MENDING WALL
For SSAA with divisi and piano
Composition: Mending Wall
Ensemble: Cantala
Conductor: Dr. Phillip Swan
Sheet Music
Available for SSAA divisi with piano. Contact Zach to purchase score.
Mending Wall:
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing.
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
(literary wall)
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.
' Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
Why do they make good neighbors?
Isn't it Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love wall,
That wants it down.'
I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly,
and I'd rather He said it for himself.
I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top In each hand,
like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
-Robert Frost
Composer Notes:
When I was shown the poem, "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, I immediately was connected to the idea of walls and how we use them within our lives. Whether physical, emotional, political or social walls, everyone puts them up. In this particular poem there are two characters who are polar opposites. The narrator who appears more forward thinking and a neighbor who appears fairly traditional. At first glance this poem is simply about two men mending a wall. As they go about their business, the narrator tries to rationalize the purpose of having a stone wall. He thinks of many reasons as to why the wall should not exist and each of these reasons supports the idea that there is something within nature that does not want a wall.
In my opinion, the most interesting aspect about this poem is the interaction between the narrator and neighbor. The situation seems one sided; however, like most things in life, it is really a two-way road. So often it can seem like our intentions are for the best. but when it comes down to it, blaming others instead of accepting some amount of fault is way easier. To make matters even worse, beyond putting up our own walls, we often put up walls about other people. We hope that they will change, but by stereotyping them, we give them a narrow escape from our own opinions. Through this composition I encourage everyone to talk about different types of walls found in the text. I have marked a literary wall created by Robert Frost to get you started. I hope that through these conversations you may discover walls in your own life and that you may remove those.
About the Composition:
When I was shown the poem, "Mending Wall" by Robert Frost, I immediately was connected to the idea of walls and how we use them within our lives. Whether physical, emotional, political or social walls, everyone puts them up. In this particular poem there are two characters who are polar opposites. The narrator who appears more forward thinking and a neighbor who appears fairly traditional. At first glance this poem is simply about two men mending a wall. As they go about their business, the narrator tries to rationalize the purpose of having a stone wall. He thinks of many reasons as to why the wall should not exist and each of these reasons supports the idea that there is something within nature that does not want a wall.
In my opinion, the most interesting aspect about this poem is the interaction between the narrator and neighbor. The situation seems one sided; however, like most things in life, it is really a two-way road. So often it can seem like our intentions are for the best. but when it comes down to it, blaming others instead of accepting some amount of fault is way easier. To make matters even worse, beyond putting up our own walls, we often put up walls about other people. We hope that they will change, but by stereotyping them, we give them a narrow escape from our own opinions. Through this composition I encourage everyone to talk about different types of walls found in the text. I have marked a literary wall created by Robert Frost to get you started. I hope that through these conversations you may discover walls in your own life and that you may remove those.
In terms of compositional technique, fifths are used throughout this composition as a representation of the stones being stacked on a wall. I have always perceived fifths as sounding cold and blocky. Beyond fifths, fourths are used (the inverse of fifths) for the same exact reason. The use of the descending and ascending themes seen above are dependent upon the context of the poem. Beyond fifths, meter is used intentionally to highlight important aspects of the iambic meter within this poem. Frost often used iambs intentionally to convey meaning within his poetry. I interpreted more simple forms of iambs (such as lines 12 -14) as representing a more simple time. I also tried to capture an Americana type of sound in these moments with the use of fifth creating open voicing of seventh chords in the piano. A little inspiration from Aaron Copland.
