ROBERT GROSS CHRONICLES - IDAGIO
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ROBERT GROSS CHRONICLES
JEANETTE LOUISE YARYAN, PIANO
DANIEL LIPPEL, GUITAR
CHRISTOPHER GRIFFIN, HORN
LORI JOACHIM FREDRICS, MEZZO-SOPRANO
BRANDON GIBSON, BARITONE
BROOKE CLARK GIBSON, MEZZO-SOPRANO
ROBERT GROSS CHRONICLES
1. Chronicles VIII for piano and synthesizer 12:19
Jeanette Louise Yaryan, piano
2. Chronicles XIII for guitar and synthesizer 10:06
Daniel Lippel, guitar
3. Nothing Has Changed 10:05
4. Chronicles V for horn and synthesizer 9:05
Christopher Griffin, horn
5. Chronicles for synthesizer 10:08
6. Dressing Station
(Chronicles XVII for mezzo-soprano and synthesizer) 11:44
Lori Joachim Fredrics, mezzo-soprano
7. Chronicles XIV (Charles Wuorinen in Memoriam) 30:23
8. Dissonance, a one-act opera 40:25
Brandon Gibson, baritone
Brooke Clark Gibson, mezzo-soprano
Total Time: 2:14:10
The pieces on this collection are intended to be successors in
spirit to the pitch-determinate one-synthesizer pieces of yesteryear, such
as Milton Babbitt's Philomel or Charles Wuorinen's Time's Encomium,
pieces I’ve always admired. To that end, all the synthesizer sounds on this album
were produced on a single synthesizer, Absynth 5.
CHRONICLES VIII for piano and synthesizer NOTHING HAS CHANGED
The soloist here is Dr. Jeanette Louise Yaryan, chair of music According to the Gun Violence Archive (gunviolencearchive.org),
at Idyllwild Arts Academy in southern California. Composed in there were 2,181 mass shootings in the United States between
2019, this piece is post-tonal, but not freely so; it is based on the Sandy Hook shooting and the time of the composition of
relationships of Klumpenhouwer Networks (K-nets). K-nets are this piece in August 2019. Nothing has changed. Nothing will
devices for post-tonal analysis borrowed from the music theory change, either, until we the people elect politicians who support
world and reverse-engineered here as a compositional device. common sense gun regulations. This piece was written to
express my own sadness and frustration that, indeed, nothing
CHRONICLES XIII for guitar and synthesizer has changed.
The soloist here is the prolific new music collaborator Dr. Daniel
Lippel. Composed in 2020, it is written for multiple banks of CHRONICLES V for horn and synthesizer
synthesizers, sixteen in total, so the piece is concerto-like, and This is a freely post-tonal work. As is the case with the original
follows a slow-fast-slow section plan. Chronicles, this work focuses on motivically significant intervallic
structures. Dr. Christopher Griffin is the horn soloist. It was first
composed in 2019 and revised in 2021.
Chronicles 3
CHRONICLES
This piece, composed in 2018, features synthesizer alone and is
freely post-tonal. Despite the freedom, nevertheless, important
motivic interval structures continuously assert themselves, lending
coherence to the piece.
DRESSING STATION
Chronicles XVII for mezzo-soprano and synthesizer
This piece was composed in 2020 to a poem by the late George
Green, a British soldier in the Spanish Civil War. The poem was
written the day he died. I chose the text in order to memorialize this
particular resistor of fascism, and to salute all resistors of fascism.
The performance here is by Lori Joachim Fredrics.
CHRONICLES XIV
Charles Wuorinen in Memoriam
Chronicles XIV (Charles Wuorinen in Memoriam) was composed
in 2020 to memorialize the late composer whose piece Time’s
Encomium was enormously influential on the Chronicles series.
Time’s Encomium was written for a single synthesizer in at most three
channels (left, center, and right, with some panning) in two parts,
for a total of approximately thirty minutes of music. Chronicles XIV
emulates these dimensions.
DISSONANCE
Dissonance is an audio opera composed in 2016 on a two-hander play
of the same name by playwright Craig Pospisil. The accompaniment
is a single synthesizer in three channels (left, center and right), and
scored for baritone (Fitzhugh) and mezzo-soperano (Tricia). Brandon
Gibson sings the part of Fitzhugh and Brooke Clark Gibson sings the
part of Tricia here.
4 Robert GrossR
obert Gross received his DMA in music composition at Uni-
versity of Southern California where he also received a graduate certifi-
cate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. He also received an
MA in Music for Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Bris-
tol; an MM in Music Composition from Rice University; and a BM in Music Com-
position from Oberlin Conservatory. He has taught graduate and undergraduate
level music theory at Rice University.
He was half of Blind Labyrinth, with the late Kenneth Downey, an experimen-
tal electroacoustic music duo, whose album Blasted Light was released on the
Beauport Classical label in 2014.
Awards and honors include winner of the Project Extended Composition
Competition for Variations on a Schenker Graph of Gesualdo for flute and elec-
tronics; winner of the Arch Composition Award for Concerto for Piano and Wind
Instruments; co-recipient of the Harry Warren Award for Scoring for Motion Pic-
tures and Television from University of Southern California; special recognition
award, First Music Competition of New York Youth Symphony; Winner, tri-annual
Inter-American Music Awards Composition Competition for Sonata for Solo Un-
accompanied Violin, with the winning work published by C.F. Peters and featured
on the cover of Pan Pipes magazine; orchestra work Halcyon Nights selected for
Whitaker New Music Readings by American Composers Orchestra; twice ASCAP
Victor Herbert Award recipient; Young American Composers’ First Hearing Final-
ist with Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
He has presented papers at the national Society for Music Theory confer-
ence, the Texas Society for Music Theory Conference, the West Coast Confer-
ence of Music Theory and Analysis, and both national and regional chapters of
Society of Composers, Inc. His post-tonal analyses have been published in Per-
spectives of New Music and Journal of Schenkerian Studies.
He is a Board Certified Music Therapist, with an MA in Music Therapy from Texas
Woman’s University. His music therapy articles have been published in Voices:
A World Forum for Music Therapy and in Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy.
robertgrosscomposer.com
Chronicles 5Dr. Jeanette Louise Yaryan began performing and study- Guitarist Daniel Lippel, called an “exciting soloist” (New York
ing the piano at age three, winning numerous awards, scholar- Times) and “precise and sensitive” (Boston Globe) has a multi-
ships, and competitions throughout the years. She holds two faceted career as a performer, and recording artist. He has pre-
MM degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and a DMA miered more than fifty solo and chamber works, many written
in Piano Performance from the University of Southern California. for him, recording several on his label, New Focus Recordings.
Professional endeavors have included performing at Carnegie Recent performance highlights include recitals at Le Poisson
Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and Boston Court Theatre in Los Rouge (NY), Sinus Ton Festival (Germany), National University of
Angeles. An accomplished soloist, she is also passionate about Colombia (Bogota), and the New York and Cleveland Classical
multidisciplinary performances, and enjoys incorporating varied Guitar Societies, and chamber performances on the Mostly Mo-
elements in her work as an artist, including her original spoken zart Festival, Ojai Festival, Ottawa Chamber Festival, Aspekte
word and musical arranging. Always interested in many styles Festival (Salzburg), and Kunst Universitaet Graz (Austria). He has
of music, Jeanette is an avid chamber musician, studied Jazz, worked closely with many eminent composers including Mario
has worked extensively as a musical director for theatre produc- Davidovsky and Nils Vigeland. In addition to New Focus, he ap-
tions, and worked for decades as a professional church pianist, pears on recordings on several other labels including Kairos,
organist, choir director, and vocal coach. Bridge, Innova, Sono Luminus, Albany, Tzadik, Wergo, and New
Currently, she is the Chair of the Music Department at the World. As an educator, Lippel has given guitar masterclasses
prestigious Idyllwild Arts Academy and Summer Program, an in- and presentations at institutions including the Hanns Eisler
ternational boarding arts high school where Jeanette has taught Hochschule (Berlin), Curtis Institute, Sydney Conservatorium of
private piano lessons, chamber music, advanced music theory, Music (Australia), San Francisco Conservatory, Cleveland Insti-
collaborative piano, multidisciplinary performance, vocal coach- tute of Music, Peabody Institute, University of Texas at Austin,
ing, and musical theatre. She has been an invited pedagogue and New York University. He received his DMA from the Man-
in China, Australia, Germany, and the UK, and has spoken at hattan School of Music studying with David Starobin.
international conferences in Malaysia, Italy, Brazil, Scotland, and
England, including at a conference for visually-impaired musi- Christopher Griffin is principal horn of the Union Sympho-
cians. ny Orchestra and third horn of the Western Piedmont Sympho-
Jeanette enjoys living in the artistic community of Idyllwild, ny. He is an active freelance musician and holds faculty posi-
California, with her cat, Luna. Her students know her as one tions at Wingate University, NC and Winthrop University, SC. He
who “loves math, and puns,” and she adores travel, languages, earned a doctor of musical arts from the University of Southern
“foodie” things, live comedy, art museums, and contemporary California, a double masters degree in music theory and horn
opera. performance from Temple University and the bachelor of music
in horn performance from Auburn University. His primary horn
instructors include Richard Todd, James Decker, Randy Gardner
6 Robert Grossand Randall Faust. He is a life member of the International Horn Ten Minute Plays: 2015) and Dissonance (Best American Short
Society. Plays 2010-2011). Craig was head writer for theAtrainplays, for
which he wrote sixteen short plays and musicals, three of which,
Soprano Lori Joachim Fredrics, a native of New York City, It’s Not You, Tourist Attraction and The Best Way to Go are pub-
received a BM from William Paterson University of New Jersey lished by Playscripts in theAtrainplays, Vol. 1 & 2. It’s Not You
and a MM in Voice Performance from The University of Texas at was translated into Cantonese and published in An Anthology
Austin. of Contemporary American Short Plays in Beijing. Craig wrote,
A member of AGMA and A.E.A, Ms. Fredrics has performed along with Arlene Hutton, James Hindman Gretchen Cryer and
many roles in opera, musical theatre and plays as well as ap- others, The Gorges Motel, which premiered at the 20th annual
pearing as a soloist in major international music festivals in the New York International Fringe Festival, and One Christmas Eve
US, Canada, Scandinavia, Latin America and Asia in such di- at Evergreen Mall, which opened at the 21st annual FringeNYC.
verse venues as the Seoul Opera House, The Banff Center for His short film January was an official selection at the Bahamas,
the Arts, Lincoln Center, The Barbican Centre in London and the Berkshire, Big Apple, Hollywood Sky and Roma Cinema inter-
Museo Naçional De Bellas Artes, Havana. She made her Lon- national film festivals, among others, and received Honorable
don opera directing debut in The Whitechapel Whirlwind at the Mention in Screenwriting from the American Filmatic Awards. A
Bloomsbury Theatre in 2005 and recently directed Semillas de native New Yorker, Craig graduated from Wesleyan University,
Talento and the Teatro del Barrio in Manhattan. and received an MFA from New York University’s Dramatic Writ-
ing Program. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Bloomberg TV
Craig Pospisil is an award-winning playwright and filmmaker. news anchor, Alix Steel and their daughter. www.CraigPospisil.
He is the author of the plays Months on End, The Dunes, Life is com
Short, and Somewhere in Between, all published by DPS, and
new works The Poles of Inaccessibility and Water/Music. His Baritone Brandon Gibson’s solo concert repertoire includes
plays have been seen at Purple Rose, Barrington Stage, Bay many of Bach’s sacred cantatas, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mo-
Street, Stages West, City Theatre (Miami), the Road (Los Ange- zart’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah. In recent seasons he has
les), New World Stages, around the US, and in two dozen coun- been a soloist with American Baroque Opera Company, The
tries on six continents, and translated into Dutch, French, Ger- Dallas Bach Society, The Irving Symphony, Voces Intimae, Lov-
man, Greek, Mandarin and Spanish. In 2018 his plays Months ers Lane United Methodist Church, and the Plano Symphony
on End and Life is Short were translated in Japanese and pub- and Civic Chorus, among others.
lished by Jiritsu Shobo Publishers in Tokyo. Craig has written This past season, Brandon performed the twin roles of
over 60 short plays, including It’s Not You (Take Ten II), On the Apollon and Pluton in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s La descente
Edge (Best Ten-Minute Plays: 2005), There’s No Here Here d’Orphée aux enfers, and also repeated the role of Melchior
(Best American Short Plays 2014-2015), Happenstance (Best in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors. Other recent stage
Chronicles 7roles include the title character in The Mikado, and the roles of Opera North, Opera in the Heights (Houston),The Dallas Bach
Zacharias and Simeon in Randall Thompson’s The Nativity Ac- Society, Plano Civic Chorus, Camerata Dallas Young Soloists
cording to St. Luke. Orchestra, Carmel Symphony Orchestra, Meadows Symphony
Brandon attended Rice University and Southern Methodist Orchestra, Voces Intimae, Dallas Puccini Society, Lyric Stage (Ir-
University where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s de- ving), The Living Opera, Intimate Opera, Brevard Music Festival,
grees, respectively, in vocal performance. In addition to his cur- among others. A frequent guest soloist at churches across the
rent focus on concert work, Brandon previously traveled and DFW Metroplex, Ms. Clark Gibson currently sings at Lovers Lane
performed regionally with various opera companies, including United Methodist Church, having recently served as LLUMC’s
Amarillo Opera, South Texas Lyric Opera, Opera in the Heights, Vocal Coach. She recently completed two years on the Inde-
et al. He has collaborated frequently with composer Robert pendent Voice Faculty of Booker T. Washington High School for
Gross on new works, and enjoyed making new compositions the Performing and Visual Arts (where she also served as Voice
part of his repertoire. Coordinator during her second year). She maintains an active
performance career, a full private voice studio, and continues
Hailed by Scott Cantrell of The Dallas Morning News as "a po- to professionally stage direct. Ms. Clark Gibson received her
tent mezzo, impressively even from top to bottom ..." and an “im- Bachelor of Music in Voice with Honors from Butler University
pressive musical dramatist…,” mezzo-soprano Brooke Clark (Indpls., IN), and Master of Music in Voice from the Meadows
Gibson has garnered critical praise for her dramatic sound and School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University. She resides
vivid character portrayals in opera and concert repertoire. Ches- in Dallas with her husband, baritone Brandon Gibson and their
ter Rosson of Texas Monthly magazine wrote, “... Is there any daughter, Lily Grace.
role that she can’t play?” A frequent recitalist and concert artist,
Ms. Clark Gibson takes great joy in curating programs of an au-
tobiographical nature. An earnest champion of composers and
new works, she is greatly honored to premiere the role of Tricia
in American composer Robert Gross’ one-act chamber opera
Dissonance released on the New Focus Recordings record la-
bel. Her extensive repertoire ranges from Santuzza (Cavalleria
Rusticana) to Charlotte (A Little Night Music) to Verdi’s Requiem
and the dramatically orchestrated songs of Sibelius.
Ms. Clark Gibson has performed as a guest artist with such
companies as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Sym-
phony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Plano
Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Opera, Amarillo Opera,
8 Robert GrossDressing Station
by George Green
Casa de Campo, Madrid, March 1937
Here the surgeon, unsterile, probes by candlelight the Then eight.
embedded bullet. Then two neat rows.
Here the ambulance-driver waits the next journey; hand And now.......this was the courtyard of the road-house, filling-
tremulous station
on the wheel, eye refusing to acknowledge fear of the bridge, for the Hispano-Suizas and the young grandees’ bellies. The
of sign
the barrage at the bad crossing. American Bar still hangs unshattered.
Here the stretcher-bearer walks dead on his feet, too tired to ….I cannot count. Three deep: monstrous sprawling: slid from
wince at the whistle of death in the black air over the dripping stretchers for more importunate tenants: bearded
shallow trench; to tired now to calculate with each journey plough-boys’ faces: ownerless hand: shatterd pelvis: boots
the laced
the diminishing chances of any return to his children, to meals for the last time: eyes moon-cold, moon-bright, defying the
at a table, to music and the sound of feet in the jota. moon:
Here are ears tuned to the wail of shells: lips that say, this one smashed mouth scaring away thought of the peasant breasts
gets the that so
whole bloody station: the reflex action that flings us into the recently suckled it....
safer I cannot count.
corners, to cower from the falling masonry and the hot
tearing splinters at our guts. But poet, this is old stuff.
Here the sweet smell of blood, shit, iodine, the smoke- This we too have seen.
embittered air, This is Flanders 1917. sassoon and Wilfred Owen did this so
the furtive odour of the dead. much better.
Here also the dead. Is this all?
Here also the dead. Do twenty years count for nothing?
This afternoon five. Have you no more to show?
Chronicles 9us as
Yes, we have more to show. brothers....We have learnt our lesson.
Yes, though we grant you the two-dimensional similarity, even Look. Over the bridge (it is not yet dawn) comes a Russian
(to lorry,
complete the picture) allowing you the occasional brass-hat ammunition-laden.
and Forty-three years gone, unarmed St. Petersburg’s blood paid a
the self-inflicted wound. heavy
duty on those shells.
Yet there is another dimension. Look closely. Listen carefully. And I? The Chartists commandeered this ambulance from a
Portland
Privilege here battles with no real privilege. Street shop-window.
The dupe there, machine-gunning us from the trenched I drove: and dead Communards raised living fists as far south
hillside, as
fights still to preserve a master’s title-deeds, but we....we battle Perpignan. I saw the perils of the Pyrenees spurned by feet
for life. that
This....we speak a little proudly, who so recently threw off the once had scaled a Bastille, by the fair-haired boys who
slave graduated in
shackles to do a man’s work..... the streets of Charlottenburg, by those who paid a steerage
This is our war. passage, to tell us how their fathers fell at Valley Forge.
These wounds have the red flag in them. For this is not 1917.
This salute carries respect. This is the struggle that justifies the try-outs of history.
Here the young soldier says ‘camarada’ to his general. This is the light that illuminates, the link that unites Wat Tyler
Here we give heed to no promise of a land fit for heroes to live and
in, but the Boxer rebellion.
take for ourselves the world to mould in our hands. This is our difference, our strength, this is our manifesto, this
These ranks can never be broken by four years of mud and our song that cannot be silenced by bullets.
bitter
metal, into sporadic and betrayed rebellion.
Here the consciousness of a thousand years’ oppression binds
10 Robert GrossDissonance
by Craig Pospisil
(A room in a funeral home used for memorial services. quite read. – come in and see and . . . see.
There are a couple rows of chairs, although some are
askew. The chairs face a narrow table at one end of the Classical piano music begins to play, a little too loudly, FITZ
room. The top of the table is empty. At the other end of and Tricia is startled, looking up at the speakers in the I’m still setting up the room. Hold on, I was checking the
the room, by a set of doors, there is a tall side table. ceiling and then at the urn. She crosses slowly toward the volume of the music.
urn, but cannot make it all the way across the room, stop-
FITZ, mid to late 40s, opens the doors and leaves them ping several feet short. (Fitz exits and the music soon stops. He returns.)
standing open. He places an easel with a sign on it by the
doorway, and then disappears for a moment. He returns FITZ reappears in the doorway. He is surprised to find TRICIA
with two long, dark colored runners, pens and a condo- someone in the room and stops for a moment. He starts That was very pretty.
lence book. He carefully drapes one of the runners over to turn away, then looks back at Tricia and hesitates. Then
the tall table near the door, and sets the book and pens on he steps into the room.) FITZ
top. Then he crosses to the other table, where he lays the Thank you. I mean, it’s a nice piece.
other runner across the top, making sure it is even and FITZ
properly set before exiting. Good morning. TRICIA
Sorry I interrupted.
A few moments later he returns, carrying a framed TRICIA
photograph and a simple, metal box – a funeral urn. He (startled) FITZ
crosses the room and places the urn gently on the table Oh. Hi. Morning. That’s all right, but I’m still setting up for the service.
with the photo beside it. He carefully smoothes the run-
ner on the table, starts to leave again, but stops in the FITZ TRICIA
doorway. Are you here for the Roberts memorial? Oh, you can go ahead. I don’t mind.
FITZ turns and looks back at the urn, sadly taking it in. TRICIA FITZ
His eyes fall on the condolence book. He opens it, picks Yes, I’m sorry. I know I’m early. Uh . . . well, usually we don’t open the doors to guests
up a pen and signs. The action seems to cause his some until fifteen minutes before the service starts.
pain, however, and he winces slightly as he writes. When FITZ
he finishes, he drops the pen and absently flexes his hand That’s all right. It’s just – TRICIA
as he checks his watch. He looks over the room, silently The doors were open.
counting the chairs and leaves again. TRICIA
(overlapping) FITZ
The room remains empty for a few moments. Then I just wanted to – I’m bringing in chairs and things.
TRICIA, early 30s, appears in the doorway. She glances
at the sign by the door, then steps into the room. She sees FITZ TRICIA
the urn on the table and stares at it for a few moments No, it’s fine, but – Oh.
before breaking free of its gaze. She sees the open memo- (slight pause)
rial book and is surprised to see that it has already been TRICIA Well, that’s all right. I won’t get in your way. I promise.
signed. She puzzles over the signature, which she cannot (continuing)
Chronicles 11FITZ FITZ then crosses to it. She opens her purse and pulls out a
There’s a waiting area with coffee and snacks by the Oh! Oh, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t –I’m very sorry torn concert ticket. She reaches for the urn, pausing for
by the entrance. for your loss. a moment, then picks it up. She feels its weight in her
hands, then looks for a lid or a way to open it, but can’t
TRICIA TRICIA find one.)
Thanks, but I’m not really hungry. Thank you.
TRICIA
FITZ FITZ Had to make it hard for me, didn’t you, Mom.
. . . no. I meant maybe you could wait there until the I didn’t realize. Usually the family meets with the director
room was ready. when they arrive. I’ll get Mr. McKenzie for you. (Tricia sets the urn back on the table just as Fitz reap-
pears in the doorway, holding a cup of coffee.)
TRICIA TRICIA
Oh. Of course. All right. Oh, no, that . . . Not just yet. FITZ
Here you go.
FITZ FITZ
Thank you. Okay, well . . . yeah, have a seat. Can I get you anything? TRICIA
Thank you.
(She starts to go, but stops in the doorway.) TRICIA
No. Thank you. FITZ
TRICIA Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to wait in the reception
How soon do you think I could come back in? (They stand there. Tricia looks at the area? It just may not be very peaceful here with me com-
urn, but doesn’t move any closer. Fitz is ing
FITZ unsure what to do.) in and out. I don’t want to disturb you, and I’m sure the
Well, the service doesn’t start for another hour, so – rest of your family will be arriving –
TRICIA
TRICIA Actually, could I have a moment alone? TRICIA
(interrupting) Are you “Fizz? ”
But how much more do you have to do? FITZ
Yes, of course. FITZ
FITZ I’m sorry?
Well, I need to set up the chairs, and – (Fitz instinctively gives a small nod, almost a bow, and
then heads for the door.) TRICIA
TRICIA Did you sign the book? I couldn’t read what it said.
That’s not so much. TRICIA
And a cup of coffee? FITZ
FITZ Oh. Yeah, I’ve got the penmanship of a four year-old.
We also like to give the family some time alone with the FITZ Yeah . . . I knew your mother.
deceased before other guests come in. Ah . . . sure. Milk or sugar?
TRICIA
TRICIA TRICIA Really?
I am the family. Helen was my mother. Just black, thanks.
FITZ
(Fitz exits. Tricia looks at the urn for a few moments, She taught me piano for eight years starting when I was
12 Robert Grossnine or ten. FITZ
What? TRICIA
TRICIA Fitzhugh Miller. You were Mom’s favorite of all time.
Wow. Long time. TRICIA
My mother’s piano is in storage, and it’s costing an arm FITZ
FITZ and a leg. I don’t play, and I couldn’t take it back to New Oh, thanks.
She was a wonderful teacher. York with me even if I did. I’ll give you a good deal.
TRICIA
TRICIA FITZ Yes, I remember you.
Thank you. She loved the piano. Ah . . . no. Thanks. I couldn’t.
FITZ
FITZ TRICIA Really? You couldn’t have been more than seven or eight
That she did. Know anyone who might be in the market for one? when I left for college.
(Pause. Fitz sees that Tricia has no plans to leave.) FITZ TRICIA
Not off hand. Excuse me. She talked about you for years. Said you were gifted.
FITZ
Well, I’ll be back. (Fitz turns away from her and begins arranging the chairs FITZ
into neat, orderly rows. Tricia digs into her purse for a We stayed in touch some. Can I get you more –
(Fitz exits, and Tricia sits with her coffee. Fitz soon business card.)
returns with programs, placing them by the condolence TRICIA
book, then taking one over to Tricia.) TRICIA You got a big scholarship to Juilliard.
Listen, if you happen to think of anyone who might want
FITZ a piano would you give them my number? It’s been so FITZ
Would you like one of the programs? long since I was back and – . . . yeah, I . . . was in New York for a while.
(She halts abruptly, then
TRICIA quickly changes gears.) TRICIA
Yes, thanks. I’m sorry. I’m being rude. I’m Tricia Roberts. Mom went to Juilliard too.
(slight pause)
Do you still play? (She holds out her hand. Fitz hesitates a moment and FITZ
then reaches out to shake her hand. Perhaps he winces I know. Excuse me.
FITZ slightly or some pain is reflected in his face.)
Piano? Not really, no. (Fitz turns and leaves quickly. Tricia checks her watch,
FITZ then looks over the program. Fitz returns with two more
TRICIA Fitz. Miller. chairs.)
Why not?
TRICIA TRICIA
FITZ Oh, “Fitz,” not “Fizz. ”That makes – Oh! You’re Fitzhugh. What are you doing here?
I just . . . don’t. I don’t have a piano anymore.
FITZ FITZ
TRICIA It’s just Fitz now. My folks called me “Hugh. ”Which Hmm?
Do you want one? I never really liked. Fitzhugh is this family name thing.
No one ever called me that. Except your mother. TRICIA
Chronicles 13Why aren’t you playing anymore? You had a real career at Tanglewood. the last row that he started.)
going.
FITZ TRICIA
FITZ Really? You came? When? I played there a couple times. Do you know if anyone else has arrived?
It’s, ah, long story. Boring story.
TRICIA FITZ
TRICIA Debussy. Clair de Lune. It was lovely. I didn’t see, but I can check.
I’m sorry. Was that a bad question to ask?
(She holds out the ticket, which he takes and looks at.) TRICIA
FITZ No, that’s okay.
No, no, it’s fine. But Mr. McKenzie will want to greet FITZ
you. I’ll let him know you’re here. It was lovely to play. Yeah, this was the first time I was FITZ
there. Why didn’t you say hello afterward? I’m sure people will be arriving soon.
(Fitz turns to leave.)
TRICIA TRICIA
TRICIA We tried, but they wouldn’t let us backstage. They said Did you find a screwdriver?
Wait, can you tell me how this opens? you had a no visitor policy or something.
FITZ
FITZ FITZ Yeah.
What? Oh. Yeah, I was a little full of myself for a couple years,
there. (He picks up the urn.)
TRICIA (slight pause)
The urn. I want to put something in with her. Sorry. FITZ
Why don’t you follow me to the office, and –
FITZ TRICIA
Oh, there are screws in the bottom. Mr. McKenzie can It’s all right. Mom was disappointed, but she was very TRICIA
help you with that. proud of you. Said she knew you’d be successful. Can’t we do it here? I just want to slip in it. It doesn’t
have to be formal or anything.
TRICIA FITZ
Can’t you do it? I need to, ah . . . get some more chairs. FITZ
It’s not very private.
FITZ TRICIA
Well, he really likes to – Could you get a screwdriver for the urn too? (She goes over to the doors to the room, peeks out and
then closes them.)
TRICIA FITZ
Because, actually, it involves you in a way. . . . sure. I’ll take a look. TRICIA
Voila.
FITZ (Fitz exits. Tricia sits, suddenly exhausted. She looks over
How’s that? at the urn for several moments, before she breaks off and FITZ
looks away determined not to cry. She composes herself, All right.
TRICIA then checks her watch.
It’s a ticket from a concert my mother and I went to, like, (Fitz turns the urn on its head and sets it on the table top,
ten or twelve years ago. It was a concert you were doing FITZ returns with two more chairs, which he places in then takes a screwdriver from his pocket.)
14 Robert GrossOh, we had a good time. It was a beautiful night. Warm. effects. For me, I have some loss of sensation in my fin-
FITZ lying on a blanket and watching the stars overhead, while gers. Plus what doctors like to call “positive” phenomena.
Why that ticket? Debussy drifted through the air. Which means I feel things that aren’t there. Mostly pain.
(pause) Although that feels pretty real.
(He works to loosen the screws holding Why don’t you play anymore?
the bottom plate in place as Tricia talks. One or two of TRICIA
the screws are tight, forcing him to grip the screwdriver FITZ Oh my god.
hard and bear down. This causes him some discomfort, (overlapping)
and he gives a sharp intake of breath after one stab of Okay, I think I got it. FITZ
pain, andnearly drops the screwdriver. Tricia watches him All in all it makes it pretty hard to play the piano. Or to
as he struggles with the screws.) (He removes the bottom plate and steps back to allow play it well at any rate.
Tricia to come forward. She does so slowly, with the (pause)
TRICIA ticket in her hand. She looks down into the urn.) And there you are.
A good memory. Summer between junior and senior
years at college I was s’posed to go to Europe with my TRICIA TRICIA
Dad, but he cancelled. Seems he’d just met the very What’s that? How did it happen?
beautiful, young, and soon-to-be second Mrs. Roberts,
so he decided to take her instead. You’d think I’d’ve FITZ FITZ
been mad at him for being stuck in Pittsfield all summer They put the remains in a plastic bag after cremation. Don’t know. There’s a lot of possible causes. I had a
– and I was – but he wasn’t around, so I took it out on my (slight pause) Lyme’s Disease a few years ago. It could’ve been that.
Mom instead. One of the things you learn working here.
(slight pause) TRICIA
I think she knew why I was being such a jerk, though, TRICIA Is it always there?
because she took me everywhere that summer. Museums, Why are you here?
theater at Williamstown, minor league baseball games. FITZ
But my favorite was taking picnic dinners to Tanglewood (Fitz sees he can’t escape her questions any longer.) Some days are better than others.
for concerts like yours. And James Taylor.
FITZ TRICIA
FITZ It’s . . . it’s my hands. I’m so sorry.
Of course.
TRICIA FITZ
TRICIA Yeah? There are worse things, I guess.
By the time I went back to school we’d relapsed to our
standard mother-daughter cat fights. FITZ TRICIA
(pause) I have neuropathy. Yeah.
By the next summer she’d been diagnosed. She thought
she was being forgetful because she wasn’t getting enough TRICIA FITZ
sleep. What’s that? Do you want me to leave while you put that in with your
mother?
FITZ FITZ
I’m sorry I didn’t see you after the concert. Damage to the peripheral nervous system. It can happen TRICIA
if you get an inflammation that damages the sheathe No, that’s okay. I’m not a big one for ceremony.
TRICIA around your nerves. And that can cause a lot of different
Chronicles 15(She looks at the ticket, then into the urn, I think I’ll be going.
then she places the ticket carefully inside.) FITZ
FITZ “Why aren’t you playing the piano? ”“Why are you here? ”
TRICIA Yeah, I’m sure some of your family’s arrived by now.
(quietly) I’ll walk you up. TRICIA
Bye, Mom. Look, I don’t get along with my aunt or my cousins. None
TRICIA of them lifted a finger to help us when my Dad left, so I
(She looks into the urn for a moment longer then turns No, I mean, I’m leaving. don’t have much to say to them, or feel like listening to
to Fitz.) anything they might have to say.
FITZ
TRICIA What? FITZ
Well . . . that was anti-climactic. Oh, you mean, like, where were you while your mother
TRICIA was slowly dying of Alzheimer’s?
FITZ Like I said, I’m not big on ceremony. And I did what I
I don’t think people ever feel the way they think they’re came to do. TRICIA
supposed to. I see a lot of acting in here. People throw (long pause)
themselves on top of caskets and stuff. I don’t know. FITZ Excuse me?
Maybe they do really feel that strongly, and I . . . Wait, are you serious?
Maybe it’s just something else I don’t feel. FITZ
TRICIA Well, you didn’t visit her.
TRICIA Yes, I just –
I just hoped it would be different. TRICIA
FITZ I visited all the time.
FITZ It’s your mother’s memorial.
(indicating the urn) FITZ
May I . . . ? TRICIA No, you didn’t.
I’m aware of that. Thank you.
TRICIA TRICIA
Sure. How would you know?
FITZ
(Fitz replaces the plate on the bottom of the urn and You can’t leave. FITZ
screws it back together as they talk. Tricia checks her Because I did.
watch and retrieves her purse. Once Fitz finishes the job, TRICIA
he turns the urn right side up again and places it in the I can do what I want. Not that it’s your business, but I TRICIA
center of the table again.) don’t feel like dealing with my family or answering all What?
their questions.
TRICIA FITZ
Well, thank you for that, and for all you’ve done. FITZ I was there.
Really? ‘Cuz you wouldn’t stop asking me questions while
FITZ I was trying to work here. TRICIA
You’re welcome. At the nursing home?
TRICIA
TRICIA Excuse me? FITZ
16 Robert GrossWith your mother. Someone had to be. getting back home.
FITZ (pause)
(Silence.) I “retired” from the concert circuit about two years ago. I left angry and upset, and she forgot I’d even been there
I tried playing through the pain. Just grit my teeth and as soon as I left the room. Then one trip home I found
TRICIA hit the keys. And I could get through a concert, but . . . myself wishing she’d just die.
Maybe I will see Mr. McKenzie. He might want to know (he shrugs) (pause)
how his staff deals with grieving clients. The bookings dried up, and the way it felt I was relieved. So I just stopped going.
So, I came home. And did nothing. For a long time. Until
FITZ my mother made me take this job. FITZ
Oh, hey, if you wanna risk bumping into your aunt, be (slight pause) (pause)
my guest. My Dad was the one who heard your mom was at Stony You must’ve been relieved then.
Field. I knew she’d gone to Juilliard and done the concert
(Tricia stalks over to the doors, but stops.) thing too, so I thought she’d be the only one around TRICIA
who’d You’d think. I was at LAX just about ready to board a
TRICIA understand how I felt. I didn’t know she had Alzheimer’s. plane when they called to tell me she’d died. I was too
How often did you visit her? stunned to do anything but just get on the plane to come
TRICIA home.
FITZ Why did you keep going? (slight pause)
Two or three times. I got bumped into first class. Isn’t that something? I
FITZ travel a lot for work, and I’d just gotten enough frequent
TRICIA I turned around to leave when I first saw her. But instead flyer miles to make the Gold Medallion class of member-
That’s it? I got a chair and sat with her. Ended up babbling about ship. And I got upgraded. It was like they knew. I sit
what a nice day it was and stuff like that. Even wheeled down and they give me a hot towel, which I press to my
FITZ her outside, but I got no response. So I’m bringing her face, let the warmth sink into my skin. Then they bring
A week. back in, we pass the common room, and she sees the me a mimosa. And when I finish that one . . . they bring
piano another. And a third. Then somewhere over Nebraska . . .
TRICIA and points. So I push her over, and we play “Chop Sticks. I snap. And I get up in the aisle and start tearing my
Two or three times a week? ! ” clothes off, telling everyone on the plane what a terrible
Then she says “Thank you, Fitzhugh. ” daughter I am because my mother who I haven’t seen in
FITZ (slight pause) five months just died alone.
(He nods.) I wasn’t sure I’d go back. But I did. For her.
TRICIA FITZ
(pause) TRICIA (slight pause)
For how long? “For her. ”I visited her. For years, while she got worse You didn’t take your clothes off.
and worse, I was here every weekend. And it wasn’t easy.
FITZ I’m in Manhattan. I don’t have a car. I’d ride four hours TRICIA
The last five or six months. on a bus, get into town late Friday night, stay in a dingy Oh, yes, I did. And I had to have a nice, long chat with
hotel, then Saturday get a cab to Stony Field. Sometimes the TSA when we landed.
TRICIA she knew me, and we’d fight. Sometimes she didn’t know
Oh my God. me, and we’d fight. Sometimes she knew me, and she’d FITZ
(pause) cry. Sometimes she didn’t know me, and I’d cry. Then Didn’t the crew stop you?
Why? I got to turn around and spend another five or six hours
Chronicles 17TRICIA (Fitz lapses into silence. Tricia studies his face.)
They asked me to return to my seat, does that count? FITZ
TRICIA Everyone’s got a list like that. She told me she was proud
FITZ Oh. Tell me you didn’t. of you.
And none of the passengers tried to help?
FITZ TRICIA
TRICIA Didn’t what? Yeah, I don’t believe you.
What, and miss the train wreck? I was almost totally
naked before a flight attended wrapped one of those TRICIA FITZ
pathetic little blankets around me while I was trying to You kept telling her I was coming, didn’t you. It’s true.
unhook my bra. They got me back to my seat, and then
several passengers offered up Xanax . . . so the rest of FITZ TRICIA
the trip was pretty calm. Yes. Every time I visited. You lied to my mother, why not lie to me? And even if
(slight pause) she did say something like that . . . who’s to know if she
(Silence.) And eventually you’d been there. really thought it, or meant it, or felt it?
(slight pause)
FITZ TRICIA Thank you for visiting my mother and being so kind to
She used to ask for you a lot. What? her. I wish I could’ve done it, but there was very little
harmony in our relationship. Forgive the musical allusion.
TRICIA FITZ
Oh, thanks. Yes, please. Pile it on. In the afternoon, she couldn’t remember what’d happened FITZ
in the morning. So, I’d say “Wasn’t that a great visit with People misuse the word harmony. They say it when they
FITZ Tricia this morning? You two had so much fun talking. ” mean consonance, where all the notes complement each
Some days I could distract her with the piano. But this And she’d ask some questions . . . and I’d make up your other and blend together smoothly. And consonance
one day, my hands hurt too much, and she just kept cry- conversation . . . and she’d smile and laugh. sounds great. But after a while, it’s really boring. There’s
ing. no tension in music like that. Nothing to be resolved.
TRICIA Dissonance may not sound pretty, but it’s alive. I always
TRICIA Great. Clearly you were a better daughter to her than me. like playing music that moves back and forth between
You’re an asshole, you know that. Look, I’m sorry you’re so disappointed in my behavior, consonance and dissonance. It means something’s hap-
but . . . get in line. Believe me, no one is more disap- pening.
(She heads for the door.) pointed That life is struggling to go on, to lift itself up.
in me than me. Not even my mother. (slight pause)
FITZ Harmony isn’t angelic choirs or perfection. Some of the
So I told her you were coming. FITZ best harmony has an element of dissonance. It’s there,
I said you’d be there that the afternoon. It just came out. She wasn’t disappointed in you. lurking behind the other notes, grounding the piece in
reality. I think that’s why we like it. It’s beautiful, but
TRICIA TRICIA a little ragged too.
You lied to her? Please. I was never interested in music or the arts. I was (slight pause)
all about political causes. She never liked any of the guys Not everything goes. There were days she could still
FITZ I dated, and then gave me shit when I broke up with play the piano. And days she said she loved you.
And she calmed down right away. I mean, really peaceful. them.
We actually had a real conversation. This biggest disappointment was I kept up a relationship (There is a silence as Tricia takes this in.)
with my dad.
18 Robert GrossTRICIA recognized. I want my hands back. I want my nerves, my TRICIA
Would you like her piano? life. I don’t want to be working in a fucking funeral home. It’s a lovely. Would you play that for the service?
But this is my life now, so why would I want a god damn
FITZ piano? ! Like I need another reminder of what a failure I FITZ
What? am? What possible use would I have for it? It’s not what’s listed in the program.
TRICIA TRICIA TRICIA
I think you should have it. You could teach. My aunt won’t have a clue.
FITZ FITZ FITZ
Why? No, I don’t want it. No, thanks. (pause)
Can I walk you over?
TRICIA TRICIA
I think you do. It was good enough for my mother. She didn’t grow up TRICIA
wanting to teach piano to little snots in Pittsfield. She Yes. Thank you, Fitzhugh.
FITZ was ready to play concerts and tour. Until she had me.
I can’t play it. Why would I take it? (They exit.
(Fitz is silent. Tricia checks her watch.)
TRICIA End of play.)
You can play. TRICIA
Could you check and see if anyone else has arrived yet?
FITZ
No, I can’t. FITZ DISSONANCE (copyright (c) 2016) by Craig Pospisil.
(slight pause) The play DISSONANCE is published and licensed by
TRICIA Sure. Dramatists Play Service (www. Dramatists. com), which
You played “Chop Sticks. ” exclusively controls the professional and nonprofessional
(off his glare) (Fitz exits. Tricia crosses to her mother’s urn. She kisses stage performance rights to the play. No performance of
Okay, you can’t play as well as you used to. Or as you’d the tips of her fingers on one hand and then touches the play may be given without obtaining in advance writ-
like to. But you can still play. them to the top of the urn. Fitz returns a moment later.) tenauthorization from DPS and paying the requisite fee.
Inquiries concerning all other rights to the play should
FITZ be addressed to Patricia McLaughlin, Beacon Artists
FITZ Your aunt is in reception with Mr. McKenzie. But I’ll Agency, 57 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.
What would be the point? show you out the back so you don’t have to see her.
Reprinted here with permission.
TRICIA TRICIA
Just to be able to when you’re having a good day. Just No. I think it’s time I said hello.
to be able to have that. Why did you ever play? (slight pause)
That music you had playing when I came in . . . that was
FITZ you, wasn’t it.
I know what you want me to say. You want me to say
I played the piano because I loved it and I loved music, FITZ
and then you can say “That’s all you need, isn’t it? ”Well, I was just using it to check the volume.
no, it isn’t. I need more. I need to be seen. I need to be
Chronicles 19Chronicles VIII recorded by Michael J. Quick, Idyllwild Arts Academy
Chronicles XIII recorded by Ryan Streber, Oktaven Audio
Daniel Lippel, Editing Producer
Nothing Has Changed recorded by Robert Gross
Chronicles V recorded by Christopher Griffin and Robert Gross
Chronicles recorded by Robert Gross
Dressing Station (Chronicles XVII) recorded by Howard Fredrics
Chronicles XIV (Chalres Wuorinen in Memoriam) recorded by Robert Gross
Dissonance recorded by Brandon Gibson, Brooke Clark Gibson, and Robert Gross
Cover image: HalGatewood.com, on Unsplash.com
Design & layout: Marc Wolf, marcjwolf.com
20 Robert GrossNEW FOCUS
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