Breaking the Silence
for soprano & tape
Date
March 2008
Duration
13 minutes
Orchestration
soprano & tape
Breaking the Silence
Laura Botkin, soprano
Angela Mortellaro, soprano on tape
About
I began work on “Breaking the Silence” knowing only that I wanted to write a piece about child abuse, a horrific social illness which is alarmingly pervasive in our society. Aside from writing a brief text — which is sung by the soprano, who represents a small child singing a children’s song of her own invention — I sought to have the direction and social statements of the piece guided by the interviews of survivors: the freely-spoken words and/or the writings they chose to share. These interviews compose the tape portion of the piece and tell, in words, stories more powerful than a writer could manufacture or a composer could mimic. I sought to bring their stories together, to interweave them, always seeking to have their words understood, but allowing the audience to experience, through spoken vocal polyphony, the struggle of breaking the silence, of having one’s words heard. I am aware that the piece is controversial. My only hope is that the volunteers who shared their stories will gain from being heard and that this may help others to break their silence too.
Text
by Aaron Alon
Ten, ten very pretty ladies
Locked up in a tower
And far out of sight
Ten, ten sleeping pretty ladies
Quietly are bathed
In summer moon’s pale light
Ten, ten lovely little ladies
Safe up in the tower
In the dead of night
Breathe, breathe, breathing little ladies
Sleeping in the tower
Where they feel no fright
Breathe, breathe, I’m a pretty lady
Far away from here
And I am sleeping tight
Breathe, breathe, breathe, you pretty lady You are not yet dying;
You will wake to light
Breathe, breathe; it will soon be over
Daddy cannot help
Who he becomes at night.
Tape
The tape part is composed of excerpts of interviews with four survivors of child abuse who volunteered to record their stories, as well as portions of the written text, as sung by soprano Angela Mortellaro. The four interviewees were Mike Migura, Michelle Fellow, “SafeAtLast,” and Anonymous.
Audio Setup
The piece is written in quad surround sound (4.0), but is reduced to stereo for the version on this site.
Premiere
April 14, 2008
Aaron Alon DMA Recital
Shepherd School of Music, Rice University
Houston, TX
Laura Botkin, soprano