"Cantata" draws inspiration from the emotional power found in my favorite works by Bach, as well as humanity's recurring inclination towards conflict – a theme found in many of Bach’s major works. I find myself unable to reason our enduring cycle of peace and turmoil, and how despite fleeting moments of harmony, we often find ourselves mired in division and animosity. 

In my work, I do not aim to depict the aggressions surrounding us, but rather to stimulate contemplation on humanity's perpetual interplay between light and darkness. While I feel we will forever grapple with the perplexing allure of human nature’s angst, my underlying optimism persists, envisioning a future where we recognize each other’s humanity.  

"Cantata" was commissioned for the 2024 Baldwin Wallace University Bach Festival. 

Text
I.	
Is religion too old in its justification of war? -A. Jodorowsky 
We have made a graveyard of the earth in attempts to lead others to their place in heaven. -Mark Twain
…for wars do not determine who’s right, only who’s left. -Bertrand Russell
…and in war, truth is the first casualty. -Aeschylus
…and only the dead have seen the end of war. -Plato
Peace cannot be achieved through violence.  -R. W. Emerson
An eye for an eye makes the world blind. ¬-Gandhi (attributed) 
Christian, Jew, Muslim, stone, ground, mountain, river all have their secret way of being with the mystery. -Rumi

II.	
How have we let places known to so many as holy lands become darkened by the taking of so many lives-so many innocent lives? -Michael D. Higgins

The moon still sends its mellow light
The morning star is palely bright
The sun still shines just as before;
The rose still grows,
The sky so blue,
But you have gone.
I loved my friend.
There’s nothing more to say. 
-Langston Hughes, from “To a Dead Friend”

Hope and faith, born of my sorrow,
Guardian angels shall become,
And the sister gone before me…
-Louisa May Alcott, from “My Beth”

You have gone.
Though I no longer hold your hand,
Your memory shall I keep.
And of the future we planned,
One day, when memories come,
I will not grieve, 
Just smile at the time we sharred.
¬inspired by Christina Rossetti, from “Remember”

If I could have placed you in my heart, sweet child
How glad I should have been.
-D. H. Lawrence, from “the End”

Oh, how I wish we would one day be old and grey,
At home, by the fire
Dreaming together.
How many have loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty
But this man loved the traveling soul in you. 
¬inspired by W. B. Yeats, from “When You Are Old” 

Warm summer sun,
Shine kindly here,
Warm southern wind,
Blow softly here.
Green sod above,
Lie light, lie light.
Good night, dear heart,
Good night, good night
-Mark Twain “Warm Summer Sun”

III.	
Can we fear and hate each other and still love God? Can we keep in difference from spreading across the planet? Can we welcome our hand to the migrant. Can we envision a world where we sow seeds of rescue for our most needy people. Can we love? Can we value kindness and respect? Can we nurture hope and watch it grow throughout the world? Can we see crisis and disaster and find the good? -Michael D. Higgins

We are forever here at the place where destinies part,
With two paths before us,
One promises pain and darkness,
Where sorrow looms, where nothing is sacred.

Yet the other path is bathed in light,
Shining of hope, and future bright. 
One we weave with threads of love,
Where the stars keep us forever in light.

We must choose wisely as we tread, 
For our steps dictate where others are led.
Will we choose this new path, woven in love and light,
To have the chance to shape a future, 
Free of lies, free of division, of hatred, of suffering, of war?
Will we get this right before it’s too late…
Before our time has run out?
-Clint Needham 


Cantata - BWV Chamber Choir & Bach Festival Orchestra - Dirk Garner, conductor

The music of Clint Needham has been described as “wildly entertaining” and “stunning, brilliantly orchestrated” by the New York Times, as well as “well-crafted and arresting... riveting” by the Herald Times. He has served as the Mellon Composer/Educator in Residence and Music Alive: New Partnerships Composer in Residence with the Albany Symphony, and the Knight Foundation Composer in Residence with the Akron Symphony. 

Clint has received commissions and performances by leading orchestras across the country including the Minnesota Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Omaha Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Spokane Symphony, Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and the New York Classical Players, among others. Chamber ensembles including Alarm Will Sound, the American Brass Quintet, Chicago Pro Musica, Da Capo Chamber Players, Factory Seconds Brass Trio, Fifth House Ensemble, Hawthorne String Quartet, Hub New Music, and the President’s Own Marine Band Brass Quintet have given performances of his music across the country as well as in Europe, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australia. 

Clint’s music has been recognized with numerous awards including the Barlow Prize, Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Aspen Music Festival Jacob Druckman Prize, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the William Schuman Prize/BMI Composer Award, and the Heckscher & Walter Beeler Prizes from Ithaca College. He has also been the recipient of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Project 440 Commission and the Underwood New Music Commission from the American Composers Orchestra. 

As an educator, Clint serves as Composer in Residence and Professor of Composition at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. He holds degrees from the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music (BM) and Indiana University (MM, DM). He has also studied at the Aspen Music Festival as a Susan and Ford Schumann composition fellow and at the Wellesley Composers Conference. 

Clint’s music is published by the Theodore Presser Company, Manhattan Beach Music, and Triplo Press. Recordings of his works can be found on the Summit Records, New Focus Recordings, Beauport Classics, and Mark Masters labels as well as on recordings by the United States Air Force Band of the West, trumpeter Jack Sutte, and the American Composers Orchestra Digital Release Series.

https://www.clintneedhamcomposer.com