DECLARATION

Composed: 2005
Premiere:  Lucy Shelton, sopr., New Music Festival, Cleveland Institute of Music, November 16, 2005
Duration:  14.5 minutes
Instrumentation: Soprano or mezzo-soprano, violin, piano 

PROGRAM NOTES

I.    Thorn
II.    Scattering in Fear
III.    …all men and women are…
IV.    Whom do you call angel now?

Declaration is a set of songs addressing violence and war. The poem for the first song by Ann Woodward expresses outrage that people do not seem to think the killing they see on TV is real, and they do not understand that all people are the same. Where the music of the first song is simple and sad, the music for the second song, Scattering in Fear shows the terror of children and families running, stumbling, dashing in a panic from the genocide that is happening to them. The third song, …all men and women are… continues the theme of the equality of all people by quoting a short segment from the Declaration of Independence. The last song is a song of mourning. It was taken from a set of poems by David Adams called September Songs which he wrote after September 11.

REVIEWS

‘Declaration,’ the earliest work here, composed in 2005, is a song-cycle set for mezzo-soprano, violin and piano. The over-riding theme is war, violence and human rights, and though original inspiration came from the last song, poems by David Adams, who wrote them in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks, they feel even more relevant today, considering what is happening around us this very day. The calm, simple, melodious Thorn, to a text by Ann Woodward, deals with people who believe that the TV news reports on wars are just fiction. The word “fake news” wasn’t invented yet seventeen years ago. Margaret Brouwer’s own text Scattering in Fear is a frightening picture of all those innocent civilians killed in genocides. It happened in former Yugoslavia in the 90s, it happens in Ukraine now.

The desperation, the sorrow is graphically depicted – and the restrained anger towards the perpetrators. The third song, … men and women are … is of course Thomas Jefferson’s words from The Declaration of Independence, with the important addition “and women”. Jefferson only wrote “men”. Whom do you call angel now? is a very beautiful song of mourning. It is deeply gripping and universally applicable, not only for the victims of the terror attack in New York. Sarah Beaty is deeply engaged and expressive.

-Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International, Reactions CD, 2022

Texts for the four-part Declaration (2005) cast a wide net, with three respectively based on texts by Ann Woodward, David Adams, and Brouwer herself and the fourth using a short extract from The Declaration of Independence. Beaty acquits herself admirably in giving moving voice to the texts and their darker emotional hues. The opening “Thorn” despairs over the numbing effects of seeing violence and death daily on our TV screens, while “Scattering in Fear” focuses on the horror of children and families desperately trying to avoid death from gunfire. “…all men and women are…” serves as a reminder of the equality of all people, after which the dirge-like “Whom do you call angel now” adopts a heartfelt tone of mourning, its text from a set of poems written by Adams after the WTC attacks in 2001.

-Textura, Reactions CD, 2022

‘Declaration’ situates listeners directly into a story of sadness caused by violence. Based on poems by Ann Woodward and David Adams, and a quote from the Declaration of Independence, the four-movement structure contains songs that depict children running from danger, and widespread mourning. Beaty’s vocal timbre matches the mood throughout, showcasing the prayerful yet solemn nature of the texts and perfectly reflecting the way people cope with devastation.

-Nicolette Cheauré, ClevelandClassical, Reactions CD, 2022

In ‘Declaration’ (2005), Brouwer takes up subjects ‘addressing violence and war and the equality of all people’, as the composer writes, to texts by Ann Woodward, Thomas Jefferson, David Adams and herself. The word-painting in every case is vivid and often surprising, as in the almost defiant setting of an excerpt from the Declaration of Independence. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Beaty, violinist Mari Sato and pianist Wang bring these narratives to vibrant life.

-Gramophone, Reactions CD, 2022

Declaration, a four-movement 2005 work for mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano, features texts by writers ranging from Thomas Jefferson to Brouwer herself, addressing important fundamental issues: violence, war, fairness, and human equality.

Brouwer adroitly scores these songs, introducing musical lines that gradually wrap around each other. The musical language is often angular, particularly for the singer. Most intriguing of all is the final song, “Whom do you call angel now,” with its bleak opening for soprano and viola giving way to a piano entrance with tonal chords, leading on to stark but tonal passages that are different from all the preceding lines. The music gradually rises to a rhapsodic conclusion.

The mezzo-soprano lines are beautifully sung by Sarah Beaty, with Mari Sato, violin, and Shuai Wang, piano.

-Melinda Bargreen, EarRelevant, Reactions CD, 2022