An American Summer Dream: Barber’s "Knoxville: Summer of 1915"

With the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence fast approaching, I was thrilled when I learned that ‘American music’ would be among the many themes that our editorial staff sought to explore. As spring (finally) turns into summer, bringing with it memories of school vacations, relaxation, and insouciance, I can think of no better piece to represent the lush beauty of my home country’s music than Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, premiered in 1947, with text by the American poet James Agee.

Agee’s rich, evocative text depicts a time before television and air conditioning, as seen from the point of view of a young child who has joined his family as they sit on the lawn in front of their house. As our narrator sits with his loved ones, he comments on the minutiae of everyday existence with an understated beauty: “People in pairs, not in a hurry, scuffling, switching their weight of aestival body…” Every sense is evoked as the evening continues, allowing us to picture ourselves right beside this family: we hear the sounds of locusts and streetcars, we feel the rough, wet grass beneath the quilt, and we taste the “vanilla, strawberry, pasteboard, and starched milk” that lingers in the air.

Barber’s lush orchestrations perfectly complement the dreamlike wonder that our young narrator expresses, from the gentle rocking of the woodwinds and harp that accompanies the principal melody to the thick bursts of strings that accompany his profound reflections on the place of his family (and himself) in the world. In what is perhaps my favorite moment of the whole piece (and there are many beautiful ones!), our narrator observes that:

“By some chance, here they are,

All on this earth;

And who shall ever tell the sorrow

Of being on this earth, lying, on quilts,

On the grass,

In a summer evening,

Among the sounds of the night.

May God bless my people,

My uncle, my aunt, my mother, my good father,

Oh, remember them kindly in their time of trouble;

And in the hour of their taking away.”

These reflections can only last so long, however; the piece concludes by the narrator being taken into bed, where he soon falls fast asleep. Knoxville: Summer of 1915 is an intensely personal, intimate composition, and every singer who performs it creates a wholly unique depiction of this warm summer night in the American South. Barbara Hannigan’s incredible rendition of this American masterwork – which she both sings and conducts in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra – is a delight for the senses (especially for the ears!) from the medici.tv catalogue that is not to be missed.