As protests continued to be held in Nashville throughout the last week, several examples of classical protest music have been given the spotlight. When 91Classical published our own list of historic pieces, we knew the list was incomplete. Some members of our musical community, both here at home and across the country, suggested additional works that have moved them as well.

More: Plans, Polonaises, And Unarmed Men: The Role of Protest In Classical Music

Undine Smith Moore: Before I’d Be A Slave

Chair of Musicology at Vanderbilt’s Blair School of Music Douglas Shadle suggested a piece by Undine Smith Moore called Before I’d Be A Slave. The first time he heard the piece, it left him speechless. Not a surprising reaction, as the broad chords crashing throughout the piece can be a shock. Smith Moore took the title from a freedom song called Oh Freedom!, often associated with the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. As sung by Odetta, and later Joan Baez at the March on Washington, the middle lyric of each stanza is “Before I’d be a slave I’ll be buried in my grave.” Shadle finds new meaning in Smith Moore’s music now, as it resonates with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Karim Al-Zand: The Prisoner

Sam Bergman is a violist in the Minnesota Orchestra, who saw the original article via Twitter. He replied with several additional suggestions, the most personal of which was The Prisoner by Karim Al-Zand. Bergman described it as “one of the most powerful works I’ve ever played.”

The work, which you can hear in full on Al-Zand’s website, tells the story of Adnan Latif, who was the ninth prisoner to die at Guatanamo Bay. According to Latif’s family he left home to seek medical care, though the US government claims he left for military training. Regardless, he was captured, along with many other Arab men, by bounty hunters along the Pakistan/Afghanistan border. After being denied Habeas Corpus, and spending a decade filled with hunger strikes and suicide attempts at Guatanamo Bay, Latif was cleared for release, but remained in custody until he was found dead in his cell.

While Al-Zand’s own Middle Eastern heritage is a subject that appears in several of his pieces, in this case Adnan Latif’s letters were the main source of inspiration. Letters that detail horrible treatment at Guantanamo Bay and a descent into depression and madness, alongside poetry by Rilke, Al-Ma‘arri, Rūmī, and the Book of Psalms.

Frederic Rzewski: Coming Together

Percussionist Allen Otte pointed to another piece by Frederic Rzewski, in addition to the original list’s inclusion of The People United Will Never Be Defeated! Rzewski returned from performing and composing in Europe in 1971, the same year as the prison riot at Attica Correctional Facility. One of the 33 prisoners killed in the riot was Sam Melville, a draftsman who had been radicalized by apartheid when his job had sent him to South Africa.

Melville’s letters were later published, and Rzewski took the text of one letter in particular, to be read as-is, in Coming Together. Like many of Rzewski’s pieces, the orchestration is flexible. One player repeats bass line, as the rest of the ensemble follows along via written instructions, creating various modes of controlled yet unpredictable chaos. The narrator reads Melville’s letter in short fragments, creating the feeling that the words are being composed right there during the performance.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 3

Nashville Symphony Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero turned our attention to Beethoven’s sympathy with the French Revolution values of “liberty, equality, and fraternity.” Beethoven, only just beginning to accept his impending deafness, found inspiration in stories of uprisings in France at the time. The third symphony began with a dedication to Napoleon Bonaparte. As Guerrero points out, the bloom came off the rose pretty quickly, “when Napoleon crowned himself emperor [Beethoven] was so disgusted that he erased the name from the title page (with such anger that he ripped the page).”

The title page of Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony, still bearing the torn evidence of the original dedication.International Music Score Public Domain Library

 “I was the first to bring him the news that Bonaparte had proclaimed himself emperor, whereupon he flew into a rage and cried out: ‘Is he too, then, nothing more than an ordinary human being? Now he, too, will trample on the rights of man, and indulge only his ambition!'” – Beethoven’s student, Ferdinand Ries

As was originally intended by the composer, the piece tells the story of a remarkably heroic life. It began a whole new phase in Beethoven’s career, now known as his Heroic phase. While its frequent programming has made it a concert hall staple, the piece was a revolution in notes when it premiered; an aggressive political action, meant to challenge the listener’s view of the world.

Valerie Coleman: Phenomenal Women

The American Composer’s Forum lifted up the work of composer (and Louisville, Kentucky native) Valerie Coleman this week. Coleman often uses historical figures as a jumping off point for compositions. Phenomenal Women celebrates the efforts of women at overcoming adversity. The piece exists in two forms: one for the ensemble Coleman plays with, Imani Winds, and another for full orchestra. Coleman was inspired by Maya Angelou’s book Phenomenal Woman, which includes a poem of the same name.

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I’m telling lies.

I say,

It’s in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I’m a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That’s me.” – poem excerpt, Maya Angelou

Shelley Washington: Towers

Website I Care If You Listen shared an article from April of 2019, profiling a piece of music that explores the experience of being a person of color in academia. Shelley Washington does not shy away from her own experiences of isolation in the piece.

“Towers is for me, and for all those who reside in their own stronghold. Though we often feel confined to our own separate spires in our own separate kingdoms, I know that someday we’ll all be able to come down. Slowly but surely, we will all rise together.” – composer Shelley Washington

While academia as a whole experiences issues with inclusion and representation, classical music’s ivory towers are particularly divided still. Washington expresses hope that by being open about where our weaknesses lie, music as a whole we can work together to become a stronger field.

Reena Esmail: #metoo

91Classical Music Director Nina Cardona did not highlight one piece, but rather a whole album as an additional example. Chicago Sinfonietta’s Project W leaves little room for doubt in liner notes, written by Mei-Ann Chen:

“Welcome to our celebration. This is not just another album, this is a statement.”