Based on poems by Rückert, Mahler’s song cycle Kindertotenlieder (1901-1904) underscores the frighteningly high infant mortality rates during the early 20th century. They have fallen dramatically over the past century but are still high in Rochester. To highlight this and child poverty rates, Table Top Opera presents a new version of Kindertotenlieder performed by members of the Eastman School of Music, accompanied by historical photographs and pictures of children who have succumbed to lack of proper care in Rochester today.
CREDITS
Performers
Griffin Campbell, alto saxophone
Federico Agostini, violin
Matthew Brown, computers
Albert Kim, piano
Brendan Lanighan, trombone
Dariusz Terefenko, keyboards
James VanDemark, double-bass
Christopher Winders, computers
Th. Emil Homerin and Matthew Brown, Producers
Christopher Winders, Th. Emil Homerin, and Matthew Brown, Directors
Score preparation and motion graphics by Christopher Winders
Translations by Th. Emil Homerin
Script by Matthew Brown
Produced at Table Top Studios
Funding
University Cluster in Interdisciplinary Studies in Film and Music, University of Rochester
Department of Religion & Classics, University of Rochester
Individuals
Lisa Hostetler, Curator-in-Charge, Department of Photography, George Eastman House
Heather Shannon, Assistant Photography Curator, George Eastman House
Concert Office, Eastman School of Music, Keith Elder, Greg Machin, Reagan McNameeKing
Valerie Alhart, University of Rochester, Communications Office
Helene Snihur, Eastman School of Music, Communications Office
Reinhild Steingrover
Dan Mason
Music Credits
Opening Titles
Christopher Winders based on Mahler, Kindertotenlieder, Schoenberg, Op. 19, no. 6
Interlude 1
Mahler, 1st Symphony
Interlude 2
Mahler, 5th Symphony
Interlude 3
Mahler, 6th Symphony, Monk, ‘Round Midnight
Interlude 4
Wagner, “Prelude” Act 3, Tristan und Isolde
Final Credits
Ella Fitzgerald, ‘Round Midnight. Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie!
(CD: Verve/Polygram B00000477N, 1989)
Photo Credits
Opening Titles
John Thomas Grant, Final Thoughts. Eternal Beauty in Stone (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2011), 92.
Frank A. Gillespie and Richard O. Reisem, Mount Hope. America’s First Municipal Victorian Cemetery
(Rochester: Landmark Society of Western New York, 1994), 99.
Mahler with his daughter Maria at the Wörthersee (1906)
Gustav Mahler, Letters to his Wife, ed. Henry-Louis de la Grange and Günther
Wiess with Knud Martner (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), Plate 23.
Paolo Pellegrin, 100 Photos de Paolo Pellegrin pour la liberté de la presse
(Paris: Reporters sans Frontières, 2013).
Songs
Color washes inspired by Robert Weingarten, 6:30 AM (Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2005).
Interlude 1
John Thomas Grant, Final Thoughts. Eternal Beauty in Stone (Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2011), 134.
Unidentified photographer, Baby laid out with posies of flowers (ca.1865)
Ambrotype with applied color Image: 8.6 x 6.4 cm (1/4 plate); case: 11.8 x 9.3 x 1.8 cm
George Eastman House, purchased with funds from Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; ex-collection of Walter A. Johnson
Public domain 2010.1301.0034
Theodore Teeple (American, 1835–1913). Deceased girl laid out with flowers at her breast (ca. 1890)
Collodion silver print Image: 10.2 x 14.9 cm; mount: 10.6 x 16.3 cm
George Eastman House, purchased with funds from Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; ex-collection of Walter A. Johnson
Public domain 2010.1303.0023.
W. J. Cochran (American, active 1896–1899). Deceased boy laid out with blankets drawn high, eyes open (ca. 1899)
Collodion silver print Image: 14 x 9.9 cm; mount: 16.4 x 10.7 cm
George Eastman House, purchased with funds from Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; ex-collection of Walter A. Johnson
Public domain 2010.1303.0040.
Unidentified photographer, Woman seated in profile at table, two spirit images in background (ca. 1865)
Tintype with applied color Image/overall: 10.2 x 7.2 cm (4 x 2 13/16 in.)
George Eastman House, gift of Donald K. Weber 2011.0378.0001.
David Robinson, Beautiful Death. Art of the Cemetery (New York: Penguin, 1996), Prague Jewish Cemetery.
Mahler’s parents grave (Online acquisition)
http://www.mahler.cz/upload/stranky/users/petrujova/Image/Zidovsky_hrbitov.jpg
Mahler’s Death Mask (Online acquisition)
http://www.tias.com/stores/pretiosus/pictures/021a.jpg.
Headstones in Jewish Cemetery in Jihlava (Online acquisition)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Židovský_hřbitov_v_Jihlavě_10.JPG
Interlude 2
Unidentified photographer, From Court St. bridge (ca. 1924)
Gelatin silver print Overall: 9.3 x 30.2 cm (3 11/16 x 11 7/8 in.)
George Eastman House, gift of Mrs. Theodore B. Steinhausen 2003.0036.0002.
Unidentified photographer, George W. Goler, M.D.
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-e66e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
George W. Goler, “Health in Rochester 1834-1911,” Rochester Public Library,
Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County Historic Monographs Collection.
Unidentified photographer, One of Rochester’s Schools in Cleanliness
William H. Allen, Civic and Health (Boston: Athanæum Press, 1909).
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/21353/21353-h/21353-h.htm#CHAPTER_XXV
Hemlock Lake Cottages 1883 (Online acquisition)
http://www.wemett.net/pics/hemlock_lake_map.jpg
Unidentified photographer, Charlotte Infant Summer Hospital
Albert R. Stone Negative Collection, Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester, NY.
http://www.rochestergeneral.org/about-us/rochester-general-hospital/about-us/rochester-medical-museum-and-archives/
online-exhibits/the-history-of-our-area-hospitals/rochesters-early-hospitals/
George W. Goler, “Health in Rochester 1834-1911,” Rochester Public Library,
Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County Historic Monographs Collection.
Interlude 3
Ernest and Luise (Online acquisition)
http://www.wikiwand.com/de/Kindertodtenlieder
http://gutenberg.spiegel.de/gutenb/rueckert/kindtodt/bilder/kindtod1.jpg
Mahler’s Hut (Online acquisition)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Mahlers_Komponierhäuschen.jpg
Gustav Mahler (1905)
Gustav Mahler, Letters to his Wife, ed. Henry-Louis de la Grange and Günther Wiess with Knud Martner
(Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004), Plate 26.
Opening notes to 5th Symphony as an autograph to a friend (1905)
“Liner Notes,” Mahler Plays Mahler (New York: The Kaplan Foundation 1993), 25.
Mahler’s Death Mask (Online acquisition)
http://www.sothebys.com/content/dam/stb/lots/L12/L12406/403L12406_6M99J.jpg
Arnold Schoenberg, The Burial of Gustav Mahler, oil on canvas (1911, Online acquisition)
http://www.schoenberg.at/resources/pages/view.php?
ref=8916&search=&order_by=relevance&sort=DESC&offset=96&archive=0&k=&curpos=140
Arnold Schoenberg, Autograph of Sechs kleine Klavierstücke, Op. 19, no. 6 (Online acquisition)
http://www.schoenberg.at/compositions/manuskripte.php?
werke_id=191&id_quelle=516&id_gatt=&id_untergatt=&herkunft=allewerke
Interlude 4
Photos of recent graves in Mount Hope Cemetery by Th. Emil Homerin.
Paolo Pellegrin, 100 Photos de Paolo Pellegrin pour la liberté de la presse
(Paris: Reporters sans Frontières, 2013).
Epilog
Bert Hardy, Leap-Frog (1948)
Getty Images (US) Inc., Picture Post Collection, 2639130.
Poster
S. A. Summit, dustjacket, Alma Mahler, Gustav Mahler: Memories and Letters
ed. Donald Mitchell (N.Y.: Viking, 1969).
SCRIPT
Kindertotenlieder
Script by Matthew Brown and Th. Emil Homerin
Interlude I Why did so many children die in 1900?
Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder underscores a terrifying fact of 19th- and early 20th-century life: extremely high rates of child mortality. Inadequate health care, poor nutrition, bad sanitation, overcrowded housing, and minimal education meant that in 1900 about 150 European and American children died per thousand births.
Often, the only records that these children ever existed are the post-mortem and paranormal photographs commissioned by their parents and the markers on their graves.
Growing up in a poor minority community, Mahler was well aware of the situation.
Eight of his thirteen siblings died in childhood.
Their deaths cast a shadow over many of Mahler’s early works: his first opera, Ernest, Duke of Swabia (1879) recalls the death of his younger brother Ernest in 1874, his early orchestral work Funeral Rites (Totenfeier, 1888) resurfaced in his 2nd Symphony (1888-1894), and his 1st Symphony (1887-88) includes a funeral march based on the children’s tune “Frère Jacques.”
Mahler’s sister Justine was especially traumatized by the losses: as a child, she apparently glued candles around her bed, lit them, lay down, and almost believed that she was dead.
I Nun will die Sonn’ so hell aufgeh’n (I: 370)
Now the sun will rise as brightly
as if the night had brought no cause for grief, no cause for grief.
The grief was only mine alone,
while the sun shines for one and all.
You must not enfold the night within you;
you must let it drown in everlasting light.
A little light went out in my tent.
Bless, bless, the light that brings joy the world,
The light that brings joy to the world!
Translation by Th. Emil Homerin: italics indicate Mahler’s changes and/or additions to Rückert’s original.
Interlude 2 What was life like for Rochester’s children in 1900?
In 1900, Rochester was a world leader in efforts to reduce rates of child mortality.
Spearheading the fight was Dr. George W. Goler, the City’s Chief Public Health Officer (1896-1932). Goler tackled the issue from several directions because he recognized that rates of child mortality were closely connected to those of poverty: “The problems of health and poor relief are very closely allied, in fact inseparable. Poverty is as often the cause as the result of ill health, and any plan for the prevention or relief of poverty must consider primarily the health of the individuals concerned.”
He campaigned for compulsory/free vaccinations against cholera, small pox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and other infectious diseases.
He combated poor nutrition by supplying nursing mothers with carefully tested milk from the nation’s first publicly funded milk stations.
He improved the quality of Rochester’s drinking water and sewage system with help from city engineer Edwin A. Fisher.
He opened the nation’s second free dental dispensary at School No. 14 and he supported Dr. Edward Mott Moore’s Infant’s Summer Hospital in Charlotte.
In 1911 Goler reported to the City government that child mortality had dropped precipitously in the last fifty years.
He was optimistic that rates would drop even further in the years to come.
II Nun seh’ ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen (I: 69)
O eyes, O eyes, now I see clearly
why you often flashed such dark flames at me,
As if to draw all your power
into one, single glance.
But, because blinding fate
had shrouded me in mists,
I could not guess your brightness was already
to return home, there to the source of all light.
Your shining eyes wished to tell me:
“We long to stay with you, but fate will not allow.
“Look at us!
For soon, we will be far away.
“These eyes you see today
will be your stars in nights to come.”