Date of Award

8-16-2024

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Alicia Walker

Abstract

At the height of the AIDS epidemic, Kristopher Jon Anthony wrote his greatest work, When We No Longer Touch. This was a seven-movement requiem scored for flute, English horn, harp, piano, strings, percussion, tenor/bass choir, small tenor/bass ensemble, and soprano and baritone soloists. It draws on combined texts from the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass and the self-help guide to grief How to Survive the Loss of a Love, featuring poetry by Peter McWilliams. These are grouped together and framed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’ model of the stages of grieving. It all combines to make a work of exceptional beauty and emotional connection that is significant for its place in history as well as its compositional quality.

This is not a work, though, that is well-known outside of the gay and lesbian choral movement. Whether this is because of its association with HIV/AIDS and the gay community or simply because there are not enough connections between gay men’s choruses and the rest of the choral world is debatable, but regardless of the reason, it is a gap that should be bridged.

The goal of this document is to provide future conductors of the work with a history and analysis of the work along with suggestions for rehearsal and performance with regard to gesture and pedagogy. The author accomplishes this by establishing the historical background, describing the textual sources and their importance, and giving an in-depth look at each of the seven movements. This is all done in the hopes that When We No Longer Touch will be programmed more frequently and in a wider variety of settings, finding its place in the tenor/bass choral canon.

Rights

© 2024, Kevin Crowe

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