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Although some wars may embody noble principles of
freedom and human dignity, the ultimate cost is devastation and
destruction of life. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
portrays the anger and chaos of war ("Anthem For Doomed Youth"),
those who perish ("In Flanders Fields"), and
supplication for peace and mercy ("Agnus Dei").
The over-arching title, FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS,
was inspired by images of bells in the first poem. This phrase
was first penned by John Donne in 1624 and later used as the title of Ernest
Hemingway's novel about the Spanish Civil
War. Bell-like instruments provide a unifying timbre
throughout the first two movements. The sounds and
compositional techniques utilized in the music arise from the
severity and haunting sadness of each poem.
"Anthem For Doomed Youth" was written
in 1917 by 2nd Lt. Wilfred Owen, a British officer killed in battle
one week before the war's end in 1918. He was only
twenty-five years old at the time of his death. Owen's
poetry rose to international prominence through its use in Benjamin
Britten's War Requiem. On November 11, 1918, one
week after Owen's death--at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of
the eleventh month--bells were ringing in Shrewsbury to celebrate the
Armistice when the doorbell rang at his parent's home....a courier
delivering a telegram, telling them that their son was dead.
"In Flanders Fields" was written in
1915 by Lt. Col. John McCrae, a Canadian officer who also died in
1918 of pneumonia while serving in the medical corps. This
poem is considered one of the most memorable war poems ever
written. Both poets died in the battlefields of France,
only a few months apart.
Overall, the aesthetic scope of the music is very
broad--from dramatic and dissonant tension, to a reflective and eerie
tonality, concluding with a tender and peaceful "Agnus Dei"
drawn from the ancient Latin text. The emotional profile
of the music parallels the distinctive and contrasting character of
each poem.
Click here for an
extensive article published in the Chico Enterprise-Record on April
10, 2003 |
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