Music and the smell of war

** As the US administration prepares the American public for a show of serious ass-kicking in Iraq, Benjamin Britten’s Cantata Miserecordium and Ballad of Heroes, when presented on the same program, is a strong counter dose of anti-war caution. Such was the case November 14 at Symphony Hall in Boston. Both pieces involve large choruses and male soloists. A big orchestral sound by the BSO included a busy percussion section adding ominous low timpani tones, crackling snares, splashing cymbals and bass drum booms to convey the violence that is the context for both these pieces. The Miserecordium, was composed in 1939, when Great Britain was in the beginning stages of World War II, and Heroes was a 1962 commemoration of the wartime activities of the Red Cross.

“Disease is spreading, war is stalking, famine reigns far and wide,” cries the Miserecordium chorus. And again in the Heroes: “It’s farewell to the drawing-room’s civilized cry…Now matters are settled with gas and bomb,”

I don’t know how far in advance musical programs are chosen, but I suspect it is well ahead of the performance date - what with programs to be printed and rehearsals scheduled, etc. A year? More? Did anyone suspect a year or more ago that war would be in the air on November 14, 2002? Did anyone consciously plan to remind this audience of war’s awfulness even as the righteous thrill builds for the impending clash? Regardless, I couldn't miss the acrid tang of smoldering evil even while the texts of both pieces celebrated compassion and bravery. More than the words, the music itself seemed to be saying: One day, sooner or later, we will awaken to the horror we have allowed to be unleashed when we supported this war. And it will smell like the sound of Britten's piano and harp accents. It will haunt us like the aftershocks of witnessing the scene of a bad highway accident – even though the scene has a delicious allure as we approach and pass.

Some say it’s time for America to assume its role of Empire, and to use swift and overwhelming force in maintaining order in the world and safety for itself. They blame previous timidity and hesitation for the buildup of secret terrorist elements that wreaked vast destruction on its shores, as well as on its interests abroad. There is an appeal to this good-cop/bad-cop persona. It seems like an effective way to get even with the bad guys of the world. The wielding of overwhelming physical force is seductive, especially when done for a good purpose. But the intoxication of erupting power only masks our innate revulsion at the tragedy we perpetrate through its destructive use and sets us up for the inevitable hangover.

If the sequence could be reversed, hangover first and the binge second, maybe there wouldn’t be a binge. Maybe the double-barreled Britten program is a way of giving us a taste and smell of the awfulness we seem to be ignoring in our run up to war.

Even so, I wonder how many of the patrons in Symphony Hall that night made the connection. Hard to tell. They seemed to be happy to applaud the performances, with the performers taking the requisite smiling bows, a ritual that acts like a chaser to the strong drink just consumed -- as if to say, aw shucks folks, we didnt' really mean it.

Whoever planned the program must have figured the audience would probably need more comforting than that. The evening concluded with a big hunk of Schubert pound cake and whipped cream that seemed intended to offset the grim pungency of the preceding battles of Britten.

But I wonder if anyone else went home catching whiffs of war hangover in the air.

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