art, in its potentiality for future develop- ment. This invention, the Group Person, I had been groping toward in earlier experiments of my masques, but not until I sought to solve the prob- lems inherent in this dramatizing of community song, did its necessity and form stand out clear and apparent. xvii PREFACE : H The necessity was for, evolving communal (no longer individual) Dramatis Personae for communal drama; the form essential to this end was one involving sculptural grouping for the eye, choral chanting for the ear, and scenic position of the resulting Group Person, whence sound and vis- ibility would radiate in all directions to the as- sembled people, who should be ^^ audience,'* in the old sense, no longer, but all participating artists. Here in this work, of course, I have done no more than to contribute this Group Person in its earliest stage of development, wherein this '^Dra- matic Service" can hardly be said to have passed from ritual into the realm of real drama. At its first performance in Orange, New Jersey, Irving Pichel — that most gaily serene and resource- ful genius of all work — directed the scenic produc- tion, acted the part of Will, and rehearsed the chanters of the Group Persons; and Robert Ed- mond Jones, who had designed the gleaming oil- cloth costumes for their overhead lighting, was present with me among the gathered people. At the end, as we parted in the crowd, I questioned him: ''Well, Bobby?" And he nodded enthu- siastically: "All right! — Crude now, of course, but a splendid beginning. By all means the most important experiment so far, for our theatre that's coming." Ages ago, in Greece, when ^schylus first evolved his Dramatis Personae from choral dancers, he evolved individual actors, and from those begin- nings there has developed, by increasing stages, from those communal beginnings, the drama of Individualism through centuries down to Ibsen and our time. xviii PREFACE: H Now, in the world revolution of our own age, when ages of Individualism appear to be molten in the furnace of a new evolving order, the begin- nings of a fresh communal art are apparent in the living growth of *^ Community Singing," which everywhere amongst us is bursting into flower. And now, from community singing, as it ripens slowly into dramatic forms, I seem to see — in this evolving form of the Group Person — the beginnings of a new Drama, which will develop from its com- munal elements — not such individual forms as first sprang from the experiment of ^schylus, but communal forms (appropriate to those communal elements) as infinitely varied and changing as the magic crystal shapes that combine and coalesce in a child's kaleidoscope. And these geometric group-forms, which shall take on prismatic fires of color for the eye, shall be choral with fugues of chanted poetry for the ear. Already the tested chanting of the Group Per- sons in the productions of " The Will of Song " at the Oranges and Buffalo has led to plans of ours for a proposed new experiment in connection with your *^ Sings" in Central Park, New York, this summer. There thousands of people will gather weekly to sing out of doors^at night under}your leadership, as in former seasons they have taken part in the "Song and Light" festivals devised by you and Claude Bragdon. Now the time appears ripe to test there — on a large, informal, outdoor scale — the chanting of poetry by the people in choral speech, as a further development of group-expression related to their choral singing. xix PREFACE: II By such means, opportunity may be given for the people and the poets to come into direct dy- namic touch, with no mediation of the printed page, and so test and develop their mutual relationship: — To the poet may be revealed new criteria of his own powers, by the need for composing '* chan- ties" (in a new, community land-sense of that old sea-word) which may fulfil, through rhythmic speech, such simple needs of the heart as *'My Old Kentucky Home" and '*01d Black Joe" fulfil through song. — To the people may be revealed an unaccustomed sense that the poet is, after all, no recluse of the library, but the boon-comrade and interpreter of their own festival hours of outdoor liberation. The ''Canticles" of Witter Bynner, which were chanted under his direction in the Greek Theatre at Berkeley, California, are beautiful precedents in this field. The chants by the people of Walt Whitman's poems, with which we are hoping to inaugurate your ''Community Sings" in Central Park this summer, may well prove to be the most significant tribute, in his centenary year, to our country's prophet, who wrote half a century ago: "I hear America singing." These great and real potentialities deserve great critics to detect and illumine them for the people. But where shall we find great critics in this com- munity field? Sensitive minds and hearts, alive to these pro- phetic meanings — yes, those you have found in the membership of your choruses, and I have found among very humble participants in my masques. XX PREFACE: II Yet what they sense so surely they are seldom able to express coherently. Will it sometime be otherwise? And from those thousands, who are now taking part in creat- ing community art, will ere long its valid critics arise and interpret its lovely parables to the multitude? However this may be (and I believe it will be) that was a happy day for the people of our country when you, some years ago, made it your will, and set aside all personal considerations to the end, that America should become a singing nation. Since then, thousands of anonymous disciples and co- workers have spread fire from the torch your will kindled, till now Singing rises like a conflagration from all these States, and sweeps beyond them overseas. The question now is no longer whether our masses shall become vocal in song, but whether our mass singing itself shall become choral with deeper harmonies of the spirit, and so move onward to the attainment of organic freedom through nobler structures of art. In this larger adventure you still are prophet and pioneer; and I count it a very happy privilege to be your team-fellow in our present task of making a modest start. For the privilege is one larger even than large personal friendship, as I have sought to suggest in some lines — which I wrote for you, two years ago — placed now at the front of this book, in dedica- tion both to you and to our common goal. Yours always, New York: 12 June, iQ^Q* zxi DRAMATIS PERSONS PART I "SOUL OF EARTH'' INDIVIDUAL PERSONS WILL, Chanter SOUL OF EARTH, Mute Presence SPRING, Dancer PLAY, Dancer SONG, Singer GROUP PERSONS LOVE Chanters: Men, Women and Children JOY Chanters: Men, Women and Children LIBERTY Chanters: Men, Women and Children PARTICIPATING GROUPS CHILD-EMISSARIES (Of Soul of Earth) CHILDREN OF EARTH (The Chorus) PEOPLES OF EARTH (By Nationalities) SPIRITS OF SPRING (In Dance) SPIRITS OF PLAY (In Dance) SPIRITS OF SONG (In Processional) PART II "SOUL OF LIGHT" INDIVIDUAL PERSONS WILL, Chanter SOUL OF LIGHT, Mute Presence IMAGINATION, Dancer xxii DRAMATIS PERSONS IN HAYDN'S ''CREATION'' GABRIEL URIEL RAPHAEL ADAM EVE GROUP PERSON BROTHERHOOD Chanters: Men, Women and Children PARTICIPATING GROUPS CHILDREN OF LIGHT (The Chorus) SPIRITS OF IMAGINATION (In Dance) TIME AND PLACE The Time is that of any community singing of the people, gathered together at night. The Place is the assembly place of such singing, out of doors or indoors, though this Service was devised primarily for use indoors, as it was written for the direct demands of the Community Choruses of Orange, N. J., and Buffalo, N. Y., assembled in Armories of those cities. Accordingly, the setting should be arranged in the manner indicated by Mr. Irving Pichel, in his note on '^ Setting for Production'' in the i\ppendix of this volume. In this setting, the trained Community Chorus — in simple overslip costumes of bronze-green (for Part I), or blue (for Part II) — are seated on their raised Arc of Seats in full view (when the light is on them), forming a background of color for the plastic figures and dancers on the stage. xxiii O H C/3 O) H o O -5.1 THE WILL OF SONG PART I SOUL OF EARTH NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC No performance of this work may be given without first obtaining permission to do so. Those desiring to obtain such permission should communicate with the Director of "The Will of Song," New York Community Chorus, 130 East 226. Street, New York City. / TT ly K t SOUL OF EARTH Prelude THE festival begins with a usual "Community Sing/' The People of the Community, but not yet the Trained Chorus, are assembled and seated. Appearing and standing by the Central Seat, the LEADER OF THE CHORUS leads the People in singing "America," and other familiar songs. So for several minutes they continue to sing together. First Action ("Ourselves") AS the final song of the Prelude ceases, the assem- bly hall grows suddenly dark, and the Dark- ^ NESS is filled with fanfare of blowing Trumpets. And now, taking up the trumpets' refrain, the Orchestra plays an elemental music, suggestive of rain, wind, thunder and the rushing of waters; from behind the raised Central Seat, great Flashes of Fire spout upward, and while they are flaring, there rises — in the place where the Chorus leader was standing — a FLAME-GOLD FIGURE in a cone of Hght, who calls with deep, vibrant voice: THE FIGURE Who has risen up from the heart of the people? (Instantaneous, from three portions of the assembly — at left, right and back center— the VOICES OF THREE GROUPS Men, Women and Children — answer from the dark in triple unison.) THE VOICES I! THE FIGURE And who are ye that cry out with one answer? 3 THE WILL OF SONG You! THE VOICES (Together, as before) THE FIGURE And who am I that am risen of your asking? THE VOICES Ourselves! THE FIGURE Ourselves, the people: ourselves, the soul of tempest, The center of silence, the seed of flame in the ashes, Ourselves, the will of the world, are risen in Song — In Song and the chanting Word. THE VOICES Sing to us, Spirit! WILL Out of yourselves I sing. THE VOICES Strengthen us, we pray! WILL Only in that prayer I am strong, and out of your weakness I am risen to serve you in strength. For you were dumb, 4 SOUL OF EARTH And I was your oracle; for you were blind, And I was your torch of vision; for you were buried Even as the dead entombed, but I — your seraphi — I rolled back the stone from the door of your breast, and you Went forth to morning and to resurrection. Yea, Even we ourselves went forth, for you, the dumb And blind, rebelled from your own darkness, And we went forth together. THE VOICES Together, Spirit, WILL I am the Door of Light. Lead us in light! Lead us in song! Teach us thy law! THE VOICES WILL I am the Will of Song. THE VOICES WILL Only the loving can learn it, And only the meek administer. Mine is the law No tablet of stone can record, nor hand of steel enforce. 5 THE WILL OF SONG For the words of my law are written as on tablets of wax, As a cidld's warm breath on the cold window-pane, For so shall their beauty endure, like the splendor of frost Commingling with frostbeam and sunlight and rainbow forever. THE VOICES FROM TEE LEFT But the frost melts. FROM TEE RIGET Breath fades away. FROM TEE CENTER How shall the changing endure? WILL The unchanging is death. My law is the rhythm of life, The communion of change. For of us they only shall live Who are born again, and we who are born of Song Inherit eternal life. On rhythmic tides Surging eternal choral harmonies, With pillars of choiring hymn and fugue, we build Our temple of the Covenant of Peace. THE VOICES (All, together) Peace! — Peace! — O where is Peace on Earth? 6 SOUL OF EARTH WILL Peace lives Not on the iron shell, but in the soul — In Soul of Earth, mother of immortal change. Her pulsing heart is Peace. She only can Communicate the common life of all That nurtures Love and Joy and Liberty. THE VOICES Reveal her! Call her! WILL Soul of Earth, arise! Second Action ("Voices of the World") BELOW the Figure of WILL, at the foot of the raised Central Seat, rises now from beneath — to Orchestral Music— SOUL OF EARTH, a noble female form, majestically maternal, clad in head- dress and robe of bronze-green and golden-brown and coppery gold. Beside her nestle THREE CHILDREN, her Emis- sary Spirits. Standing at center, by a gesture she sends them forth from her. To right, left and back, they dart away and come returning with hundreds more — groups of the CHILDREN OF EARTH, clothed severally in the colors of Soul of Earth. These-^Groups, comprising the entire Trained Chorus (except those who enter, with Song, in the Ninth Action), pass upward to the raised Arc of Seats, where they take their permanent places. Now, when they are gathered, suddenly — flaming out of the midst of the seated Spectators, at points of a great Triangle, left, center and right — appear, for the first time, the three GROUP-PERSONS— LOVE, JOY and LIBERTY— whose Voices till now have called from the darkness. Now — like waves of color rising from the dusk level of seated People — they appear momentarily: Love, at left — a living pyre of Figures, all in glowing bronze; Joy, at right — all of silver; Liberty, at center — all of 8 SOUL OF EARTH gold; the Apex-Figure of each bearing the distinctive Symbol of the Group-Person. Together — with mingled voices of Men, Women AND Children — the Three call aloud from the People, in chanting unison. THE THREE GROUP-PERSONS Soul of Earth, Soul of Earth, hail! We are the yearnings of Man. Out of the dark we rise, we call! Soul of Earth, Soul of Earth, hear us! wn.L Silent is Soul of Earth, Yet heareth all things; Mute are her lips. But mine utter the cry of her silence. THE THREE What is the cry of her silence? WILL Out of all sundered lands, Out of all wastes of pain, This is her cry — the cry of her dumbness : Peoples, — my peoples, — peace ! Come to me, O my peoples, and be one! (The blowing of muffled Bugles is heard, followed by the low hoarse murmuring of many Voices. During this, Soul of Earth takes her place on the low central dais — a seated Figure, pensive in shadowed relief against the 9 THE WILL OF SONG pedestal on which — ^by the Central Seat — ^Will is standing above her. Beside her, on the ground, the three Child-Emissaries are grouped. And now — ^revealed or concealed as they speak or are silent — successively the Three Group-Persons chant, in unison, one to another.) LIBERTY (At center) Hearken, Love! What murmurs are rising? LOVE (At left) Voices of the World ! Joy, do you hear them? JOY (At right) I hear them! LIBERTY What name are they calling? JOY Your own! Liberty! Liberty! Liberty! — Answer! LIBERTY Together let us call them. 10 SOUL OF EARTH LOVE, JOY AND LIBERTY (Together) Peoples of All-lands, Soul of Earth summons you! Come together! WILL Peoples of Earth, II Third Action ("Hunger and Bread of Life") A MID Murmur of their own Voices, the PEOPLES /A OF EARTH, in costumes of many NationaHties, -^ -^ now enter in Groups the place of the stage. Each Group utters aloud one word — the word Liberty in its own language. In pantomime, the Groups show toward one another their mutual fear, wonder, or suspicion, and begin to fall into panic. LIBERTY My name they speak; Yet are they troubled. WILL Many tongues they speak. But share no common understanding; Assembled, yet are they sundered. LOVE I am afraid for them. LIBERTY Their hearts are breaking. 12 SOUL OF EARTH JOY Have they no bond in common? wn.L Be not afraid. One simple bond they share — one common hunger Which Soul of Earth shall satisfy; For breaking hearts are healed with broken bread When soul is the sharer. — ^Peace to you, O my Peoples! Receive from Soul of Earth your daily bread, And you, all Children of Earth, sing — sing as one! By her gesture, Soul of Earth sends forth again her Child- Emissaries, who fetch Baskets of Bread and distribute them among the Peoples or Earth. These break of the bread, sharing it, and — expressing by their pantomime a new, happy understanding in common — ^group themselves at right and left, on the raised platforms of the stage. During this, at the words of Will ["Sing! Sing as one!"] ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE have burst into COMMUNITY SINGING [led by the Chorus Leader, from his lower leading stand, at center] and have joined together in the hymn: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coining of the Lord.'' 13 A Fourth Action ("No more will I be afraid") S their singing ceases, Will raises his voice again in chanting speech. WILL Peoples of Earth, now has the first foundation Been laid for our temple! Now have we mortised together — Of bread and song — the cornerstone of our Peace: For bread of life is the beginning of brotherhood. And sharing of bread commences the communion of Song. Who, then, of us all, shall give pledge to Soul of Earth To build — upon this beginning — a new world? LOVE Soul of Earth— Soul of Earth— I! JOY And I! LIBERTY Yea, and I! 14 SOUL OF EARTH WILL Hail Love, and Joy, and Liberty— you three! Soul of Earth hears and welcomes you with my will. Speak, Love 1— What is your vow to Soul of Earth? LOVE No more will I he afraid, ^tt O, nevermore will I fear! WILL What will you fear no more? LOVE The new world to be bom, The birth of the Hfe to be— Women Now will I fear no more. AU WILL But how shall that world be born? LOVE Symbol In pain and the winter's waste, Bearer Out of the darkness' womb; Yet will I not he afraid! IS THE WILL OF SONG Men Though I hear the roar of glaciers moaning, The burst of ice-chains, and the awful Wind of the avalanche — Children Y^t 710 fuore wUl I he afraid^ Men Oy nevermore will I fear, WILL But why has your fear departed? LOVE Bearer " I have touched my lips to the bread of life, Men I have bowed my soul to thy will, Song, ^sJ^rgi' And thine is the law of rhythmic life, Women And thy law henceforth is my law. All And our law shall give the new world birth. Children Therefore will I not he afraid, All 0, nevermore will I fear: Men For mine is the moaning in darkness, Wornen Mine — ^mine is the bursting of chains. Children And Spring— Spring— Spruig— Spring— All Spring of the world — is mine! WILL Spring of the world, appear! i6 FIFTH ACTION (Spring) FROM beside Soul of Earth, the First Child- Emissary starts momentarily away toward the left entrance, and ushers there the gold-green form of SPRING, who comes forward in the midst of her attendant Dancing Spirits, as Will calls again, from his high place: WILL Spring, you have heard the call of Love. You are her pledge of Peace to Soul of Earth, Of Peace, that comes on wings of homing birds To fill all hearts with song — as we sing now! (While now the Spirits of Spring take their places by Soul of Earth, ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE raise their voices in COMMUNITY SINGING, led by the Chorus Leader. At conclusion of their singing, Will speaks again.) WILL Now, Spring, let these your fairy pupils' feet Be rhythmic to my will, 17 THE WILL OF SONG And you, all Spirits of Earth and Spring, let gush The fountains of your voices to their footfalls. (In response, Spring assembles her Group of DANCING SPIRITS at center, where — ^before the seated form of Soul OF Earth — they perform a DANCE in rhythm to the Trained Voices of the Costumed Chorus, who break now into song from their Arc of Seats in the back- ground. At ceasing of this Choral Dance and Song, Spring and her Dancers retire to the stage background and group them- selves there in gracious postures of quiet.) i8 R SIXTH ACTION ("O, I will chant me a happy prayer") ISING, Will stands a moment in silence, then speaks wonderingly. WILL A sound — a sound, far off! (Beginning very low — ^in darkness, which changes gradually through dimness to glowing radiance — the Group-Person JOY quivers with light and sound.) Deep down — I hear it — a murmur: (He listens again; the Murmuring grows more distinct.) Up — up, from dusk of my heart, A silvery sound, I see it rising — Joy, joy of my people! (The murmurous Sound is now audible as the Clapping of Hands, where — wavelike, out of the people — the Group- Person JOY glows and pulses with its rays of outreached arms, striking the palms of its hands in measure to the rhythmic chant of its multiple voice.) 19 THE WILL OF SONG Symbol- Bearer Children Symbol- Bearer Children Men y Women Children All All Symbol- Bearer Children AU JOY O, I will chant me a happy prayer: Clap, clap, hands of my heart! O, I will be glad that earth is so fair; Clap, clap, palms of my joy! That the Peoples of Earth have broken Their shared bread while they sing, And the Children of Earth have danced in token Of Spring, the wonder of Spring — Clap, clap, palms of my joy. Hands, hands of my heart! WILL Joy, my Joy, is it you? JOY 'Tis you and I — you and I. WILL And what is your pledge, my Joy, — Your pledge to Soul of Earth? JOY The pledge of joy is prayer, And the hands I clasp in praying I clap, clap, clap in the air To the rhythm my heart is obeying. WILL But why have you risen, like a wave From the sea of my people's sorrows? 20 \ SOUL OF EARTH JOY I am the life from below the grave, b^ut The to-day of all to-morrows. ah WILL And what is the pledge of peace You bring to a world new born? JOY Symhol' I start where the dead worlds cease, Bearer I flower in the mildewed com. Women Symbol- And this is the pledge of peace I bring: Bearer Clap, clap, hands of my heart! Children . . Men y That the prayer of joy is m every thmg; Women Clap, clap, palms of my joy! Children Symbol' And the sundered hearts that labor Bearer And weary of workaday Men Are joined anew with neighbor and neighbor Women In play — the wonder of play: All Clap, clap, palms of my joy. Children Hands, hands of my heart! All WILL Clap, clap, O Children of Earth, Till Play to Joy shall come forth! 21 SEVENTH ACTION (Hay) AT the words of Will, all the Chorus from their r\ Arc of Seats break into Clapping of Hands, while Soul of Earth, rising, sends forth her Second Child-Emissary, who runs to the entrance and ushers there the joyous Figure of PLAY, attended by her Dance Spirits. With their appearance. Will calls again: Sing, sing, O my People, For Play has come forth unto Joy! (And now, as the Clapping ceases, ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE join in COMMUNITY SINGING, led by the Chorus Leader. Then, as the Community Singing concludes, Will calls to those in the Arc of the Chorus.) WILL And now, you Spirits of Earth and Spring and Play! Tune all your throats to music-fluting reeds That Play may dance thereto her plastic games To pleasure Soul of Earth. 22 SOUL OF EARTH At this, PLAY and her DANCING GROUP, at center, per- form their DANCE to accompaniment of the Choral Voices, singing from the Arc of the Chorus. Concluding, the Dancers join the group of Spring and her Spirits in the background, as Will rises from his place and j;^ speaks once more. 23 w Eighth Action ("Bread of life has quickened me") HILE he speaks, distant Trumpets are heard pealing as from undergroiind, followed by faint sound of Voices in Choral Song. WILL What bugles call? What mufHed pealings rise Like Roman candles through the muted dark And melt in stars of morning? Ah, what voice Strikes upward like a golden spearhead flaming In the forges of sunrise? LIBERTY (Flaming in sudden gold, flashing with motion of multiple arms outreached in the Clashing of Cymbals, cries aloud:) jll Liberty! Liberty! — Mine! fT&mgn Mine are the voices of bugles! Children Mine are the stars of morning! Mgn The forges of sunrise — mine! WILL And what do your voices avow As pledges to Soul of Earth? 24 SOUL OF EARTH LIBERTY (Chanting to refrain of clashing Cymbals) Soul of Earth has girded me! Clash! — Clash! Arms, arms of my Soul! Newly armed am I Liberty: Clangy clang, my will! For Spring now raiseth my spear, Play beareth my sword, Song, Song, Song is my shield, And Will of Song is my lord. (Once more faint strains of Choral Singing are heard rising.) Symbol-Bearer {Man) Women y Children Symbol- Bearer Men Women Children Men All WILL What, then, for the new-born world Is your pledge of Peace to Earth? LIBERTY Bread of life has quickened me! Beat!— Beat! Life, life of my heart! Threefold now am I Liberty: Climb, O climb, my will! For Love is my battle goal, Joy maketh me strong, 25 Symbol-Bearer (Man) Women y Children Symbol-Bearer Men Women Children THE WILL OF SONG Men Song, Song is my beating heart, All And the heart of Peace is Song. WILL (Speaks through the uprising sound of Choral Voices) Hearken, O Soul of Earth, and lift your eyes! Song is your pledge from Liberty; and now Song, Song reveals herself to serve you. See Where she is coming. And leads her unseen choirs grown visible! 26 Ninth Action (Song) LOUDER, now, and more loud grow the Choral Voices, till soon — far down the aisle — SONG and Her Spirits appear singing, and march to rhythm of their voices toward the stage, where Soul of Earth comes forward at the center and welcomes them, as they ascend. There they kneel grouped before her, concluding their song. Rising at her gesture, they break into a new hymning and group themselves on the stage. When now they have concluded their singing, Will turns and speaks to the Chorus and to All the Assem- bled People. WILL O Children of Earth, Children of Song, my people! The order of the stars is rhythmic change. Brief are our lives; immortal is our life — Our life in common, where all selves commingle; So we in chorus are a constellation That guides our world to order and to peace. Dark is our world; but Soul of Earth shall lead us Toward Soul of Light, and bread toward brotherhood. Tomorrow Brotherhood shall clasp our hands And Soul of Light shall lead us. — Children, sing! 27 Finale A MOMENT of Darkness falls. From the darkness, BUGLES are blown. ^ In the returning light, Will and Soul of Earth are no longer visible, but in the place of Will the CHORUS LEADER, in costume of the Chorus, stands with raised baton and calls: THE CHORUS LEADER Sing, Children, all! (So, as he leads the entire Assemblage in COMMUNITY SINGING, the Trained Choral Singers disperse in ordered march from their seats in the Arc, while the risen People stand singing the final Anthem.) END OF PART I 28 PART II SOUL OF LIGHT SOUL OF LIGHT Prelude IN the Arc of raised Seats, the members of the Com- munity Chorus have assembled in the dimness. In the main body of the assembly hall, the People oe the Community are gathered and seated in full light. There the CHORUS LEADER, appearing at the raised central seat, leads them in singing: "Joy to the World'' 31 First Action ("We grope apart: who shall unite us?'*) AS the Community Singing ceases, sudden Dark- r\ NESS* fills the assembly hall, from three por- tions of which, where the People are seated, out of the dark, three chiming Bells resound — one deep, one mezzo, and one high-pealing in tone. And now the Chimes are taken up by the Orchestra, which plays music of a starry solemnity. Through these strains of music, the three Chimes sound again from the Darkness, and with them the chanting VOICES of Men, Women and Children calling in Choral Speech: THE VOICES Soul of Light! — Soul of Light! — Soul of Light! (In response to these Voices, the Orchestra plays brief strains of the elemental Music which commenced Part I, and Flashes of Fire leap upward from behind the raised central Seat, while the VOICE OF WILL resounds.) THE VOICE OF WILL Who are you that call upon Soul of Light? * During this darkness members of the Community Chorus slip on their simple over-garments of blue, which were placed on the back of their seats at the beginning. 33 THE WILL OF SONG THE VOICES (All, together) Dreamers in darkness: seekers of vision. FROM THE LEFT (Women) I am Love. FROM THE RIGHT (Children) I am Joy. FROM THE CENTER (Men) I am Liberty. VOICE OF WILL (As the flashes of fire continue) What do you seek of her light? THE VOICES The Way!— The Way! VOICE OF WILL The Way unto where? THE VOICES Unto each other: The Way Together. We grope apart. Who shall unite us? 34 SOUL OF LIGHT VOICE OF WILL Imagination! THE VOICES How shall Imagination bring us together? VOICE OF WILL Only through her is Soul of Light revealed, And Soul of Light revealeth Brotherhood. THE VOICES Brotherhood is our goal; But how may Imagination be invoked? VOICE OF WILL I am the Will of Song, and I invoke her. — Imagination, appear! 35 Second Action (Imagination) AT this call, IMAGINATION— an ethereal, Danc- ing Form — appears, to Orchestral Music, in ^ mystic light, at the center of the stage, while once more, to their Chimes, the Voices chant from the dark. THE VOICES Hail— Hail— Hail, Imagination ! (And now, through the Flames behind the Central Seat, WILL rises in gold, and is greeted by the Voices:) Hail, O Will of our wills! WILL Spirit, you who imite Dreamers in darkness: Dancer, whose motion is music. Whose voice is vision, Whose silence is the rhythm of song, — Imagination ! Invoke now, in motion and music And vision — for these now in darkness — Soul of Light! (In response to this appeal, IMAGINATION performs now, to Orchestral Music, in SOLO DANCE her Invocation of Soul of Light.) 36 Third Action C'And God said: Let there he lightr) 4 T the culmination of her Dance, in the apex of a ^Y Triangle of Radiance, SOUL OF LIGHT appears at highest center of the dim Arc of the Chorus. Below her are grouped URIEL, RAPHAEL and GABRIEL: Uriel at the middle, Raphael and Ga- briel in the right and left corners of the white Triangle of Light. Simultaneously, Imagination retires (to the place of Soul of Earth in Part I) below Will — a plastic Figure silhouetted against his pedestal — ^while Will speaks. WILL Soul of Light, lead us! THE VOICES Soul of Light! Soul of Light!— Lead us! WILL And you, ye Spirits which are The raiment of her radiance: you Three, Which are for Soul of Earth — Spring, Play and Song, For Soul of Light — ^Uriel, Gabriel, Raphael! Gather your viewless Choirs and reveal, ^7 THE WILL OF SONG To those who wait in darkness, how of old The Hght that hves in you first had creation. RAPHAEL (Chants in rhythmic speech: solo) "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; And the earth was without form and void; And darkness was upon the face of the deep.'' RAPHAEL, URIEL AND GABRIEL (Chant, likewise, together) "And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, ^Let there be light': And there was light." URIEL (Chants, solo) "And God saw the light, that it was good: And God divided the light from the darkness." RAPHAEL, URIEL AND GABRIEL (Chant, together) "A new-created world springs up at God's command." GABRIEL (Chants, solo) "The marvelous work behold amazed The glorious hierarchy of heaven." 38 SOUL OF LIGHT RAPHAEL, URIEL AND GABRIEL (Chant, together) "The heavens are telling the glory of God; The wonder of his work displays the firmament." (In sudden illumination, the full Arc of the Chorus bursts into LIGHT, revealing the Chorus, clad as the Children of Light, in their garments of Blue, while they chant in Choral Speech.) ALL THE CHORUS For God said, *'Let there be light'':— And there was light! 39 c Fourth Action ("The Creation": Part I) ONCLUDING these words of Chanted Speech, the CHORUS begins now to sing HAYDN'S "CREATION," commencing with the Solo of Raphael "In the beginnuig God created the Heaven" and concluding with the Final Chorus of Part I: "The Heavens are telling the glory of God. ' ' 40 Fifth Action ("Mine and Thine are mingled in Ours") 4 T the climax of this Music of *'The Creation/' r\ as the Chorus of Voices are ceasing, CHIMES "^ resound from the center of the Assembled People, where the three GROUP-PERSONS, con- joined now AS ONE, rise in a single Pyre of Bronze and Silver and Gold, calling in Chanted Speech: THE GROUP-PERSON (Brotherhood) Symbol-Beart, Soul of Light! Soul of Light! (Man) In song, in song you have shown us the way ! Ml RAPHAEL, URIEL AND GABRIEL (Chant, together) Hail, Brotherhood! ALL THE CHORUS (Chant) Brotherhood, hail! 41 THE WILL OF SONG BROTHERHOOD (Chants, to the pealing of Chimes) Soul of Light has released our powers: Chime! Peal in your chiming, Bells, O hells, hells. Bells of light in the darkness! Mine and Thine are mingled in Ours! Ring, ring, together, Liherty, Love, and Joy! Now unto one another, All in all, we belong: Brother unto Brother, Brother unto Brother, Children of Light, Chiming together Bells of light and of song! ALL THE CHORUS (Chant) Hail, Brotherhood! (They disappear into dimness) RAPHAEL, URIEL AND GABRIEL Brotherhood, hail! (They, too, with Soul of Light, disappear in Darkness.) 42 SOUL OF LIGHT BROTHERHOOD Where, O where, are you vanished, — Soul who mmgled us all? WILL (Rising) The rhythms of dark have banished Her Choirs beyond our call. BROTHERHOOD (Growing dim) But her shining showed us the way To a new created world. WILL By the law we all must obey Her banners of song are furled. BROTHERHOOD (Pulsing ever more dimly) i Ah me! Ah me, for Soul of Light! How shall we call and revere her? WILL Sing! Let us sing! All through our night The dawn of her soul grows nearer. 43 Sixth Action ("Nearer to Thee") I J ^ AINTLY, Orchestral Music begins to play, and ^ ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE join now in COMMUNITY SINGING of the hymn "Nearer My God to Thee.'' 44 D Seventh Action (Soul of Light) URING the last of this Community Singing, the Group-Person BROTHERHOOD glows again into sight and calls aloud to the Figure of Will. BROTHERHOOD Will of Song! Will of our song! Where dwelleth Soul of Light? WLLL In the soul of Man. BROTHERHOOD How may we invoke her there? WILL By Imagination. She once more Shall reveal her. Rise, now: move before us Once more, — Imagination! (Rising from her place at the pedestal of Will, IMAGINATION comes forward in mysterious lighting, as Will greets her.) And now, with aU your plastic Spirits, siunmon Once more in revelation — Soul of Light! 45 THE WILL OF SONG (At these words of Will, the SPIRITS OF IMAGINATION appear from all sides and, under her leadership, perform their CHORAL DANCE, at the culmination of which SOUL OF LIGHT appears once more. 46 A Eighth Action ("And Man became a living soul") S Soul of Light reappears, high at the apex of her Glowing Triangle, in which URIEL, ADAM and EVE are grouped below her, Will speaks: WILL Soul of Light! — ^Lead us still! BROTHERHOOD Soul of Light! Soul of Light! — ^Lead us! WILL And you, ye Spirits which are The body of her being, — Uriel, Adam and Eve! Reveal how your own splendor, That quickens man to brotherhood, first sprang From God, and Man became a Kving Soul. URIEL (Chants in rhythmic speech: solo) "And God created Man in His own image. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, And Man became a living Soul.'' URIEL, ADAM AND EVE (Chant, likewise, together) "Achieved is the glorious work; Our song let be the praise of God." 47 THE WILL OF SONG ADAM (Chants, solo) "Ye mighty elements, by His power Your ceaseless changes make; Ye dusky mists, and dewy steams, That rise and fall through the air — " URIEL, ADAM AND EVE (Chant, together) "Resound the praise of God, our Lord!" EVE (Chants, solo) "Ye purling fountains, tune His praise, And wave your tops, ye pines. Ye plants, exhale, ye flowers, breathe To him your balmy scent." URIEL, ADAM AND EVE (Chant, together) "Hail, boimteous Lord! Almighty, hail! Thy world called forth this wondrous frame. The heavens and earth Thy power adore." ALL THE CHORUS (Bursting from the dark into LIGHT, chant aloud) "The heavens and earth Thy power adore: We praise Thee now and evermore!" 48 c Ninth Action ("The Creation" : Parts II and III) ONCLUDING these Chanted Words, the Chorus — visible in their Costumes of Blue in the full Arc of raised seats — sings now once more HAYDN'S "CREATION," beginning with Part II and continuing, with certain omis- sions, through the final chorus: "Jehovah's praise forever shall endure. Amen." 49 Tenth Action ("And there was light!") WITH this final "Amen," the entire Chorus dis- appears in Darkness. Out of the Dark sounds again the CHIMING OF BELLS. And now, shining visible once more, BROTHER- HOOD calls aloud from the midst of the People. Symbol- Beaur Women Children All Symbol- Bearer Men All Men Women Symbol' Bear$r BROTHERHOOD Adam! Adam! O Man, our brother! Chime! Peal in your chiming, Bells, hells, hells. Bells of light in the darkness! Eve! Eve! Woman, our mother! Ring, ring, together Liberty, Love and Joy! Now from old chaos and pain Rises in song the New Creation; Now in Imagination Shines the First Day again; Now, as in the beginning, 50 SOUL OF LIGHT Peal, peal evermore fFomen Chimes, chimes, ChUdrm Chimes of the New Creation! ju (From behind the pedestal of Will, Fire flashes up, and Will, rising, calls:) WILL "For God said, 'Let there be light!'" Will disappears. The Fire still flashes upward. From the dimness of their Arc of Seats, ALL THE CHORUS Sing, very low: "For God said, 'Let there be light!' (Then, with bursting crescendo of sound and radiance) And there was light!" SI I FINALE NSTANTLY, the entire hall is briUiantly illumined, discovering in the place of Will — the CHORUS LEADER, who cries aloud, with raised baton: THE CHORUS LEADER "And there was light!'' Sing, — Children of Light! In response, ALL THE ASSEMBLED PEOPLE rise; and while the Costumed Chorus retire marching in song from their places, ALL stand and join in singing the final COMMUNITY HYMN END OF PART II 52 APPENDIX MUSICAL PROGRAM AND NOTES By Harry Barnhart One of the most trying questions the Community Chorus Movement has had to face is that of finding the kind and quality of music and poetry to be used. Eight hundred or a thousand people meeting regularly every week for forty or more weeks a year soon taxes the qualities and powers of a leader, and puts the music and poetry at hand to a peculiar and trying test. It is for this reason that, as I have turned to Percy MacKaye for his work as dramatic poet, I turn also for cooperation to Arthur Farwell as composer, and to all others who have, like them, social vision in their poetry and music; for it is only by welcoming fresh creative work, developed in close touch with the people, that our movement can grow to a great fruition. It is true that there is plenty of good music and poetry in libraries and stores, but, in order that people shall band them- selves together for the purpose of singing it, such work must be of prophetic vision, and filled with the warmth of the human heart that throbs with the hopes and aspirations of to-morrow. There are music and texts that have stood the test of cen- turies and are still leading us. Such music ranges from express- ing the quaint simplicities of the people's lives to the highest forms of choral and fugal harmonies. In the course of three years, in various community choruses, I have used this gradation of music and text. For the benefit of those who are interested in getting an idea of the musical setting of "The Will of Song," I have prepared the following Musical Program, giving the numbers that were used in the productions at Orange and Buffalo. These consist of Orchestral Music, Choral and Community Singing. 55 MUSICAL PROGRAM AND NOTES MUSICAL PROGRAM Part I. — Soul of Earth 1. Swedish Coronation March Svendsen 2. Community Singing America Annie Laurie Long Trail Old Folks at Home America, the Beautiful 3. Storm Music Langey 4. Prelude (Last Dream of the Virgin) . Massenet 5. Dornroschen (Suite) Tschaikowsky 6. Furioso No. 2 Langey 7. Battle Hymn of the Republic . Julia Ward Howe 8. Rustle of Spring Sinding 9. Old Kentucky Home Stephen Foster Dance f 10. a. Aubade Printaniere Paul Lacombe and j Orchestra Song [ b. Coming of Spring R, G. Cole Children II. Dixie DanEmmett Dance f 12. a. Czardas (from Ballet "Coppelia") . . Delibes and j Song [ b. Dancing by Moonlight Chopin arr. by C. D. Hare 13. Welcome, Sweet Springtime .... Rubinstein (Melody in F.) arranged for Children's Voices 14. Largo (from New World Symphony) . . . Dvorak Arranged for Children's Voices IS- Joy> Brothers, Joy Arthur Farwell 16. Come, All Ye Faithful J. Reading PROGRAM 'Part II. — Soul of Light 1. Orchestra. 2. Joy to the World. 3. Prelude (Last Dream of the Virgin) . . Massenet 56 MUSICAL PROGRAM AND NOTES 4. Furioso No. 2 Langey a. Panorama Tschaikowsky (from Dornroschen Suite) Dance 5. Isoline Ballet Messager 6. ''The Creation" Haydn To end of "Heavens Are Telling." 7. Nearer, My God, To Thee. Dance 8. Largo (From New World Symphony) , . Dvorak 9. Remainder of "The Creation." 10. Hymn: "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing." NOTES PART I PRELUDE 1 . Coronation March . Serves to get the people settled in their seats. 2. Community Singing. Produces the mood and feeling in common, appropriate to bring forth Will. ACTION ONE 3. Storm Music. Serves to bring forth the Figure of Will. 4. Massenet Prelude. Played very soft during the dialogue between Will and Groups. ACTION TWO 5. Tschaikowsky's "Dornroschen." Was very impressive. Brings forth Soul of Earth and her Spirits. ACTION THREE 6. Furioso No. 2. Was thrilling in effect as the Peoples of Earth came in. 7. Battle Hymn of the Republic. Words and music seemed to have been written for the scene while the people were breaking bread. 57 i MUSICAL PROGRAM AND NOTES ACTION FOUR 8. Rustle of Spring. (Characteristic.) Was played for the entrance o Spring and her Dancing Spirits. 9. My Old Kentucky Home. Is particularly good for community singing and serve( at this place very well, though it is not appropriate for Spring. It is interesting to note that there i not a popular joy song of the people. ACTION FIVE 10. Aubade Printaniere. The Lacombe number opened the dance and led int< the Children's Chorus "Coming of Spring." Th combination of the Children's Chorus and Orchestr; and Dancers was very wonderful in effect. ACTION SEVEN 11. Dixie. Sung by the entire assemblage. Was well fitted t< greet the Spirits of Play. 12. Czardas. From Ballet "Coppelia" with the orchestra was th first part of the dance which led into the Children' Chorus, "Dancing by Moonlight." ACTION NINE 13. Melody in F, by Rubinstein. Arranged for Children's Chorus, was sung by a larg group of Children as they proceeded from back the hall, and was taken up by the Chorus in th Arc as the Children came on the stage. 14. At the conclusion of this, at the proper moment, th trained Chorus sing an arrangement of the "Largo' from the "New World Symphony," by Dvorak. 15. At the command of Will, the Children burst into "Jo> Brothers, Joy," by Arthur Farwell,the most inspirin joy hymn of modern times. FINALE 12. O Come, All Ye Faithful. The entire assemblage rises and sings. 58 MUSICAL PROGRAM AND NOTES PART II PRELUDE 1. Orchestra as on first evening. 2. Joy to the World. The entire assemblage sings. ACTION ONE 3. Orchestral Prelude. Taken up from the chimes out of the darkness and played through the entire First Action. ACTION TWO 4. Furioso No. 2. Brings on Imagination and Will. 5. Panorama. Fourth movement of the Suite leading into the Isoline Ballet. ACTION THREE Chants. ACTION FOUR 6. "The Creation.'* To the end of "Heavens Are Telling." ACTION FIVE Chants. ACTION SIX 7. Nearer, My God, To Thee. Entire assemblage sings. ACTION SEVEN 8. Largo (from New World Symphony). Dance. ACTION EIGHT Chants. ACTION NINE 9. Remainder of the "Creation." ACTION TEN Chants. FINALE 10. Hark, the Herald Angels Sing. Entire assemblage rises and sings. 59 SETTING FOR PRODUCTION By Irving Pichel Productions of "The Will of Song" employ no scenery in th accepted sense of the word but only such platforms, steps, an^ banks of seats as are required for the projection of the service,- in other words, facilities for the actors, singers, and dancen In much the same fashion as the church chancel is an outgrowt of the demands of conventionalized worship, this stage is a direc product of the demands made of it, — no more and no less. It U then, a "stage setting" in the purest sense of the word, com pletely fulfilling the needs of this performance and addin nothing. Accordingly, it is to be constructed with no elaboration c line or form. All the surfaces exposed to the eye should eithe be painted a neutral grey or covered with dark cloth. At the back, meeting the eye of the spectator, and at right an left, rise tiers of seats for the singers. The exact arrangement c these banks depends largely upon conditions to be met in th particular auditorium in which the service is to be presentee Between the seats and the stage platform, a space is left a the level of the main floor. In this space the orchestra is placec Directly in front of the orchestra and concealing it from th spectators is the stage proper. To this stage enter the group of The Peoples of All Lands, Spring, Play, and Song. Acces to the stage from the main floor is provided by steps at the righ and left front corners of the platform. At the back of the stage rises the central seat on which Wi appears. It is approached by steps at either side, and a sma^ step or ladder, as shown on the ground plan, leads from it to th orchestra pit, to provide for the entrance of the actor playin Will as well as for the entrance of the song leader. On the ground plan are indicated the positions, in the midst c the audience, of the three Group Persons, Love, Joy, an( Liberty. These facilities are platforms on three levels, th uppermost for the Symbol-Bearer of each group, the second fo 60 SETTING FOR PRODUCTION the Men and Women, and the lowest for the Children, thus pro- viding a pyramidal arrangement of the group. It will be noted that the seating is so disposed as to leave aisle space about the Group Persons, so that they may not obstruct the view of the ^^The Group Persons should be lighted, from directly overhead, by lens-lamps equipped with looo-Watt concentrated filament bulbs It may be found necessary to provide each of these spot lamps with a sleeve or "louvre" to prevent the light from diffus- ing over too wide an area. The general lighting of stage and chorus also can best be accomplished by lighting-units hung from the ceiling. 6i PROGRAM OF THE ORANGE PRODUCTION THE WILL OF SONG ORANGE ARMORY, MAY 2nd AND 3rd, 1919. COMMUNITY CHORUS OF THE ORANGES HARRY BARNHART, Director FREDERIC WATSON, Accompanist MRS. F. WESTERVELT TOOKER, President MRS. ISAAC C. OGDEN, ist Vice-President MRS. FRANK H. SHEPARD, 2nd Vice-President DISTRICT VICE-PRESIDENTS Mr. S. Edgar Briggs, Mr. H. Addison Hickok, Mr. William H. Smith Mr. Harry R. Terhune Mr. A. E. Condit, Recording Secretary Miss Elizabeth Cooper, Corre- sponding Secretary Mr. F. Westervelt Tooker, Treasurer FOREWORD *'The Will of Song" is a Dramatic Service of Community Singing, devised in co-operation with Harry Barnhart, by Percy MacKaye for use as a Two Days Song Festival. In this festival, the experience of Mr. Barnhart as a director of com- munity song and the experience of Mr. MacKaye as a designer of community drama, after some years of separate growth and experiment, have come naturally together by the creative necessity implied in a common task — the release of the human spirit by means of co-operative expression. This merging of their experiences has resulted in a new creative experiment, modest in its first step, but potential with large meanings for the growth of community art. This service is a festival ceremony of solo and choral speech and dance, choral song and symbols of costume and light. By these means, "The Will of Song" seeks to reveal intimations of the sub-conscious rhythmic life whose will is the natural law of human brotherhood. 62 ORANGE PRODUCTION The first day of the festival suggests the workings of this law n the simpler relationships of mankind, through Soul of Earth, ^hen bread is broken and portioned together, when springtime ,nd play and singing are shared in common. So the first day Lses the simpler forms of choral singing as exemplified in usual 'Community Sings." The second day suggests the workings of this law in the subtler ealms of human aspirations, where the imagination born of ommon sympathy (through Soul of Light) reveals the lecessity of brotherhood to the higher development of mankind. )0 the second day uses forms of choral singing more highly >rganized, as exemplified in Haydn's "Creation." FIRST DAY Part I. SOUL OF EARTH PERSONS AND PARTICIPANTS Solo Persons In Chanted Speech NiW Irving Pichel In Pantomime 50ul of Earth* Mrs. W. E. Alvord Spirit of Spring Miss Helen Schaup spirit of Play Miss Margaret Bateman Spirit of Song Mrs. D. Frederick Burnett Group Persons In Chanted Speech Love Symbol-Bearer, Mrs. E. A. McCoy Chanters: Men, Women and Children foy Symbol-Bearer, Miss Elizabeth Brown Chanters: Men, Women and Children Liberty Symbol-Bearer, Mr.fFrederick T. Kelsey Chanters: Men, Women and Children * The name " Soul of Earth" was suggested by the chief character of "The [n-Gathering," a festival ceremony by Prof. Alfred G. Arvold, Director of the Little Country Theatre, Agricultural College, North Dakota, and is here used with his friendly approval. 63 ORANGE PRODUCTION {May Ha)rward Hunt Nathaniel Gardner Jack Johns In Group Pantomime People of Earth By Nationalitie Pupils from the Elmwood School, East Orange Spirits of Spring A Dancing Group, Miss Margaret Joralemon, Director Spirits or Play East Orange High School Pupils, Miss Dorothy HutchinsoE Director Spirits of Song From Children's Community Chorus Children's Chorus of 600 voices, trained by Mr. Barnhart an Mr. Watson Costumes of Choruses and Principals designed and made b the Buffalo Community Chorus. Costumes of Group Dancers made by members of the Con munity Chorus of the Oranges. Steinway Piano kindly furnished by the Griffith Piano Co 605 Broad Street, Newark, N. J. Special Music orchestrated by Mr. Frederic Watson. SECOND DAY Part II SOUL OF LIGHT Will Irving Pich Soul of Light Miss Elizabeth Coc Imagination, in Dance and Pantomime . Miss Evangeline Clai Accompanied by Ethereal Spirits 64 ORANGE PRODUCTION Group Person In Chanted Speech Brotherhood Symbol-Bearer, Theodore Seeley Chanters: Men, Women and Children IN HAYDN'S "CREATION" ^^^"^^ I Miss Florence Hinkle, Soprano Uriel Mr. Dan Beddoe, Tenor ^^P^^^^ I Mr. Arthur Middleton, Bass COMMUNITY CHORUS OF THE ORANGES Orchestra of Selected Musicians NOTE TO PEOPLE That the Community Chorus has become a valuable asset in the civic affairs of the Oranges is unquestioned. During the past three seasons, the weekly and largely attended meetings have brought together the people of the four Oranges in a truly democratic manner. The results of the work of the Chorus have been given freely to the people. The Messiah, Creation, and the other good music, with negro melodies and old familiar airs, have comprised the programmes of the concerts. The members of the Chorus have always been glad to render their services in participation in any patriotic endeavor, and Red Cross and Liberty Loan Drives and concerts at Camp Merritt have had their enthusiastic support. When the war clouds were heaviest, the rehearsals helped to sustain the morale of the people at home, and during the summer months, with the gen- erous response of some of the prominent and public-spirited men of the Oranges, the weekly concerts were enjoyed by thousands in the parks. The Community Christmas celebration, where all were asked to attend the exercises around a tree, was another evidence of the desire of the Chorus to enable all to join in a celebration appropriate to that season. It has been suggested that a Community Music Association is the most logical solution for the furtherance of Community Chorus growth. If the activities of the Chorus must serve a civic need by providing fes- tivals and opportunities for gatherings in the summer, singing in the parks, Christmas celebrations and Spring Festivals, such a step would seem to be of paramount necessity. 6s ORANGE PRODUCTION The Community Chorus is a self-governing, democratic organization, paying for the running expenses of rehearsals, etc. When demonstrating the bigger creative spirit that comes out of singing for and with a community at large, we must make some opportunity for all the people to share in the expense and creative service. To accomplish this, in a proper manner, it would be necessary to make a yearly budget, including Spring Festivals, Summer singing in parks and Christmas celebrations, all of which should be given free. To finance the work, an association could be formed and all subscribers become members, subscriptions from 50 cents to large sums being received. In considering the plans for a Spring Festival, which is in most part an experiment and is now being given indoors in a more intimate way and which naturally limits the attendance, it is, however, the first step in some- thing bigger, which if given out-of-doors, would be within reach of all the people. The seating of the auditorium should be laid out in proportion to the cost of festival and as in this particular festival the second day is a continua- tion of the first day in developing the whole idea, tickets and reservations should include both performances. Subscribers to the Association should be entitled to tickets in propor- tion to amount of subscription, from fifty cents to twenty-five dollars. Any amount exceeding cost could go into the Community Music Fund for other music purposes and under the control of a Board of Directors. For the Spring Festival there should be at least 2,000 subscriptions. No tickets should be sold at door, but at a given time all subscribers could be notified when tickets were ready for distribution, and obtain them by going to a given place and at a given time and making reservations. It is absolutely necessary for the higher development of the Community Chorus that its work and creative pov/ers be more concretely demonstrated to the thinking people and influential citizens of the community. Free expression of our art cannot be conducted through common com- mercial methods, where personal aggrandizement and monetary gain hamper their growth. In recommending this idea for conducting festivals it is hoped to make it possible for those who really desire to see and hear, to have adequate and proper facilities for doing so. This cannot be accomplished upon the old basis of financing and selling tickets, but it would give the people of the community an opportunity to help and be helped in an expression of love, service and beauty. 66 PROGRAM OF THE BUFFALO PRODUCTION COMMUNITY SPRING FESTIVAL The Will of Song A Dramatic Service of Community Singing ELMWOOD MUSIC HALL Monday and Tuesday Evenings, May 26th and 27th Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen FIRST DAY. PART I— SOUL OF EARTH. Persons and Participants. SOLO PERSONS. In Chanted Speech Will Irving Pichel In Pantomime Soul of Earth Ruth Ashley-Smith In Dance Spring . . Zorilda Riddell, Lauretta Stabell, Dorothy Barmon Play Marian Hecht, Dorothy Jones Song Betty Leeming GROUP PERSONS. In Chanted Speech LOVE — Symbol-Bearer — Miss Dorothy Sands. Chanters — Miss Helen Douglas, Mrs. Chas. Devine, Mrs. Duane Ly- man, Mrs. Preston Albro, Luther Graves, George Wilkins, Parker Dehn, Irwin Besser, Susan Bass, Marion McNulty, Harriett Adams, Evelyn Hillman, Esther Cooley, Ruth Alden, Nancy Albright, Elyot Thompson, Frances Davis, Phyllis Nichols, Carolyn Shone, Helen Gardner. 67 BUFFALO PRODUCTION JOY — Symbol-Bearer — Mrs. Stuart Mitchell. Chanters — Mrs. Harold Clement, Miss Marian White, Mrs. George More, Mr. Stuart Mitchell, Harold Clement, Warren Case, Jean Douglass, Martha Hamlin, Natalie Williams, Louise A. Hummell, Priscilla Camp, Florence Lyon, Martha Kellogg, Betty Hutchinson. LIBERTY— Symbol-Bearer— Sydney Stall. Chanters— Mrs. Parton Swift, Mrs. E. G. Spaulding, Mrs. Porter Norton, Miss Gwendolyn Irwin, Arthur Prouse, Carl Wedell, Albert Cohn, Malcolm Barney, Julia James, Doris Dudley, Helen Schofield, Katherine Dold, Isabella Russell, Chloe Thomp- son, Francesca Wilkes, Jean Ellis. Child-Emissaries of Soul of Earth — ^Theresa Parwolska, Fanny Lou Barrell, Carmela La Greca. In Group Pantomime Peoples of Earth by Nationalities Spirits of Spring — Mary Walsh, Frances Walsh, Sylvia Starr, Annette Frey, Margaret Frye, Elfreda Jessel, Cora Benning, Ethel Farnham, Helen Scott, Helen Keichgens. Spirits of Play— Ethel Wilcox, Lillias MacDonald, Charlotte Risley, Mildred Gardiner, Doretta Smith, Margaret Deihl, Viola Krzyzykowska, Bertha Kemp, Mildred Rose, Rosahe Parsons, Marjorie Freeman, Agnes Tranter and Viola Sparkes. Spirits of Song — ^Two hundred children from the Buffalo State Normal School; thirty-five children from the Elmwood School. SECOND DAY. PART II— SOUL OF LIGHT. Will Irving Pichel Soul of Light Mrs. Alfred H. Clark Imagination Ellen Becker Spirits of Imagination — ^Lillias MacDonald, Dorothy Jones, Mary Walsh, Frances Walsh, Zorilda Riddell, Mary Kreig. 68 BUFFALO PRODUCTION GROUP PERSON In Chanted Speech BROTHERHOOD— Symbol-Bearer— Malcolm Barney. Chant- ers — Mrs. Parton Swift, Mrs. E. G. Spaulding, Miss Dorothy Sands, Miss Chloe Thompson, Mrs. Porter Norton, Arthur Prouse, Sydney Stall, Irwin Besser, Parker Dehn, Dorothy Lipp, Marian Mitchell, Margaret Pooley, Millicent White, Katharine Pierce, Doris Silbert, Gladys Lindsay, Una Martin, Kathleen Armstrong. In Haydn's "CREATION." Gabriel (Eve) Miss Florence Hinkle, Soprano Uriel Mr. Dan Beddoe, Tenor Raphael (Adam) Mr. Arthur Middleton, Bass Semi-Chorus — Mrs. Harriet Welch-Spire, Mrs. Edna Luse, Mrs. Agnes Preston Storck, Mrs. John Mesmer, Mrs. Walter Hawke, Miss Kener, Miss Laetitia Viele, Carl Stephan, Charles Mott, Ernest Crimi, Charles McCreary, George Barrell, Claude Stephan, Eugene Frey, Louis Reynolds. Buffalo Community Chorus. For the Festival Conductor Harry Barnhart Action Staged by Irving Pichel Technical Director Harold Olmstead Accompanists First Night — Miss Eva Rautenburg Second Night — Miss Harriet Morgan Dances designed and directed by Miss Ellen Becker Orchestra of Buffalo Musicians. Song has risen out of the hearts of the people. In all parts of this land, the American people is beginning to chant together its hopes and aspirations. It is like a deep irresistible murmur, far off, of the people who have lived before us, who live in us 69 BUFFALO PRODUCTION today, calling out of ourselves to the people who shall liv tomorrow. This song is calling forth the heart of a new generation whic is now beginning to sing a new hymning. HARRY BARNHART. The Community Chorus has been in Buffalo now for two and a half year We have had regular Saturday nights at Hutchinson High School, Summt sings throughout the city, Christmas Festivals, etc. Thousands of peop] have been reached and have, we feel, through singing together, experience a little better realization of the democracy of the spirit. This past winte every Monday night at School 42, in the Black Rock district, represent£ tives of many nationalities — Russian, Polish, Czecho-Slovak, Hungariai etc., — a large percentage of them being men — have met and sung (in Enj lish) together. These evenings have been a convincing testimony to tt power of song. Opportunities such as this for extending the singing in a city like ours ai limitless, and the need is great. The Community Chorus in its Saturday night meetings is self-supportini For the extension work there must be systematic work, and funds ai needed. Our program for the year is Community Spring Festival. The festival is not planned primarily as a entertainment, but as an opportunity for a community expression in a organized art form. It is participated in by at least fifteen hundred peop! from every section of Buffalo. Summer Outdoor Singing — This includes Saturday Night sings with band, which accompaniment is necessary with large crowds, and it ah includes smaller neighborhood song-evenings which are practical with piano. SUMMER SONG PROGRAM IN DELAWARE PARK— A closing night i a climax of the sectional sings, carried out by groups from as many groui as possible. Starting of choruses indoors in new neighborhoods next winter. Through the Spring Festival, by a regular seat sale, we undoubted] could have realized a large sum of money, but our meetings have alwaj been free to the people and we do not want to lose this service of open doc opportunity. We are, therefore, this spring asking for subscriptions f( our extension work. A voluntary offering will be taken at the close of bot evenings. Subscription blanks are with every program, and may be le as pledges in the baskets at the time of collection. 70 i I