Musical Backgrounds

 

I FIRST STARTED READING memorial Web sites dedicated to Matt on Friday, October 23, 1998, about a week and half after his passing. One feature that helped to strengthen the emotional impact for me was the use of musical tracks on some of the pages.

Miller and Miller

     Among the first tracks I remember hearing was Les Herrman's 1993 arrangement of "Let There Be Peace" — listed alternatively as "Let Peace Begin with Me" — lyrics and music by Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller. A fellow who contributed to the original message board, "Remembering Matthew Shepard," had added a simple tribute on his Web site — "A Page for Matthew" — which carried this track.

     I made a duplicate file of Herrman's arrangement so that I could pan out the instrumental parts widely from left to right across the audio spectrum. Herrman's original file had all instruments in the center position (64); so there was no stereophonic effect. The wide left-to-right placement (10–120) releases more of the power inherent in his arrangement and helps to prevent "clipping" or distortion, which can sometimes happen when instruments in the same area of the audio spectrum double up on one or more notes. Otherwise, I have left Herrman's arrangement — scoring, tempos, dynamics, pitches, note values — unchanged.

     The one patch I really wish I could hear the way it sounded on my old computer is FX4 (Atmosphere). On the old system, it had a special ringing clarity — like distant chimes floating effortlessly above the background. I have yet to hear such a sound on the newer gear. Herrman uses this patch in his arrangement — starting with the second verse. It does stand out where he uses it, but I miss the way it sounded on the older gear.

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Rodgers and Hammerstein

     Soon after seeing this page, I came across a California author's memorial to Matt that used an arrangement of "You'll Never Walk Alone" — lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Richard Rodgers, from Rodgers and Hammerstein's second musical play, Carousel (1945).

     The R&H song would take a bit of re-scoring and re-panning on my part to give it the spacious sound I'm after. The MIDI file I downloaded doesn't list the arranger's name. For now, I'm using instead an instrumental version of the song I found on You Tube — a rendering I find at least as pleasing.

     This presentation gives the lyrics on screen. My only regret is that it uses Hammerstein's original words — "Keep your chin up high." The rendering we usually hear these days — the one used in the 1956 film version of the show — is "Hold your head up high." These words have a loftier sound — and they fit better with the melody, a little easier for a singer to deliver. English, unlike Italian, is decidedly not the singer's language.

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Verdi

     As I mentioned on the home page, I knew, as early as November 1998, that I would like to build my own Web site in Matt's honor. Because of the emotional impact I felt from hearing musical selections on the early tribute sites, I wanted to add music to the memorial page of this site. One score that kept coming to my mind was Giuseppe Verdi's Don Carlo, which I had studied on my own a number of years earlier — a work that the composer and his librettists adapted from Friedrich von Schiller's tragedy. The action is set in France and Spain during the Inquisition. To my mind, several themes of the narrative intersect, to some degree, with Matt's story — especially the themes of friendship, sacrifice, and the quest for self-determination.

     The score I have in my library is the so-called Modena version of 1886, the last authorized revision during the composer's lifetime. It restores the original Act I that the musical drama had at its 1867 Paris premiere but which the composer dropped for the 1884 revision, presented at Milan, Italy. Otherwise, the 1886 revision retains the changes that the composer made for the 1884 version.

     It was portions of Acts IV and V that I decided to adapt. This was the most time-consuming, painstaking part of building the site, and it was the part that I began first. My aim was to pick selections that would convey sorrow, aspiration, bravery, tranquillity -- in that order. I also kept in mind that the musical tracks — although they should have a definite appeal to the sensitive hearer — must not compete with the main focus of the page — the written message. Readers should be able to concentrate on the text and hear themselves think.

     I believe I succeeded in achieving this balance with the MIDI gear I had when I made the arrangements between 1998 and 2002 — plus a few refinements through 2005. This was on a 1996 custom-built Pentium 133. Then, in autumn 2006, while I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law, I finally got a chance to hear how the tracks played back on a more modern system. In some sections, the newer sound was a definite improvement; but in others, I realized right away that the tracks would need some re-scoring in order for the more up-to-date gear to do them justice.

     In some passages, the newer equipment gave a more full-bodied, symphonic texture than I had anticipated. In general, though, I had a more intimate, chamber-music quality in mind. In some stretches, the symphonic texture is effective — notably in "Or che tutto finì" ("Now that it's all over"). This passage deploys all the string parts; so it's a good test of whether your speakers are hooked up correctly. Violins should be on your left, cellos and basses on your right, violas at medium-right.

     I completed the re-scoring on December 22, 2006. In the process, I took out the patch marked as Lead 6 (Voice) and assigned the flute to play the high notes of this part, with the bassoon taking over most of the low notes and the clarinet helping out with the few remaining ones. The revised scoring uses more conventional woodwind, brass, and string patches than the arrangements I made from 1998 through 2005. I have avoided exotic or rarely used patches — mainly because of the unpredictable and/or unsatisfactory ways that the more modern sound equipment interprets their audio signals.

     The only percussion called for in the scoring of these excerpts is the timpani. The timpani patch is too flat and lifeless; so I decided not to use it here or in the previous arrangements. The bass notes of the harp give more reverb — an effect very close to what I sought in the three quiet drum rolls in the opening measures.

My aim was to pick selections that would convey sorrow, aspiration, bravery, tranquillity.

     The Verdi selections are in the public domain and are rendered here in the keys given in the published score. The closing duet, "Ma lassù ci vedremo in un mondo migliore" ("But, there above, we shall meet in a better world"), is in the key of B (five sharps) — a key that has long conveyed to my mind a dusky, end-of-day tranquillity — a definite "taps" feeling. I have included most of the words of this final duet on the Poetry and Short Essays page.

     Following this number, the published score has 41 measures that lead up to the final curtain. I decided not to use any of them — chiefly because they are too energetic and brilliant to sustain the dusky, tranquil mood. Even if they had fit the mood, they would have extended the total playing time beyond 10 minutes, which I wanted to avoid. So I wrote the last three measures myself to bring the session to a close. Other arrangers have long made similar adaptations and adjustments when featuring arias, duets, and ensemble numbers as excerpts for concert or recital programs.

     I patterned these measures after the way the composer ended several other movements — notably the Agnus Dei movement of his Requiem (1874) and the Act I preludes to Aïda (1871) and Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball, 1859). The ascent of the upper string parts to the highest register, where they then fade out, is characteristic of the master's work.

     I recommend setting your audio at a moderate volume — just enough volume to show what your sound system can do, yet restrained enough so that you can hear yourself think and concentrate on the written message. If you're like me, you'll probably find that this method makes the strongest emotional impact and gives the best overall effect.

     The finest renderings I've heard are on desktop computers, not laptops. High-quality speakers, widely spaced on the desk from left to right, should do justice to the music, delivering good treble-bass contrast and optimum stereo effect.

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     On June 2, 2009, I added a link, the fourth one below, to a performance on You Tube of Rodrigo's death scene, starting from "Felice ancor io son se abbraciar ti poss'io" ("I am content if I may embrace you once more"). The English subtitles are very good; but for those who don't know any Italian, I have translated this much, since the English for this line doesn't appear on screen. I checked out a number of renditions, and this one, featuring Piero Cappuccilli (bar.) as Rodrigo and José Carreras (t.) as Carlo was among those I liked best.

J. H.

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