A June Memorial for New Orleans, Orlando and Colorado Springs - 1. The Invocation, and Part I: New Orleans

  .

exaudi vocem meam

“Hear how my voice cries out”

——

A June

Memorial Service

for New Orleans, Orlando and

Colorado Springs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

by AC Benus

 

completed on June 12, 2023,

the 7th anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub

attack in Orlando, Florida

 

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Production Notes:

 

– This memorial service is intended to be performed in church.

 

– Cast/Participants:

 

– CHOIR (S, A, T, B )

 

– Soloists

 

– SOPRANO

 

– TENOR

 

– BASS/BARITONE

 

- CANTOR/Presenter

 

– READERS 1, 2 and 3 for the respective Skyscraper poems

 

– Accompaniment for voices:

 

– Piano/Organ

 

– A few more instruments, including guitar

– The musical director, and/or soloists involved in this memorial, will compose pop-song-like settings for the three Psalms in Parts I, II and III. ^[1]

– The only props needed are three folio folders – referred hereafter as “books” – to hold the text the Cantor and Readers will use at the pulpit or podium. The Cantor’s book can be red in color, while the others, black.

- It is only appropriate that all Cast/Participant members of this memorial service be out representatives of the LGBTI2S+ Community.

 

 

 

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Invocation:

 

(When the audience is settled, the musical director will lead the Choir in an acapella rendering of Psalm 129 [130].)

 

No. 1: “de profundis” by Gluck ^[2]

 

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine;

Domine, exaudi vocem meam.

Fiant aures tuae intendentes

in vocem deprecationis meae.

 

Et ipse redimet Israël

ex omnibus iniquitatibus ejus.

 

 

 

Part I: New Orleans

The UpStairs Lounge Attack, 1973 ^[3]

 

(After the Choir finishes with the Invocation, the Cantor will rise, walk to the pulpit or podium, and recite the following.)

 

Recitation 1: Account of the UpStairs Lounge attack

 

CANTOR:

In the city of New Orleans,

Night of the twenty-fourth of June

Nineteen seventy three, someone

With a heart full of hate blocked doors

To barricade safe ways out

Of the second-floor UpStairs Lounge.

The club was Community space

Queer and questioning folks gathered,

And none could have guessed on that night

How a mind of malice schemed to

Murder as many as he could

Because of their Community.

Yet, he did by dousing the stairs

With lighter fluid, which he lit.

In the bar on that June evening

Were most of the congregation

Of the free Metropolitan

Community Church, which often

Used UpStairs Lounge to hold service

In its French Quarter neighborhood.

They stood around the piano,

Singing a Gay anthem to them –

United We Stand – just as the flames

Burst through the front doors upon them.

 

(The Cantor closes their book and returns to their seat while the Soprano stands and moves to the central part of the performing area. A guitarist joins the Soprano, and together with the other musicians, accompanies the singer in the following Psalm.)

 

 

No. 2: Psalm 25, part III

 

SOPRANO:

 

Look towards me, Lord, with pity,

For I’m alone and afflicted.

 

Soothe the sore troubles of my heart,

And lead me away from distress.

 

(Instrumental recap/solo and bridge)

 

End my plight and suffering,

For enemies are many,

And they hate me with utter

Violence in their vile hearts.

 

But you, Lord, can preserve me;

Not let me be put to shame;

And provide refuge in you.

Let my integrity stand

Because I wait upon you.

 

(Instrumental recap/solo and bridge)

 

Soothe the sore troubles of my heart,

And lead me away from distress.

 

Look towards me, Lord, with pity,

For I’m alone and afflicted.

 

(Instrumental recap/solo and closing)

 

 

(Once complete, the guitarist returns to their seat while the soloist remains in place. The Cantor returns to the pulpit or podium to recite the following.)

 

 

Recitation 2: Aftermath of the UpStairs Lounge attack

 

CANTOR:

Thirty-two people died that night;

Over twenty fled to the roof;

Fifteen more were injured, but lived.

Two of the guys there had taken

Their mother with them to the bar,

To show how decent the place was.

The three family members died there;

As well as a third of the church

Congregation and their pastor.

The city’s Catholic archbishop

Forbad any of the victims

From funerals at the local

Parish Saint Louis Cathedral.

Four unclaimed victims were interred

In paupers’ graves by the county,

And their plot locations are now

‘Officially’ lost as records.

Police failed to investigate,

Even after two survivors

Informed cops and their lieutenant –

There, on site – who had lit the match.

With no charges having being made,

The investigation was closed.

This man-in-uniform neglect

Was matched by a firefighter,

Who – two survivors testified –

Said to a colleague at the blaze:

“They’re just [f-words], so let ‘em burn.”

 

 

(After a few silent moments, the Cantor closes their book and returns to their seat. Then, Reader 1 stands, goes to the pulpit or podium to deliver the following Skyscraper, which includes reading out the title.)

 

 

READER 1:

 

A New Orleans Skyscraper

 

What color

Might forgiveness assume

When every shade seems aggressively

Against the soul’s true hue as it was meant to show;

Which shade might shine magnanimity

On those who choose to hate

Differences?

 

Can’t they see

How often we have felt

Exactly like a motherless child,

Borne ourselves through a World that wants none of us here,

While desperately seeking acceptance

Because we are human

And alone.

 

How can that,

A warm human flicker,

Stay lit amidst the draft of a match

Anyone of the majority may yet strike

To impose what they feel is worthless

Gets seared back on our flesh

As a brand.

 

However,

This same majority

Wants to deny our persecution,

Robs from us the very martyrdom of our deaths,

Stating to all, over and over,

That Queer lives don’t matter,

Even dead.

 

 

(Reader 1 closes their book and returns to their seat. The Choir prepares to accompany the soloist in the following lullaby.)

 

 

No. 3: “Suo-Gân” performed with these lyrics ^[4]

 

SOPRANO:

 

[Verse 1]

 

Taken too soon

From those who love you,

With a fresh moon

Rising new.

 

Let your spirit

Flying away

Its light emit

Here today.

 

 

CHOIR:

 

Safe in slumber,

We’ll remember

To say our prayers

As if theirs.

 

 

SOPRANO with CHOIR:

 

Safe in slumber,

We’ll remember

To say our prayers

As if theirs.

 

 

SOPRANO:

 

Taken too soon

From we who loved you,

Greet the old moon

Shining new.

 

 

(Instrumental recap/solo and closing)

 

 

SOPRANO:

 

[Verse 2]

 

Never alone,

Your Community

Has yet grown

Ever free.

 

But see our tears

Falling once more,

Despite the years,

As before.

 

 

CHOIR:

 

Safe in slumber,

We’ll remember

To say our prayers

As they did theirs.

 

 

SOPRANO with CHOIR:

 

Safe in slumber,

We’ll remember

To say our prayers

As they did theirs.

 

 

SOPRANO:

 

Never alone,

Your Community

Has yet grown

Ever free.

 

 

(Instrumental recap/solo and closing)

 

 

 

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Endnotes

 

[1] Psalm settings: Other than the Invocation and Closing Prayer settings of de profundis (by 18th century composers), the internal Psalm music is conceived to be more counterparty in nature. Perhaps calling it “pop-song-like” is not entirely correct, as I envision the music to be intimate and moving.

To illustrate the type of setting I have in mind, I’ll include a few examples collected from youtube. These, like the youtube videos that will follow to provide examples of the type of settings imagined for the three Welsh lullabies also used in this memorial service, are for purposes of setting mood/emotions, and are not meant to be literal, note-for-note representations of the music indicated in this script. (Also note, the three Psalms selected for this memorial are plaintive in nature, and credited to King David, although the examples that follow are geared to what’s usually termed “worship.”)

– Victory Bond’s 2020 setting of Psalm 91:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma_SMyiEApc

 

– Renew Collective’s 2017 setting of Psalm 91:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HLIF2Dq57o

 

– Jeremy Riddle’s 2023 setting of Psalm 63:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li6DuyRBAW0

 

– Bob Kauflin /David Zimmer’s 2022 setting of Psalm 121:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzJkC0-CSng

 

– Sounds of Reign’s 2022 setting of Psalm 19:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W63PVM5AuZU

 

– Rhoda Isabella’s 2022 setting of Psalm 20:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x_C-nnbxrc

 

– Ian White’s 1994 setting of Psalm 49:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc-y7jVCh5A

 

[2] The Invocation. de profundis by Christoph Willibald Gluck.

 

– The full vocal score can be found here:

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/1/11/De_profundis_-_Gluck.pdf

 

– Kammerchor VOX’s 2011 acapella setting of Gluck’s Psalm can be heard here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=14&v=UyUWxACC6Fo&feature=youtu.be

 

[3] The UpStairs Lounge attack. For the club as worship space, see Lane Craft / Macy Weaver’s July 6th, 2021, article Almost 50 years later, deadly attack at New Orleans Gay bar remains unsolved posted on mississippicir.org

https://www.mississippicir.org/news/almost-50-years-later-deadly-attack-at-new-orleans-gay-bar-remains-unsolved

 

– For survivors’ testimony on police indifference to the mass killing, and a fireman’s onsite comment of “ . . . let ‘em burn,” see CBS News’ August 6th, 2022, article New Orleans searches for remains of 4 victims of 1973 Gay bar fire that killed 31 posted on cbsnews.com

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/upstairs-lounge-gay-bar-1973-arson-search-4-victims-new-orleans/

 

[4] Traditional Welsh lullaby Suo-Gân. For an indication of the tempo and mood of the setting appropriate for this memorial service, see Bryn Terfel’s 2002 performance here:

https://youtu.be/IE3ryQ-J3Dg?t=62

 

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