New Christmas Carols
Satirical cantata for soprano and ensemble | 2015 | 11'
Premiere:
Kellie Motter, soprano; Grant Barker, Malcolm Sheier, and Maximilian McNutt, trumpets; Stephen Karukas and David Miller, percussion; Alice Baldwin, piano; Peggy Houng, harp; Will Rowe, cello; conducted by Nicolas Chuaqui. Masters Recital. Auer Hall, Indiana University, Nov. 3, 2015.
New Christmas Carols is not for the faint-of-heart. The work satirizes the commercial holiday craze that occurs for several months leading up to Christmas. Topics the work deals with include religious hypocrisy, the destruction of the planet, shallow living, violence, and the over-positivity expressed in social media and elsewhere. The poems have a rancorous and bitter quality, and make many allusions to Christianity.
New Christmas Carols
Nicolas Chuaqui
I.
have we ever stopped
racing toward that goal
that makes clocks turn
and turns us to death
life was never new
but I always hoped
everything would be different
and the sameness changed in the end
I looked for anything that could stop it
I worked hard
blamed in money
bled the world's rivers until they were dry
billowed my smoke through all its caves
spent a lifetime splitting the globe to pieces
spilled blood of the conquered
seeded power
Is there anything like my pain?
Is there anything like my sorrow?
II.
The forcible merriness
rests forever unfulfilled
in lowly mansion.
while parents watch their politicians by night
the stars are falling into oceans,
maybe.
Herods we have heard
are singing low and coy,
and like those sweet mammoths of yore,
earnestly, in tinsel tones, do clamour:
save the violence
save big on violence
(these the plastic pieces
on which you may hang
your jacket)
Meanwhile you (like a reindeer)
look down (through the flood)
at (chimneys riv'n with)
your own reflection.
you wake from this dream (supposedly)
and not a creature is stirring
except there is a shouting on the rooftop:
If your brother sins against you you
must not forgive until it is the
moment when the morning star shines at 3.3333 latitude in the Northern
Hemisphere on the exact very end of the exact 666th
day of next
year
exactly one full second before floods shall engulf the
earth
my god, my god, why have you forsaken me?
III.
a star was born
as the flood dispersed.
it gave new light
the earth was rebirthed
rivers grew back
caves stretched out
trees took root
grass and animals
people and opinions
The sun shined brighter
than ever before.
All the strife and violence
between people disappeared.
oceans abounded with life.
Everything was plentiful.
Happiness was everywhere;
it was impossible to find
convincing sadness.
It was Christmas every day–
but real Christmas, with just
the right combination of
tranquility and enough presents
to make it not boring.
The Herods repented of their ways.
All was forgiven and people
even laughed about it
after some time had passed.
endless land
endless sky and space
endless time
endless direction
endless foreverness.
The old earth faded away
and was about to be no more.
but then, suddenly, everyone realized
that everyone was still a part of the old earth
so they gave each other immediately their time
presence
love
selves.
