BRASSICA: A SONG CYCLE ON GENETIC ENGINEERING
soprano, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, bass, piano
poems by Jim Cocola
soprano, clarinet, bassoon, violin, cello, bass, piano
poems by Jim Cocola
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Brassica is song cycle based on seven poems by Jim Cocola that relate to the subject of genetic engineering. Jim Cocola is writing a sequence of poems on this subject called Rapeseed, from which I have selected these seven poems to set to music in my work, Brassica.
Jim and I met while in residence at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. I heard him give a live reading from the sequence for the artists at the colony and immediately became inspired to set his work as a song cycle. Many things struck me about this performance: the revealing, disturbing and even comically grotesque mood of the poems, the musically rhythmic nature of Cocola's language, and the theme of DNA, best expressed in the central poem ‘C A G T C A G T C A,’ a genetic code. Three out of four of these “DNA” letters are also musical notes, of course. Once I wrote a code for myself and determined to use the note F# to represent “T”, I found that I loved the sound of these four “DNA” notes, and felt that they reflected the emotional qualities that I wanted for a piece about genetic engineering: an attractive, seductive and mysterious surface with eerie and potentially dangerous undertones. These four notes: A, C, F# and G feature very prominently in this piece, and are essentially its “musical DNA.” |
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The work is book ended by short haiku-like poems that function as prologue and epilogue, with five larger poems in the center. The prologue makes musical references to cloning, and the epilogue refers to "recombination" by combining excerpts and elements of all of the preceding movements.Below are some minimal “cues” to unraveling the five central poems, as they have been set to music in my song cycle:
II. Peer reviewer of a peer reviewer of a peer reviewer - is the first major setting of the cycle, and is the poem featuring the most strongly implied disapproval regarding the genetic engineering of crops. It is constructed of a list of seemingly disjointed and satirical references to scientific terminology relevant to genetic engineering. References are made to the common Round Up herbicide, and crops that are “Round Up Ready” - crops genetically mutated to be resistant to the herbicide, as well as "generally recognized as safe" - a standard FDA designation for food quality. III. Corn pollen on milkweed - is a list of species whose DNA have been blended to produce new characteristics (some combinations on this list have been realized, others are imagined). The second line references one of the best known genetically modified organisms: the “fish-tomato,” a modified tomato whose DNA is blended with the DNA of an arctic flounder (a species of fish that does not freeze in arctic waters). The tomato thus acquires the fish’s “anti-freeze” characteristic and survives spring frosts. IV. C A G T C A G T C A - is the aforementioned poem built of a hypothetical DNA strand (coincidentally, a largepartofthissequencehappenstobefoundinthegeneticcodeofasnail). Thesequenceoflettersin stanzas 1, 2, 4 and 5 is in fact based on a simple pattern. Stanza 3, however, breaks the pattern (musically and poetically), and uses codes to suggest a deeper set of meanings within the poem (reflecting the idea that only a small percentage of our DNA actually defines who we are, and all the rest is "junk DNA"). Like the Prologue and much of the Epilogue as well, this movement is set using only the notes C, A, G and F#. V.The best things in life should not throw stones - is the longest setting of the cycle. No specific references to genetic engineering are made in this poem; rather, the poem itself creates a linguistic metaphor for the concept of recombination (such as the fish - tomato). Cocola has combined excerpts of common sayings, and I have attempted to musically mirror his “recombinant” ideas (a technique known as "perverb" - a portmanteau of perverse proverb). VI. Destroy the thing you do not understand - similarly does not reference engineering directly, but creates another linguistic metaphor, in this case, for genetic diseases. The poem begins as a villanelle. However, the proper rhyming scheme of the villanelle is corrupted and altered as the poem progresses, as if acquiring a disease itself. The repeated“and and and.....”mirrors the similar repetitions in the genetic code of a diseased organism, when part of a genetic code repeats as if on a feedback loop. TEXT Used and reprinted by permission of Jim Cocola I. From this black iron prison - From this black iron prison, I deliver these dark sounds-- II. Peer reviewer of a peer reviewer of a peer reviewer - Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer. Consumer of a Consumer of a Consumer. Roundup the Roundup. Roundup the Roundup. Roundup the Roundup. Roundup the Roundup. Ready to Ready to Roundup the Roundup Ready. Resist the Resistible Rise of the Roundup Resistant. Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer. Consumer of a Consumer of a Consumer. Generally Known as Generally Recognized as Safe. Generally Known as Generally Recognized as Dangerous. Xenohormones and Xenophobes. Mobile Telephones. Drones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Clones. Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer. Consumer of a Consumer of a Consumer. What What You Eat Eats. What What You Heat Heats. What What You Beat Beats. What What You Treat Treats. Substantial Equivalence. Inadmissible Evidence. Inconsequential Evidence. Circumstantial Equivalence. Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer of a Peer Reviewer. Consumer of a Consumer of a Consumer. III. Corn pollen on milkweed - Corn pollen on milkweed, monarch larvae twisting in the rain: So that a part of a flounder is a part of antifreeze is a part of a tomato. So that a part of a hamster is a part of alcohol is a part of tobacco. So that a part of a moth is a part of not bruising is a part of a potato. So that a part of a firefly is a part of insecticide is a part of corn. So that a part of a daffodil is a part of beta carotene is a part of rice. So that a part of a petunia is a part of immunity is a part of a cucumber. So that a part of brazil nut is a part of something is a part of sunflower. So that a part of me is a part of you is a part of whom. So that: IV.CAGTCAGTCA CAGTC AGTCA GTCAG TCAGT AGTCA GTCAG TCAGT CAGTC ATTAC CGATT TACTC GAGAG GTCAG TCAGT CAGTC AGTCA TCAGT CAGTC AGTCA GTCAG V. The best things in life should not throw stones - The best things in life should not throw stones. Absence shall set you free. A fool and his money make the heart grow fonder. Great minds are soon parted. Behind every good man is another man's treasure. Many hands killed the cat. The squeaky wheel is in the eye of the beholder. Patience is the spice of life. What you don't know begins at forty. Dead men should be seen and not heard. A friend in need is a man's best friend. An apple a day is a bowl of cherries. Beggars make good neighbors. Curiosity gets the grease. Misery is its own reward. Crime is never done. Flattery conquers all. Good fences shall inherit the earth. VI. Destroy the thing you do not understand - Destroy the thing you do not understand Or brace for reversal and disarray If you cannot submit to this demand Defiance stands opposed to 'and' and 'and'-- You must be firm. Allow for no delay: Destroy the thing you do not understand When something augured does not go as planned, Resist reworking and accept dismay If you cannot submit to this demand You must be firm. Allow for no delay: Resist reworking and accept dismay Destroy the thing you do not understand Defiance stands opposed to 'and' and 'and' And 'and' and 'and' and 'and' and 'and' and 'and' and 'and' and 'and' Destroy the thing you do not understand If you cannot submit to this demand. Destroy the thing you do not understand. Destroy the thing you do not understand. If you cannot submit to this demand VII. Stranger, as you travel along that track - Stranger, as you travel along that track, pause to wonder who hath wrought what. |