The Need of Comrades: A Gay Cantata, for Countertenor, Tenor, Baritone, and Piano (2017) February 22, 2020 in Baltimore, MD
at "To Celebrate The Need: New Vocal Music by Peter Dayton"
James Mitchell Brown, Dreamer (Countertenor)
Peter Dayton, Lover (Tenor)
Ross Tamaccio, Orator (Baritone)
Aaron Thacker, Piano
Program Notes: The Need of Comrades: A Gay Cantata (2017) | Whitman’s poem Calamus is a poignant intersection of the poet’s celebration of human affection (pointedly homoerotic affection) and his political concerns as a American citizen before, during, and after the civil war: the text used to create the libretto of this work is from the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass. The imagery of men passionately embracing, kissing, pining for each other is impossible to construe in this day and age as anything other than homosexually inclined. The particular poem used for this work, Calamus, turns the “need of comrades” from a sexual question into a socio-political question. At a time of political instability previously unprecedented in America’s history, Calamus is a cry for unity: the unification of hearts and minds. Since Whitman’s time, in many parts of the country, the clock has turned forward on the acceptance of LGBT individuals and non-heteronormative love. However, writing in a time of, yet again, staggering political disunity, as well as a resurgence of conservative ideology, I hope that The Need of Comrades portrays something of a vision of a society founded upon love and affection. The text for this work was woven like a tapestry out of different sections of Calamus with the help and input of Douglas Johnson.
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