Lori Laitman’s reputation as an art song composer has steadily evolved since 1991 when she wrote her first cycle, The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs. In review after review, Laitman receives accolades for “her loving attention to the human voice and its capabilities, and her extraordinary palette of musical colors and gestures” (Journal of Singing, 2004). The composer’s four CDs on the Albany label—as well as discs and performances of her work by renowned singers—have evoked comparisons to the dean of American art song, Ned Rorem, and other masters of the form.
Yet it’s increasingly clear that Lori Laitman is an original, an immensely gifted composer who writes beautiful music while exploring the emotional landscape of each poem she sets. Her talents were again on display on November 6, 2008, when her first opera, The Scarlet Letter, premiered at the University of Central Arkansas. Hawthorne’s tale of Hester Prynne, who’s sentenced to wear a scarlet letter “A” after bearing a child out of wedlock, offered rich dramatic clay to Laitman and her librettist, David Mason, an award-winning poet and English professor at Colorado College.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette review of the opera proclaimed, “Composer Lori Laitman has written gorgeous music that works hand-in-glove with the words of librettist David Mason . . . Laitman’s music can turn on an emotional dime, from the tense and emotionally complex confrontation between convicted adulteress Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth, her resurfaced husband . . . to the achingly tender lullaby [Hester] sings to her daughter.”
When I met Laitman at her Maryland home, she eagerly described the challenges of her leap into opera. She also discussed her burgeoning art song catalog, which includes settings of many Holocaust poets. Laitman feels passionate about these texts, and her latest Holocaust cycle, The Seed of Dream, commissioned by Music of Remembrance, sets five poems by Vilna Ghetto survivor Abraham Sutzkever, the pre-eminent Polish/Yiddish poet. Baritone Erich Parce premiered this cycle in 2005 at the Holocaust Remembrance Day concert in Seattle and later recorded it for Naxos. Baritone Wolfgang Holzmair also performed these songs in his native Austria this past February.
Whether Laitman is setting Sutzkever’s work or the poems of Emily Dickinson, she uses a similar approach. “The words always come first,” she says, “and I’m careful to set them properly for the singer. My foremost goal is to illuminate the meaning of the text. When people analyze my music, I hope they won’t think about it in terms of traditional theory but through images. I use word painting to create aural portraits, and I think dramatically when creating structure.”
Our conversation touched on Laitman’s background (she was born in Long Beach, New York, in 1955 and received music bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Yale) and her personal life (she’s married to businessman Bruce Rosenblum and has three musically gifted adult children). We spoke in her elegant blue music room in the shadow of her grand piano.
You’ve called yourself an “accidental art song composer.” How did your career begin?
In graduate school I took a class in composing music for film and theater, taught by Frank Lewin, who remained my mentor until his death. In retrospect, I realize how much I use the techniques he taught. I learned to be supersensitive to different moods in a film or play and how to compose effective music for those moods.
A few years after graduation, I lived in Manhattan and, while my husband went to law school, I taught flute and composed music for several industrial films. Generally, I had 10 days to write and produce everything. My limited budgets forced me to be creative in my orchestration, and these lessons came in handy when I was orchestrating my opera.
I did not write art songs until 1991 when soprano Lauren Wagner, my former roommate at Interlochen Music Camp, asked me to write songs for her debut CD, American Song Recital. I was very hesitant and told her I had no experience in writing songs. But Lauren insisted, so I studied her repertoire and began to read a lot of poetry.
When I discovered the work of Sara Teasdale, I immediately felt her style was a good match for my music. So I wrote “The Metropolitan Tower,” and it was good! It just sort of popped out, and I still think it’s one of my best songs. I’m not sure I would’ve discovered my gift for song were it not for Lauren, who remains one of my closest friends.
Your songs are praised widely. Why did you decide to write an opera?
Well, I was asked! Another accident! [Laughs.] In May 2006, I was representing the U.S. in Kay Kraeft’s Songs Across the Americas Festival, held at the University of Central Arkansas. Robert Holden, a baritone on the faculty and co-director of its opera theater, was performing my music at the festival and he loved it. He asked if I’d be interested in writing an opera for UCA, and I said, “Sure!”
So I asked David Mason, whose poem I’d previously used for the song “Swimmers on the Shore,” if he would be interested in writing a libretto for me, and he was. Meanwhile, the chair of the music department, Jeffery Jarvis, approved the idea and they raised the funds to pay for the commissions for David Mason and me. I received the libretto in January 2007, began composing in February, and 11 months later finished the piano/vocal score. I then spent about six months orchestrating the opera.
Why did you and David Mason adapt Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter?
For funding reasons, our project was put on a very fast track, which meant that our story had to be in the public domain. So I ran to the bookstore, picked up about 10 classics, and sent an e-mail list to Rob and Dave. We all liked The Scarlet Letter, though we weren’t the first team to adapt it. The first opera was written in 1896 by Walter Damrosch. George Lathrop, Hawthorne’s son-in-law, was the librettist, so it stands to reason that Hawthorne thought the story would make a good opera.
Some people have called it a chamber opera. Is that an accurate term?
The Scarlet Letter was written with chamber orchestra accompaniment. When my friend Elise Kirk, a specialist in American opera, came over to hear me play through the score, she said, “Oh my goodness, I don’t know what that is! I think that’s a ‘grand chamber opera.’” She felt that everything was very tied together and organic, and all the themes had meaning. Another friend who’s a scientist listened to me speak about the opera and she said, “The way you talk about your motifs combining and recombining reminds me of DNA!”
I’ve read that you used a musical motif for each character.
Yes. And by combining different parts of each motif, I tried to give more psychological insight into each character. I also used rhythm, texture, harmony, and orchestration to deepen characterizations.
What were your musical goals for The Scarlet Letter?
I always strive to make beautiful music and dramatic music. Before starting, I reread Hawthorne. But while I was composing the opera, David Mason’s words were all the inspiration I needed. Whenever I was stuck, I thought, “What do the words mean and how can I write music that makes those words come across?”
I view the protagonist, Hester Prynne, as a complex character. She’s strong, honest, and courageous. She sticks to her beliefs. She goes on after Dimmesdale [her lover] dies. I think she’s a great role model. I agree with Beth Greenberg, the New York City Opera stage director, who calls Hester “an American Violetta, another woman alone against a society she cannot change.”
Tell us about your process for composing the opera.
In an opera you deal with a lot of characters as opposed to one character in a song. Each character has his own plot threads and musical motifs. And since the piece runs for two hours, I had to learn not to tax each singer’s voice.
I composed the vocal first line, with bare bones harmony. Then I fleshed out the accompaniment to create the piano/vocal score. But the interesting thing about writing an opera is the chance to add so much more color with the orchestration.
It’s very creative doing the orchestration. You can’t just have the orchestra double the piano lines, you have to invent all sorts of new lines. It’s another layer of composition and another chance to add a layer of interpretation. You have to decide what instruments to use for coloring each situation and you must have enough knowledge to write correctly for each instrument. Initially, I was quite worried about doing the orchestration, but I am pleased with the results.
You knew on the front end that baritone Robert Holden of UCA was going to sing the role of Chillingworth. Did you write specifically for him?
Absolutely. I tailored the role for Rob, and he did a super job. I also previously worked with Christine Donahue, the wonderful soprano who played Hester. Their feedback was essential to my own learning curve. As we rehearsed, I made appropriate changes to the score, sometimes creating optional notes to lower the tessitura in extended passages.
Most of the leads were UCA faculty members, including my first Dimmesdale, Wolfgang Oeste. Unfortunately, he came down with bronchitis, but his understudy, John Garst, came in and was fabulous.
What was it like to set text written expressly for your music rather than setting a poem that already exists?
That’s a really interesting question. It was definitely more of a collaboration than art song usually is. When writing a song, I generally won’t ask a poet if I can change a word or rework a section. However, in this process, Dave and I had a dialogue. I could say, “It’s easier for the singer to do this, so could we switch the order of these words?” or “Do you mind if I add a refrain that’s not in the libretto?”
Dave and I did not argue about artistic choices. He’s such a brilliant narrative poet. I trust his instincts completely and he trusts mine. We make a great team.
How was the preproduction phase in Arkansas?
Again, it was a more collaborative process than I am used to. I worked a lot with our conductor, Israel Getzov. He was so talented at delving into my score and bringing it to life. He pulled a phenomenal performance out of a young student orchestra. I went back and forth to Arkansas and was able to coach each soloist individually as well as the chorus. I had the freedom to make changes when needed.
What advice would you give to singers who are working with a living composer, whether in art song or opera?
If there are problems with the music, be honest about what works and what doesn’t. Hopefully you’ll have a composer who will be flexible about changing things. My motto—stolen from Lauren Wagner—is “A happy singer is a good singer.”
Are you and David Mason planning to collaborate on a second opera?
We’re planning on creating an opera from his verse novel, Ludlow, the story of the 1914 massacre of the Colorado coal miners. Dave has just won the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Creativity in Motion Prize, given by the University of Oklahoma, to create this libretto. I am now searching for someone to commission my portion of the work.
We are currently collaborating on Vedem, a Holocaust oratorio about the secret underground magazine by the boys imprisoned at Terezín [German: Theresienstadt]. It was commissioned by Music of Remembrance in Seattle and will premiere there on May 10, 2010.
Let’s go back to your art song career. In May 2009, your fourth solo CD was released on the Albany label. The new disc features singers you’ve recorded before. What’s the value of working with the same artists?
My new CD is Within These Spaces, and the artists I recorded have a history of understanding my music. I have a kind of shorthand with Sari Gruber, Jennifer Check, Randy Scarlata, Warren Jones, and others who continue to perform my songs. I remain so grateful for their support.
The title, Within These Spaces, is the name of the disc’s first cycle which was commissioned by the Nebraska Music Teachers Association (NMTA). In 2002 I was the NMTA Composer of the Year, which I didn’t even realize until I got to Nebraska and opened the program. I’d been asked to set five poems by Nebraska women poets, each with a mother-daughter theme.
In interviews you’ve spoken about the value of having a patron. Do you have one?
I’ve been lucky to have a champion in Adelaide Whitaker, who holds a doctorate in musicology. She’s been a tremendous friend and so helpful in my development as a composer. The first cycle I wrote for her was Between the Bliss and Me, a setting of Dickinson poems. Next was Sunflowers, set to poems of Mary Oliver. I recorded both for my second CD, Dreaming. Then Adelaide commissioned Men with Small Heads set to poems by Thomas Lux, and the title song from that cycle won Best Song in the 2004 American Art Song Competition.
Generally, she’s interested in creating a body of songs with texts by American women poets, and more of her
commissions are found on my new CD.
How did singers learn about you early on?
Initially, Lauren Wagner’s performances and her CD boosted my visibility. Word of mouth and the Internet were helpful, as were some very nice reviews and awards. I’m also quite prolific and have released four solo CDs since 2000. I also have to thank Glendower Jones, my distributor at Classical Vocal Reprints, an ally who “sings” my praises.
Traveling to universities to give masterclasses has also allowed me to share my music with many people. Some
students have written doctoral dissertations on my music, which is gratifying.
How would a singer commission a song or a cycle from you?
Singers can visit my website or send me an e-mail at lori@artsongs.com. I have a backlog of commissions right now, but I’m always happy to meet new singers and listen to their proposals.
Your natural tendency is to write vocal lines that are admired for their lyrical melodies. But when you were a student at Yale in the 1970s, you were told that “beautiful music” was out of fashion.
It was terribly out of fashion. One teacher would say, “It’s beautiful,” but I perceived the comment as something of an insult. I think there’s been a tremendous shift over the last 20 years, and now people can write anything. I’m grateful that “beautiful” music is now held in higher regard by critics, composition teachers, and fans.
For more information about Lori Laitman, visit her website: www.artsongs.com.
