Litany (John Musto)

by Ace Gangoso

Today I bring you footage from my own personal archives:  a performance of “Litany” by John Musto, self-recorded around the beginning of last summer.

​In his setting of this Langston Hughes poem, Musto managed to make a song in a major key sound deeply mournful, a trick straight out of Franz Schubert’s playbook.  During the long piano intro, the tonality shifts and wanders as the meter changes almost every bar.  The vocal line lilts about and floats above the piano hauntingly, often entering and moving off beat.  Yet all of the harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic quirks somehow take place without drawing excess attention to themselves.  The song doesn’t sound as jarring and amorphous as one might expect given its qualities on paper.  Instead, what emerges is a sound world that evokes feelings of longing, searching, and unsettledness—feelings which we are wont to experience in our current physical world.

Panel #40 from "The Migration Series" by Jacob Lawrence (1941)

As much as we had hoped that January 1, 2021 would magically free us from the woes of the previous year, deep down we knew (or were quickly reminded) that things are rarely that simple.  Similarly, we know that, even as new national leadership takes office, the substantive change that many hope for will take time.  Some voice their eagerness for things to “go back to normal,” but my hope is actually that this doesn’t happen.  The “old normal” was wrought with ignorance and complacency toward inequality and injustice, and I like to think that, overall, we have grown as a society in our consciousness and compassion.  We have seen and felt suffering and hopelessness more plainly than ever, and have made sacrifices for the greater good.

But what I hear wrapped into the great beauty of this song is a call for even more—to not let “we’re all in this together” to be a mere cliché, to identify and actively seek out the people and things in our lives that we habitually ignore or put off, and to listen more closely for (and respond to) the cries for help around us.

Do you hear a similar call?  Does this music speak to you in a different way?  What are you most hopeful for this year?  Feel free to use the comment section or reply to the emails with these blog entries to engage with us and let us know your thoughts!  We have enjoyed staying connected with you this way and look forward to bringing you new content and performances soon.

Author

Tenor Ace Gangoso recently completed his first season with Fourth Coast Ensemble.  His various other musical affiliations, including the CSO and Grant Park Choruses, Chicago a cappella, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the Chicago Black Catholics Choir, hint at his interests in different musical genres and styles.  He believes good songs are like onions: they come in various shapes, sizes, and colors, have many layers, and take on the unique flavors added by those entrusted to their care.