• An Anchor in Time was commissioned by Resonance Works in celebration of their 10th anniversary season for premiere on March 3 & 5, 2023 by Resonance Works Ensemble, Maria Sensi Sellner, conductor, Timmi Williams, mezzo-soprano, and Dan Teadt, baritone, soloists, at First United Methodist Church, Bloomfield, PA & Carnegie Music Hall, Carnegie, PA

• Instrumentation: 1(picc).0.1.1. - pft - mezzo.baritone - 2.2.2.2.1

• Duration: 22’

About An Anchor in Time

It may be that most lives unfold around a continually oscillating concern for past and future events. Hart Crane, in his poem The Bridge: The Dance, traces his narrator’s journey drifting, climbing, and reaching a summit where they’ve “gained the ledge,” carrying with them all they have seen while looking out toward all that is ahead. Landmarks in time and achievement intensify the human tendency to look forward and to reflect at the same time. As Resonance Works marks its 10th anniversary season, I turned to text that looks in both directions to celebrate the occasion, looking back into the public record and poetry of the past and forward through the eyes of children interviewed for the project who speak to memory, to the present moment, and to their tomorrows.

 MOVEMENTS

I. draw your chair up close

II. ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Cosmos Backed

III. It is quite true      

IV. Human Genome

V. Double Decker Rainbow

VI. slow sand

TEXT

An Anchor in Time

for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and chamber orchestra

I. draw your chair up close

from The Crack-Up

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Listen, little Elia: draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story.

II. ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Cosmos Backed

LONDON, Feb. 10, 1961

The New York Times

British Astronomer Asserts Radio Signals Disprove a Continuous Creation

“The universe had a beginning.”

The distribution of the signals confirmed that the universe was expanding and that

irregular groups of galaxies, or star kingdoms were flying outward into space.

…there was a moment of creation when all matter was together.

“The universe had a beginning.”

III. It is quite true                                                      

from Journalen (1843)                                    from The First Day

Søren Kierkegaard                                          Christina Rossetti

“It is quite true what Philosophy says:

that Life must be understood backward.

                                  I wish I could remember that first day,

                                  First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

                                  So unrecorded did it slip away,

                                  So blind was I to see and to foresee

But that makes one forget:

that Life must be lived—forward.

IV. Human Genome

public record

GATC / AATG / AGGT / GGAC

ACCA / GAGG / CGGG / GACT

TGTA / AATA

ACAC / TGGG

CTGT / AGGA

GTGA

The first line is…

The first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome,

published two decades after the first draft human genome sequence…

The first line of Chromosome 1 is beautiful.

V. Double Decker Rainbow

Lark Wright, age 11

Well…well, what’s happening now is

I'm excited to go to England.

And to meet my grandma's old friend.

I think my mom has it all planned out so

I'm not 100% sure what else we will do.

My brother and my dad will go to a fancy

sneaker store just to look around.

But I know

I know I want to…

I want to ride on a double decker bus.

I have always loved them.

It’s like: there’s the bottom! And then the top!

And it’s just so cool! It’s like:

are there STAIRS?

are there STAIRS. IN. the bus?

It's so confusing, but so amazing.

like a miniature house on wheels…

but not… but, YES!

And I wonder: are they all red?

I don’t think so… but they should be.

Or, maybe, it’s like a parade of:

one’s red! one’s orange! one’s yellow!

and it’s a whole rainbow

and they just drive together with a

bunch of people on them and it’s like…

It’s a double decker rainbow.

VI. slow sand

Lark Wright, age 11                                         Seamus Hagen, age 11

The whole sky is changing colors—

all these different oranges and reds and blues

and all the clouds are just drifting

                                  Every time you do something

                                  you drop an anchor in time.

and you can see the sun.

It’s less bright now.

                                  And when you drop them every year in the same way

                                  the anchors become connected.

It's just drifting down

                                  They are heavy and strong and they are one.

                                  And you can conjure that moment—

like it's sinking into something,                     

                                  you can conjure that moment—

like its sinking into slow sand—

                                  And you can conjure that moment—

                                  of all those combined anchors—

                                  from anywhere, in any time.

then all the oranges and reds start

turning darker like there’s a curtain

that reveals a whole new sky

                                  you can conjure that moment

and then night starts coming

                                  from anywhere, in any time.

and then the stars come.

I. draw your chair up close - 0:00

II. ‘Big Bang’ Theory of Cosmos Backed - 3:06

III. It is quite true - 6:15

IV. Human Genome - 9:42

V. Double Decker Rainbow - 12:23

VI. slow sand - 15:35

An Anchor in Time / March 5, 2023 live-concert recording

Timmi Williams, mezzo-soprano

Dan Teadt, baritone

Maria Sensi Sellner, conductor