Monument to a Universal Marriage

After so many short fugues, it is time to hear something very different. We are pleased to present the U.S. premiere of Monument to a Universal Marriage by composer-in-residence Willem Jeths. The first same-sex marriage in Amsterdam was celebrated on April 1, 2001. The petition for the necessary change to Dutch law had nonetheless been initiated much earlier in the Brabant town of Best, where lawyer Jan Wolter Wabeke and journalist Henk Krol combined forces for its legal preparation and placement on the social agenda, a process that took more than twelve years. The tenth anniversary of “gay marriage”—a term, incidentally, that Jeths himself does not favor—was celebrated in Brabant with a work commissioned from Jeths. This would become Monument to a Universal Marriage (2011) for two singers, clarinet, and string quartet. In addition to the soprano and alto pairing heard in tonight’s performance, Jeths allows other options, including tenor/baritone or soprano/baritone.
The piece is intended as a musical monument; every performance is required to be accompanied by an explanation of the work’s background and genesis. The text itself is interesting: a love poem written over three thousand years ago that was found in the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Teje. “Breath,” as it is here called, was also set by Dutch composer Peter Schat as a “love song for chamber choir” in 1984. For Jeths, the gentle and introverted romantic Monument is a musical ode to emancipation, an achievement that must be celebrated in the most accessible way possible. He consciously chose to write for a number of performers that is both compact and readily arranged, so that the piece can be performed everywhere. He also wrote the music in a way that talented amateur musicians would be able to perform, thus further expanding its reach. The piece is, however, more than a monument to gay rights, not simply because it can be sung by a man and a woman. In Jeths’ view, it is an homage to love and marriage in and of themselves.

(c) Jason Stell and Bas van Putten