EXTRA CREDIT - The Beauty of Sound //Samantha T

     Thursday's performance of An Alphabet of Soldiers by resident music professors was not one to miss. I highly recommend attending the next time it is put on. The content of the lecture provided a deep understanding go the songs performed. The songs were poetry written by Krystyna Zywulska, a Jew, during her time in Auschwitz. She was able to keep her jewish heritage a secret by going by an alias. Auschwitz as commonly known, was a concentration camp, at which over a million people died. Krystyna's time there was dark, she started out working the fields but was later reassigned to an office where she sorted through the things of those entering the camp. Though this job was physically easier it was emotionally just as hard, as she watched through the window the parade of bodies enter the 4th crematoria of Auschwitz. All of these horrors are encapsulated in her poetry, alongside the beauties she was able to catch a glimpse of. 

    The musical side of this event is thanks to the pianist & composer Jake Heggie. He put Krystyna's words to music, to anyone who hears advantage. In one portion of Farewell Auschwitz, the singers are to imitate instruments as the prisoners within Auschwitz would do, since they had no instruments. In another section the piano is played to mimic the rhythm of a typewriter. Heggie's cleverness in his ideas and ability to bring them to fruition was quite impressive to hear. Heggie's command of sound is one that should be appreciated through live performance.

    Though none of this can be said without a thank you and well done to the professors who organized the event, gave the lecture, and performed the pieces spectacularly.