Susanna (artist, Francesco Hayez)
INTRODUCTION
The song is the Canticle of Susanna. It is a Biblical story not known to most Jewish people or Protestants. The story can be found in the Deuterocanonical books of the Catholic and Orthodox scriptures, but is not found either in the Jewish canon nor the Protestant canon of scripture. You can find the story at Daniel 13.
I first learned the story of Susanna singing Carlisle Floyd’s Opera “Susannah”, an American opera based on the story of the rape of Susannah. (I was in the chorus, and had a minor solo role as one of the Southern farmers convinced that Susannah was a shameless hussy). When I was playing and leading the music for many Catholilc school Masses, every other year the story of the Rape of Susanna would be a part of the cycle of readings at the Masses. Teachers were always upset when the priest would insist on the reading be read.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY
Susanna is a beautiful woman, beloved by her father, her husband and her children. The word that best describes Susanna is the word faithfulness, faithful to her father, her husband, her children, and most importantly to her God. As the story goes, her community has elected two elders to act as judges. Unbeknownst to Susanna, the judges are voyeuristic leches who lust after her. They stalk her every move, and habitually place themselves in hidden places to watch her. One hot midday, she decides to bathe in her courtyard. She sends her servants away as she bathes herself in the heat of the day. The two judges approach her and sexually assault her. If she doesn’t regularly engage in sex with them, they will tell the community that they caught her in adultery, which will result in Susanna’s execution. She refuses to be coerced and tells them she would prefer to die than willingly violate her religion and her vows to her husband. They subsequently gather the community and publicly condemn her for adultery. At her trial the next day she brought before her family and community, stripped naked, and has to endure the lies that the judges lay upon her. She cries out to the heavens calling on God to defend her, but, of course, no voice from the clouds is heard nor does anyone come to her defense. She is led to her place of execution at which point God begins to speak through a young man, named, Daniel. Daniel isolates the two judges and interrogates them separately. Seeing that their stories do not agree, he announces the deceit and treachery of the two judges who are then executed, and Susanna is freed to return to her family and restored to her community.
AS YOU LISTEN TO THE MUSIC
This music has certain motifs or musical themes to represent Susanna and the events happening in the story (think of the way John Williams weaves musical themes representing Princess Leia, Ewoks, Hans Solo, Luke Skywalker throughout the Star War films). Technically, the song is in Rondo form (think of it as a refrain with different music for each verse). Susanna’s theme is expressed in a waltz melody in a major key, meant to establish how beautiful and blessed a person she is. It seques to a sharp dissonant melody, to represent her rape and subsequent accusation of adultery by the judges at her trial. Susanna’s theme returns only in a minor key as she cries to the heavens her innocence, only to have the second melody with all its harsh dissonances return. This begins to change as Daniel steps to interrogate the evil judges and in a loud flurry of notes in a major key reveals their treachery. Finally, Susanna’s theme returns in full in a major key signifying her vindication by God and once more is beloved by her family and all in her community.
THE SONG
POEM REFLECTION ON THE STORY
CANTICLE FOR SUSANNA
Where to begin this song?
Your story just one among
so many biblical heroines,
lost and hidden in ancient manuscripts.
There are those, mostly male,
who attest the historicity of your life,
and others, mostly male,
cite your life as nothing more
than a mere allegorical fable.
What impact do the opinions
of stodgy, old males, bedecked
in clerical or academic robes,
have on your life’s story?
No importance whatsoever.
Beautiful, the adjective
most often used to describe you.
How is beauty defined?
Is it all about the shape of a woman’s body,
her skin’s complexion, flowing, long hair,
dark brown eyes and pouting lips?
Is beauty really just measured
upon mere physical superficiality?
We all know better.
Beauty is defined by the character of one
who loves and is loved in return.
The true measure of your beauty
is in your love for your father,
your husband and your children,
and most importantly,
the love for your God.
Too often we entrust power
to those who betray our trust.
A horrific weapon is power,
especially in the hands
of unscrupulous men.
How were you to know that
those to whom your community
entrusted such trust and judgment,
elders who sat in power over others,
would cover their voyeuristic lechery
under a cloak of respectability,
and, seemingly, impeccable character?
Were you aware their eyes stalking you
lustfully following your every move?
The way your hands smoothed
the drape of the clothes on your body?
The way you brushed your hair.
How were you to know,
as you bathed yourself in the garden,
their eyes eagerly following
the drops of water trailing
down your body in the heat
of the noonday sun?
Like animals in heat,
nostrils flaring, they leap upon you,
their words and lust,
an aural sexual assault
upon you as you sit before them
naked and vulnerable.
Their words rip at your dignity,
raping your heart, as much
raping your body.
Their eyes rake and claw your flesh,
demanding, coercing your compliance
to their rape, or face public shame
and execution for adultery.
The importance of fidelity and love
to God, to husband, to children,
far outweighs the shame
with which you are threatened,
death preferable to unfaithfulness.
Dragged by your accusers
before your family, your community,
you face them all,
stripped of any defense or witnesses,
as surely as the clothes
are ripped from your body.
False accusations land upon you
like the lashes of a whip,
wounding you, crushing you
under their blows.
Head lifted, you cry aloud to the heavens,
calling to God to be your defense,
to witness to your innocence,
yet, God’s response is muted
unheard by your ears
and the ears of your community.
Resigned, led to the place of execution,
you await the end of life.
God’s love did not abandon you
to loathsome treachery, no.
God begins to speak,
not from some cloud in the heavens
but in the voice of a young man,
one possessed of great wisdom and faith,
a fearless witness of God
who would later stand
unscathed amidst a den of lions.
His words strip from the elders
their cloaks of respectability,
their naked deceit and leachery
exposed to all the people,
whilst revealing your great love
and your faithfulness
to God and all you love.
Susanna, your story concludes
with you returned to your family,
restored to your community.
All stories have a lesson,
all fables a moral.
What moral does your story teach?
Those who love God greatly
are loved far greater in return by God.
Susanna, in this present time,
when love and faithfulness
seem unknown by so many,
or if known, discarded or ignored
as an impediment or irrelevant,
your story is more than just
a mere allegorical fable.
It is the way to live our lives.
© 2021, by Robert Charles Wagner. All right reserved.
