About the Piece
Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death

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It is unlikely that a young, sturdily-built farm boy from Swede Prairie Township should grow into the frame of one of Minnesota’s most treasured poets and essayists; it is astounding that this same farm boy should also develop into the passionate pianist that we all marveled to hear—someone not only passionately connected to, highly knowledgeable about and possessing considerable skill for performing such music.  This speaks to both the power of music and the sheer stubborn will of my great friend, Bill Holm.

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 For, of all the pianist I have heard in 62 years, no one can "will" music into being as persuasively as did Bill.  His out-sized frame and those wonderfully rough, large hands were able to produce both plangent melodies and thunderous sonorities whenever he has a new obsession in mind--the late music of Schumann, the ecstatic musings of Rautavaara, the cool surfaces of Faure, as well as anything of Big Daddy Bach & Papa Haydn....Indeed, his musical obsessions filled his life and mine, as well.  

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Bill became a man possessed when he discovered a new composer, spending hours poring through scores from his capacious music library, or gotten through his shadowy network of  nefarious music nerds.  Rarely contented with mere piano music he would dive headlong into operas, symphonies, chamber music, songs—all played in hurried transcriptions or simply sight-read from full score. The mark of a "true" musician—someone whose curiosity and thirst for knowledge is not bound by his technique at one instrument.

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 This musical connection is clearly displayed by his literary output—Playing the Black Piano, Boxelder Bug Variations and most movingly, his book-length poem Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death--all betray his central affection for Orfeo's art. But Bill's ethos, both artistic and political, can be most handily summed up in a line from one of his essays, "Give Us This Day Our Daily Bach", where he discusses the salubrious effects of Bach's music on the thinking capabilities of some of the more interesting species of the human race, including Halldor Laxness, Albert Einstein and Pablo Casals:  
         
"Maybe Americans should make it our national habit to  
begin every day with a half-hour of Bach. It couldn't hurt us in  
either our private or public lives."

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 Bill, never one to hide his agenda, was still moved until his dying breath by the old Romantic notion that if people would just play music instead of buying contraptions to play it for them, we would come to our senses, stop killing the earth, start listening to each other and dispense with the tatty creeds and manifestos that try to conquer our spirits. As Bill and anyone with any brains knows, God's will is not discovered in the treacle of CNN, but rather in the austere voice leading of Bach's counterpoint and the tensile strength of Haydn’s bass lines.

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The Creation of “Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death”

Shortly after Bill’s death in 2009, Ryan Hugh Ross, a great former student and now friend and collaborator, came to me with the desire to set something of Bill’s to music, either as a larger orchestral work or a song cycle. Ryan was deeply affected by his death (as was I—he had been my dearest friend) and had been a devoted student of all things “Holmsian”, during his undergraduate days at SMSU (where both Bill and I were on the faculty) and beyond. At first, I balked…..I found Bill’s poetry wonderful, although I found his essays on music, literature and the American condition perhaps more persuasive—Bill Holm was a great moralist in the transcendental tradition of Ralph Waldo Emerson.  

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There was, however, one exception to that equation—his epic poem cycle “Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death”, which Bill himself told me was his greatest work. With its copious musical allusions and his philosophical musings on the power of music (something he and I spoke about on many occasions, usually before, during and after our mammoth 4-hand piano reading sessions, often fueled with a combination of coffee [both of us], smoking [just Bill] and Scotch [again, both of us], it seemed to me a perfect opportunity to explore the very best of Bill’s thought. We decided the best course of action was to review the wonderful collection of poems and,- After a day or two, we held another meeting – now ecstatic about the possibilities; we had been reminded how potent the imagery was, how magnificent the musical commentary, how absolutely right it was to be set to music.

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Having come across Martha Helen Schmidt’s name in connection to common friends, I immediately suggested her as a candidate; Martha is a native Minnesotan and in 2020, she also lived very nearby me in Minneapolis. So a brunch was hastily cobbled together, and Martha, Ryan (through the wonders of WhatsApp) and myself tucked into some delectables and a nice sparkling wine and hatched a caper that was to prove one of our most successful musical projects ever! After the World premiere in May 2022 at OpenBook Literary Arts Center in downtown Minneapolis, the Icelandic premiere in October 2022, the May 2023 Pioneer PBS documentary of that premiere winning an Emmy, and the subsequent recording in Minneapolis during July of 2024, we have grown and deepened our love of Bill’s poetry and hope that we have been a worthy tribute to his memory.

By Daniel Blayne Rieppel

 

Poetry and Process

The Poetry
Bill Holm’s 1997 work is considered by many to be his literary magnum opus. He imbued this masterwork of poetry with his refined views on life, death and love of music and conveyed them to the reader with a hearty helping of his wonderful wit.

After some initial rereading of Holm’s oeuvre, it became quickly apparent ‘Playing Haydn…’ was the best choice for a song cycle text. We didn’t take on this task lightly, however, and wanted to honor the work while preserving and highlighting the wonderful observations in this literary conjuring. However, anyone familiar with the inner workings of song construction can tell you – remediating a literary work into lyrics can be a challenging undertaking – especially  for a large work such as this.

With this in mind, we scoured through Holm’s literary oeuvre and made note of any specific musical references and equally made  further note of works which he was fond of to serve as a reservoir of musical allusions from which to draw from. These ideas, along with a revised version of the poem, were conveyed to the song cycle’s composer - Martha Helen Schmidt. She took on the challenge and wove the suggestions with her refined compositional voice into the work on this album.   We are eternally grateful for Martha’s patience and receptiveness in the pursuit of this labor of love. The result is a true musical manifestation of Minnesota’s beloved ‘Bard of the Prairie’ and one which I believe Bill himself would have approved of.

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The Process
Instead of a dry, exacting dissection of the  song cycle, we instead want to encourage you, the listener, to enjoy and discover the nuances of this work in your own way. As Holm wrote in the opening stanza of ‘Playing Haydn…’:

“To understand this language, you must
sometimes patiently play the same 
piece over and over for years, then
when you expect nothing, the music
lets go it’s wisdom.”

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However- if you don’t have years at your disposal- a brief overview of some of the main points and musical allusions are detailed in the section below.

 

Verse One (1st Stanza): This invocation follows with a literary theme and is aptly named the ‘Prologue’. Holm’s 1st stanza is spoken over one of his original piano compositions The Bug listens to slow sad Birdsongs in the Autumn Maple from Boxelderbug Variations (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1985). 

Verse Two (2nd Stanza): The main body of the cycle beings with the spoken proclamation “Play Haydn!”. For this verse, Schmidt draws on material from the 3rd mvt of Haydn’s Sonata in D Major.

Verse 3 (3rd Stanza): Mozart’s “Deh, vieni alla finestra” (Don Giovanni – 1787) makes an appearance in the third song and is used to allude to the angel of Death’s beckoning call from Holm’s back garden. An English translation of the aria’s opening lines begin:
“O come to the window, my darling… oh come console my tears…”

Verse 4 (4th Stanza): Schmidt draws on material from the 2nd mvt of Haydn’s Sonata in D Major to heighten the trials and tribulations acutely acknowledged in Holm’s poetry. The final line of this stanza offers up a truly Holmsian bit of advice: 

   “take this advice: toughen up and live.”

Verse 5 (5th Stanza): The icy loneliness of Schmidt’s musical setting of Stanza 5 ushers in the first direct appearance of the Angel of Death – quietly seated in a straight back chair in the bucolic garden behind Holm’s house. The text has been lightly edited from the original in two places for this selection.

Verse 6 (6th Stanza; 7th Stanza): Instead of expressing fear at the figure, Holm commands the listener to entertain Death with some music on the piano and what better place to start than with a masterwork by Joseph Haydn?! Schmidt draws on thematic material from the 1st mvt of his Sonata in G Major to distract the ominous visitor. *For these lyrics- Stanza 6 has been elided to the 1st three lines of Stanza 7 in order to provide musical continuity. 

Verse 7 (7th Stanza): Verse 7 begins with Holm’s playful referencing of other classical music masters such as Richard Wagner (‘Prelude’ from Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Arnold Schoenberg (‘Mondstrucken’ from Pierrot Lunaire) and Johannes Brahms (2nd mvt from his  Piano Concerto No.1 in D Minor, Op.15) as potential musical selections for Death. Schmidt has synthesized these quotations and woven them seamlessly with her own compositional voice into this song.

Verse 8 (8th Stanza): Holm invokes Johann Sebastian Bach in Stanza 8 and expands on his own symbolic view that the key of G Major is representational of God’s eyes. Schmidt also built on this idea by incorporating material from the 2nd mvt of Haydn’s Sonata in G minor.

Verse 9 (9th Stanza): Verse 9 offers the Angel of Death even more evocative masterpieces with which to sooth his weariness. In this selection, Schmidt weaves elements from Ludwig Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” (Op.27, No.2) as well as Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini into this epic verse.

Verse 10 (10th Stanza): Duplicity is the focal point of Verse 10. Schmidt’s setting not only includes a nod to Stravinsky but also provides a playful mashup of melodic material derived from the traditional Happy Birthday tune and Brahms Lullaby (Wiegenlied Op.49, No.4). These two allusions offer an antithesis of birth and life to the finality and decay represented by the Angel of Death - seated under the lilac bush.

Verse 11( 11th Stanza): The lyrics to Verse 11 represent the nucleus of Holm’s philosophic ethos. Schmidt places them within a celestial sound world of trills and mordents in the accompaniment which give the impression of a clear starry evening. Keeping with Haydn as the musical centerpiece of this cycle, material from the 2nd mvt of his Sonata in Ab Major has been incorporated.

Verse 12 (12th Stanza): Verse 12 has a lively effervescence which emphasizes Holm’s encouragement to Death to let go and try out a few dance moves. Schmidt draws on Haydn’s Minuetto Giacoso in C referenced in the text. It is capped off with the wonderful command in the text – “Put a lilac in your buttonhole!”

Verse 13 (13th Stanza): The lyrics of Verse 13 transport the listener to early 19th century Vienna where an elderly Haydn comes into view - seated at his klavier. From his perch, the aged master performs for Death one of his original works:  Gott Ehrhalte Franz den Kaiser. *This verse has lines 5-8 excised from Holm’s original poem.

Verse 14 (14th Stanza): In this verse, Death is seemingly content to take a break and listen to Haydn’s music. Holm’s Stanza 14 has been fused with a melody and material from the 2nd mvt of Haydn’s Sonata in E Major.

Verse 15 (15th Stanza): Having taken the listener on a journey through time and space, verse 15 of “Playing Haydn…”  returns to Holm’s garden on the rolling prairies of Minnesota where we find the Angel of Death dancing to the music emanating from Bill’s beloved “Black Piano”. Schmidt paints this joyous outburst while maintaining the ominous ambiance/ presence of death. One can hear the old bones of the angel rattle and clatter together in the tonally free voice leading!

Epilogue
Keeping with the literary theme, the cycle concludes with the hymnlike setting of Holm’s ‘Letting Go of What cannot Be Held Back’ from Playing the Black Piano (Minneapolis: Milkweed Press, 2004). This poem says much in only a handful of words and seemed a fitting goodbye to Holm. It also includes many prevalent themes which appear frequently throughout of Holm’s oeuvre.

It concludes with some parting words of advice as the accompaniment gives the impression of a gentle spring breeze : 

“So quiet down. Let them go. Practice your own song. Now.”

Schmidt concludes the cycle by weaving in material from the 2nd mvt of Haydn’s Sonata in Ab Major; previously used in Verse 11 to accentuate Holm’s idea of God. 

What started as a small tribute to our dearly departed friend has grown into a successful work which has allowed us to connect with Bill’s wonderful network of friends from all around the world. Many have recollected of their fond memories of the giant of the prairie and his wonderful wit. It is our hope that this work will help keep his memory alive and expose a new generation to keen observations, wit and extraordinary in the ordinary which Bill disseminated in his publications.

I end with some words from the master himself:

Advice
from The Dead Get By with Everything
(Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1991)

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Someone dancing inside us
Learned only a few steps:
The “Do-Your-Work” in 4/4 time,
The “What-Do-You-Expect” waltz.
He hasn’t noticed yet the woman
Standing away from the lamp,
The one with black eyes
Who knows the rhumba,
And strange steps in jumpy rhythms
From the mountains in Bulgaria.
If they dance together,
Something unexpected will happen.
If they don’t, the next world
Will be a lot like this one.

Bill Holm
(1943-2009)

By Ryan Hugh Ross