The Unarmed Child
Openings: Up to 7 openings remain. (NY, OR, RI filled)
This consortium will consist of up to 10 choirs, one per state and each commissioning a separate song in this Mass setting to be premiered during the 2019-2020 choral season.
Gun violence is one of the greatest threats we face as a nation, a threat fed by many different sources.
Moved to action by the mass shooting in Parkland, I set aside a different choral consortium I was organizing so that could focus on The Unarmed Child. This will be a consortium of choirs, one per state, each commissioning a separate song in the Mass. Though only commissioning one movement, each choir will receive the entire Mass with State premiere rights to perform their movement, several movements, or the entire mass setting of The Unarmed Child during the 2019-2020 season.
Here is the Mass as it stands today:
The Mass is for SATB Choir, small Symphonic Orchestra, Soprano Soloist, Hip Hopera artist, and possibly one movement for a Treble Choir (that being “Kyrie”).
A separate option is string quartet, clarinet, FH, trombone +1 obbligato instrument to be determined.
The Unarmed Child Michael Bussewitz-Quarm (b. 1971)
The Movements of The Unarmed Child – Preliminary Plan
I. Agnus Dei (dark)
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona eis requiem.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi: dona eis requiem sepiternam.
II. Tribute Hip hopera/choral fusion – tribute to inner city youth (charged, powerful)
Commissioned by Collegium Ancora
Lyrics to be written by hip hopera artist, Adrian Dunn.
III. Kyrie (major, gentle, treble, pastorale)
Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.
IV. Eight Inches (De Profundis) (dark, somber, strong)
De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine.
Domine, exaudi vocem mean
Fiant aures tuae intendentes
In vocem deprecationis meae,
V. Bird on a Wire (lyrics, Chantal Sellers) (sorrowful)
Commissioned by the Eugene Concert Choir, Dr. Diane Retallak, Artistic Director
In winter the stars fell like snow,
Scattered and broken
With nowhere to go,
And I held your breath while you slept,
Dreaming the way sparrows dream
When the spring tides are rising
And even the old stones wear green.
There’s a bird on a wire
Watching over an empty nest,
And it’s me hanging there
Still waiting for something, I guess.
I’m watching through windows
Days I thought that I’d never see,
Then the wild wind rises
And I feel you here next to me.
That winter soon passed
Like all of the seasons before.
Time shrugged off its coat
And left muddy boots at the door.
I walked in green fields,
Swept up in violet reverie,
But the moment was frozen
Because winter never left me.
I can’t unbreak the stars
Or paint them back into the sky.
I can’t turn back the arrow
Or even figure out why.
The days come and go
And all of the seasons will change,
But this season is yours
And it’s here that I’ll write your name.
VI. Sanctus (musical mood and setting to be determined, to complement material coming before and after.)
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis.
VII. To Avielle, On Her 5th Sixth Birthday (lyrics, Chantal Sellers) (lovingly)
Commissioned by the Mount Sinai Choral Consortium, Mr. Eric Blatt, Conductor
VIII. Benedictus (strong, determined)
Benedictus qui venit
In nominee Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.
IX. Come to Me, in the Silence (uplifting, sweeping)
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
O dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low
As long ago, my love, how long ago.
– Christina Georgina Rossetti
X. Where The Mind Is Without Fear (grand, triumphant)
(incorporate the action word, “Listen”, into this movement)
(based on the poem “Where the Mind is Without Fear”, by Rabindranath Tagore)
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way;
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee;
Into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom,
let my country awake.
New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island are already on board. Several choirs from other states are reviewing proposals with their leadership teams.
With Long Island Voices joining forces with Connecticut singers, I am also planning to organize a benefit concert in central Connecticut for The Avielle Foundation of Sandy Hook. This will also serve to workshop “The Unarmed Child” and several other works underway.
If you’d like to listen to a few samples of my work in the meantime, I have some videos of performances on the home page of my website: https://mbqstudio.com. Both “I’ll Fly Away” and “Nigra Sum” are being picked up by Peermusic Classical beginning January 2019.
I can be reached at or (516) 729-0970 to provide further information.
Thank you for considering this project.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.