PERUSAL SCORE notfor performance
On Mars
Joel Thompson 2024 for mezzo-soprano, viola, and piano
PERUSAL SCORE not forperformance
On Mars
for mezzo-soprano, viola, and piano
Joel Thompson
PERUSAL SCORE
not forperformance
Commissioned for Jamie Barton, Matthew Lipman, and Tamar Sanikidze by Music Accord, Inc.
Premiered on tour in January 2025, with performances at the following venues:
Spicey Hall, Atlanta, GA (January 19)
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse (January 23)
Celebrity Series of Boston (January 25)
Fortas Chamber Music Concerts, Terrace Theater, Kennedy Center (January 30)
Program Note
Dear Listener,
Instrumentation
Mezzo-soprano
Viola
Piano
Duration: c. 16-18 minutes
PERUSAL SCORE
First printing, October 2024
not forperformance
It’s a struggle to describe exactly why Ariana Benson’s poetry speaks to my soul– it just does. I’ve read her first book, Black Pastoral, several times this year– each poem revealing more of itself (and myself) in each re-reading. There are many poems in this collection that I dare not bother with my music as they are perfect just as they are, but On Mars immediately sang to me right off the page. Why? It’s futile to try to explain the alchemical. But, I suppose that, while this Earth slowly burns and its most powerful governments seem intent on war and genocide and metastatically feeding off of our despair, it makes sense that I’d be drawn to Benson’s subtle urgings to hold onto hope by allowing my imagination to extend beyond the bounds of this atmosphere. Her words remind me and many other Black Americans that it is a revolutionary act to imagine a place that truly feels like home. It is a revolutionary act to dream of a life unfettered by concerns of brutality, poverty and prejudice. It is a revolutionary act to seek (and hold on to) our peace. I hope this piece functions not only as a reminder that our imaginations are fundamental tools for our collective liberation but I also hope these songs serve as an invitation for us to use them as we seek a more just future.
With love, jt November 2024
“On Mars” by Ariana Benson i.
I was never much one for astronomy : My basic grasp of the universe and its terrifying contents satisfied me most of my life. Pluto was a planet then wasn’t, then was again. I think I didn’t go outside to witness the eclipse because I’ve spent too many moons waiting for obstacles to pass between my world and its light, for celestial corpses to align. To deem them Bodies implies life and humans have long known Earth only as a ghost //
But when I see that water has been found on Mars, I feel a knot that my heart urges my tongue to curl into hope. I see life, blossoming bundles of cells that compose bodies instead of Confining them. I see babies’ tiny feet splashing in puddles from which their very existence sprung I see water on Mars and know my children must never call home by any other name ii.
Our backyard awash in desert rust, we’ll fashion palaces from red sand, all the while sipping tea sweetened with spoonfuls of stardust. When winter rains turn craters into ponds, we’ll skate atop their frosted faces and in summer laze in their pooled relief from the heat The natal knowledge of how to swim having never fled a single child’s mind //
They’ll have a galaxy of nebulae to nightly gaze upon, hair bathed in cool slate absent whitehot sun Gravity an alien bondage they’ll play ball palm entire planets, bound through the asteroid belt, swing from Saturn’s rings with their fingertips Astral amphibians, they’ll breathe purified pink sky through their skin Not a single gasp will escape their grip iii.
On Mars there are no guns
What good are bullets that can be batted down like balloons bleeding air? My children will thrive they'll climb mountains only to leap fearless from the peaks and drift back to Mars serene like leaves in a crisp autumn breeze colorful and bright their true peaks and drift back to me. Colorful, bright, beautiful whole
"On Mars" from Black Pastoral: Poems © 2023 by Ariana Benson. Used by permission of the University of Georgia Press. All rights reserved.
Duration: c. 16-18 minutes
PERUSAL SCORE not forperformance
First printing, October 2024
Copyright ©2024 Joel Thompson. All Rights Reserved.
Program Note Copyright ©2024 Joel Thompson. All Rights Reserved
Published by Just a Theory Press | www.justatheorypress.com
On Mars
Ariana Benson
I.Home
Joel ompson
PERUSAL SCORE not forperformance
Plu to was a pla net, then was n’t,
think I did n’t go out side to wit ness the e clipse be cause I
Entering an alternate reality
PERUSAL SCORE
PERUSAL SCORE not forperformance
Intense anxiety (the question) ( = 120)
Tenuous calm (the answer) ( = 48)
allow sound to fade completely before continuing
moun tains on ly to leap fear less from the peaks and drift back to
moun tains on ly to leap fear