Over the past two weeks, we have had 2 more shootings of students at American schools, one at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and another at Stem Schools in Colorado. Just prior to that gun violence, a Jewish synagogue was attacked by another gunman. In all three attacks, 3 people died by throwing themselves in the line of gunfire to save the lives of those around around them. The time for strict licensing for gun ownership and gun control is now, before many other innocents get massacred.
A threnody is a song of lament. I began composing the music heard here on February 15, 2018, the day after the horrific slaughter of students at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It is meant to be a prayer of lamentation for the many men, women, and children who have been massacred by assault weapons in the United States. The little to no response from the manufacturers of those weapons or the NRA other than to arm more people with the same weapons, in my opinion, make these groups complicit in the murders of these innocent people.
This scriptural passage from the Book of Wisdom is what I used as an inspiration for the music I composed here.
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
and no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died
and their departure was thought to be a disaster,
and their going from us to be their destruction;
but they are at peace.
For though in the sight of others they were punished,
their hope is full of immortality.
Having been disciplined a little,
they will receive great good,
because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;
like gold in the furnace he tried them,
and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.
In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,
and will run like sparks through the stubble.
They will govern nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord will reign over them forever.
Those who trust in him will understand truth
and the faithful will abide with him in love,
because grace and mercy are upon his holy ones,
and he watches over his elect. (Wisdom 3)
Four images were prominent in my mind as I composed this music and reflected in the four sections of this song.
The first image is that of the many feet walking in cemeteries, over these many years of gun violence, to bring their dead loved ones to be buried. The countless children from the wee ones to college students, girlfriends and boyfriends, fiancés, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers indiscriminately slaughtered at school, universities, movie theaters, shopping malls, places of businesses, even Fort Hood.
The second image is that of the relentless chaos of the shooting. People scattering everywhere to escape the hail of bullets, bodies slaughtered left and right by the gunfire. The look of disbelief and horror on the faces of the dead, the dying, and the wounded as they lie where they have been slaughtered.
The third image is that of the victims’ loved ones visiting the graves of those they lost. The utter senselessness of their deaths. The cutting off of their lives before they could even begin to live.
The fourth image is that of the heavenly peace of the victims, held in the loving arms of the God who created them.
The form of the song is ABAC.
