The Homepage for Barry Seroff

Shortly after the emotional toll of 9/11 passed, I found myself drawn to the roots of American philosophy in an attempt to understand what it was that defined us as a culture. I read Whitman, Emerson and their ilk as well as revisiting my own connections with the Quakers. As I went deeper, I found that these beliefs were echoed in disparate cultures throughout history; perhaps most succinctly defined by the English poet William Blake; ‘All that Lives is Holy’. The ideas I thought stemmed from Emerson I found in ancient Haiku, bible verses, modern European philosophy and many places in between. I decided to take a wide variety of these texts and connect them into a story-type structure, resulting in a 45 minute Cantata for a large chamber ensemble called Democracy. The libretto can be found here. To match the variety found in the text, I chose to set it with a mixed ensemble featuring instruments found in jazz, rock and classical contexts. In doing this, I hoped to create a language based on the relationships between these different styles much in the way the diverse texts are connected by a common idea.The full premiere can be seen on youtube, here.

Democracy is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Democracy may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Click here to donate via Fractured Atlas. For a limited time, you can also receive perks by donating through indieagogo! Check it out here.

Part I

All that Lives is Holy

Infant Joy- William Blake
from Songs of Innocence

”I have no name:
I am but two days old.”
What shall I call thee?
“I happy am,
Joy is my name.”
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while,
Sweet joy befall thee!

Everywhere I Look-Anonymous Japanese Haiku

Everywhere I Look
Cherry Blossoms, Crimson Leaves
Seem to Appear

A Light Exists in Spring-Emily Dickinson

A light exists in spring
Not present on the year
At any other period.
When March is scarcely here
A color stands abroad
On solitary hills
That science cannot overtake,
But human nature feels.
It waits upon the lawn;
It shows the furthest tree
Upon the furthest slope we know;
It almost speaks to me.
Then, as horizons step,
Or noons report away,
Without the formula of sound,
It passes, and we stay:
A quality of loss
Affecting our content,
As trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a sacrament.

Earths Answer (Pt. 2)- William Blake
From Songs of Experience

”Does spring hide its joy
When buds and blossoms grow?
Does the sower
Sow by night,
Or the plowman in darkness plow?

“Break this heavy chain
That does freeze my bones around.
Selfish! Vain!
Eternal bane!
That free Love with bondage bound.”

The Mystic Trumpeter- Walt Whitman

Now trumpeter for thy close,
Vouchsafe a higher strain than any yet,
Sing to my soul, renew its languishing faith and hope,
Rouse up my slow belief, give me some vision of the future,
Give me for once its prophecy and joy.
O glad, exulting, culminating song!
A vigor more than earth’s is in thy notes,
Marches of victory – man disenthral’d – the conqueror at last,
Hymns to the universal God from universal man – all joy!
A reborn race appears – a perfect world, all joy!
Women and men in wisdom innocence and health – all joy!
Riotous laughing bacchanals fill’d with joy!
War, sorrow, suffering gone-the rank earth purged – nothing but joy
left!
The ocean fill’d with joy – the atmosphere all joy!
Joy! joy! in freedom, worship, love! joy in the ecstasy of life!
Enough to merely be! enough to breathe!
Joy! joy! all over joy!

Part II

The Blood of Christ- Elias Hicks
as quoted by Walt Whitman in November Boughs

The Blood of Christ-
the blood of Christ-
why, my friends,
the actual blood of Christ
in itself was no more effectual
than the blood of bulls and goats-
not a bit more-
not a bit.

It is Not the Scriptures!-George Fox
from The Diary of George Fox, chapter III

It is not the Scriptures!
and I told them what it was,
namely,
the Holy Spirit, by which
the holy men of God gave forth
the Scriptures, whereby opinions,
religions, and
judgments were to be
tried; for it led
into all truth, and so gave the knowledge of all truth.

Earths Answer (pt. 1)-William Blake

Earth rais’d up her head
From the darkness dread & drear.
Her light fled,
Stony dread!
And her locks cover’d with grey despair.

“Prison’d on wat’ry shore,
Starry Jealousy does keep my den:
Cold and hoar,
Weeping o’er,
I hear the father of the ancient men.

“Selfish father of men!
Cruel, jealous, selfish fear!
Can delight,
Chain’d in night,
The virgins of youth and morning bear?

What does Joy Not Want?-Friedrich Nietzsche
From Thus Spoke Zarathustra- trans. Barry Seroff

What will Joy not take? It is thirstier, heartier, hungrier, more frightful, more secret than all woe. It wants, it bites into, itself.
It wants love, it wants hate, it is over-rich, gives, throws away, begging that one takes it. It begs to be hated. Joy is so rich that it thirsts for woe, for hell, for hate, for shame, for world, this world, oh, you know it.

Matthew 11:25
King James Bible

“I thank You, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and Prudent ahd have revealed them to babes.”

Part III

When I Heard the Learn’d Astromomer-Walt Whitman

When I heard the learn’d astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon accountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time
Look’d up in perfect silence (at the stars)