Marin Symphony, Rob Kapilow, Chrysopylae, May 2012

Rob Kapilow

Fresh. Local. Music.
Photo: Peter Schaaf

59th Season | Maestro Alasdair Neale’s 10th Anniversary

FEATURED COMPOSER, ROB KAPILOW

Rob’s journey creating Chrysopylae
(kris·sop´·i·lee) the Marin Symphony’s
Golden Gate Opus commission,
began in 2011 — inspired by history,
sound and community.

Featured Composer | Rob Kapilow | Chrysopylae / Golden Gate Opus | Concert No. 5

The Bridge by John Van Der Zee

SF Chronicle, on the day following the pedestrian opening, Thursday May 27,1937

“ At about two o’clock the wind that rises in the Gate almost
every afternoon began blowing through the great harp of
towers, suspenders and cables. In the absence of the usual
steady burr of automobile traffic, another sound could be
heard, and it brought the shuffling and larking of the crowd to
a momentary halt.

A man shouted for quiet and, holding up his hand,
urges the people around him to listen. The hush spread.


The Bridge by John Van Der Zee

SF Chronicle, on the day following the pedestrian opening, Thursday May 27,1937

‘Away down deep’ reported the Chronicle.’ there is a deep
roar, like the bass notes of a piano. High up in the wires is a
shrill sound that some gigantic violincello might produce. From
the towers came ‘a deep organ-like note, a series of different
tones, changing, deepening, rising.’

‘They all blended into a splendid diapason, these different
sounds, and those still crowds stood awe-stricken by one of

”
the strangest symphonies the ear of man has ever heard.’



In Spring 2011, Rob Kapilow was
commissioned by The Marin Symphony
to compose Golden Gate Opus, a piece
for orchestra, chorus and recorded
natural sound to celebrate the Bridge’s
75th anniversary in 2012. Golden Gate
Opus collaborations have taken the
form of community meetings, intimate
conversations, radio call-in shows,
Facebook feedback and site visits to take
in the complete essence of the Bay Area,
the Golden Passage and naturally, the
Golden Gate Bridge itself.


Photo: Stuart Lirette

Youth from Marin City — 2011
Rob began the year-long process of reaching out to people to create the original piece with
us. His inspiration is drawn from experiences with people from all walks of life.


2011

“ I met with generous specialists at
several organizations including
the California Historical Society,
Prelinger Library, the San
Francisco Bay Area Television
Archives and the Marin County
Library–California Collection
to name a few.

”

2011

“ I’m coming there with a clean
slate. I have no idea what it will
eventually sound like. But a new
piece of music should engage
an entire community, so every
meeting I have with every person
is the symphony to me.

”

Chrysopylae

Rob Kapilow

“ We have partnered with Native Tribal groups, have
had intimate meetings with families whose loved ones
have taken their life on the Golden Gate Bridge, we met
with a Tugboat Captain, historians, youth of all ages,
musicians and the retirement community. We heard
from sailors as they took us on a magical journey under
the bridge on the historic 1891 Alma and of course we
engaged the force that keeps the Golden Gate Bridge
in tip top shape…the bridge workers of all facets

”
including painters, carpenters, welders and engineers!



International High School, San Francisco — 2011
The musical experience Rob created reflects the shape and sound of being here.



Smith Ranch — Retirement Community — 2011
The input composer Rob Kapilow received is ultimately the inspiration for the
Golden Gate Opus.



Marin School of the Arts, Novato — 2011
First visit, before Chrysopylae was composed.


Photo: Peter Rodgers

Marin School of the Arts, Novato — March, 2012
Return visit, after Chrysopylae was created.



KDFC studio — Fred Newman, Rob Kapilow and Maestro Alasdair Neale
March 2012, ‘State of the Arts’ interview with Jeff Freymann-Weyr.



Rob Kapilow and Alasdair Neale
March 2012 — appearing at a special Yale outreach event at the San Francisco Conservatory
of Music. Rob Kapilow and Maestro Neale are connected to Yale and the SF Conservatory.


2012 — RETURN VISI T

“ A year ago, I was commissioned
by the Marin Symphony to write
a symphony commemorating the
75th anniversary of the Golden
Gate Bridge. Having no idea
where to start, I began by meeting
groups of people from all walks of
life throughout the Bay Area and
asking for their ideas.

”


“ We all know what the Golden
Gate Bridge looks like, so
I asked people what they
thought it might sound like.
And I have to say, I was
stunned by the variety,
imagination, and brilliance
of people’s answers and
began my work from those

”
conversations.

California Historical Society,
Photo: Peter Rodgers San Francisco



“ Now the piece is done, getting
ready to be premiered by the
orchestra and chorus in May,
I am returning to the Bay
Area to share how I turned
a community’s thoughts into
music, presenting excerpts,
and giving attendees a chance
to tell me what they think

”
about the whole process.

SF Bay Model,
Photo: Stuart Lirette Suasalito



“ Once I realized the
sounds of the Golden
Gate Bridge would be at
the heart of the piece, I
brought Fred Newman,
the brilliant sound-effects
guy from A Prairie Home
Companion, into the project
to collaborate with me and
his contribution has been

”
amazing.
SF Bay Model,
Photo: Stuart Lirette Suasalito



“ I welcome the opportunity
to see and hear what an
area-wide conversation
helped create, talk about
music, sound, composition,
collaboration, and creativity,
and learn from Fred how to
bark like a dog! I look forward
to a stimulating, free-wheeling
conversation as our Golden

”
Gate Bridge journey continues.
Marin Center Auditorium,
Photo: Peter Rodgers San Rafael


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement I — CHRYSOPYLAE (kris·sop´·i·lee)

“ U.S. Army officer John C. Fremont gave the name “Golden Gate”
to the entrance of San Francisco Bay in his “Geographical Memoir”
submitted to the U.S. Senate on June 5, 1848. Fremont wrote
that the three mile strait that marked the entrance to the bay, was
called “Chrysopylae (Golden Gate)” on his map, much like that of
“the harbor of Byzantium (Constantinople) was called Chrysoceras
(Golden Horn).” The Greek word, Chrysopylae, literally means a
golden gateway or passageway, and the idea of celebrating this
extraordinary meeting of earth, water and sky—this natural, golden
passageway—as well as the bridge itself, was the central idea behind
the movement.


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement I — CHRYSOPYLAE (kris·sop´·i·lee)

It begins with a recorded voice of Joseph Strauss, Chief Engineer
of the Golden Gate Bridge project, floating over an imaginary,
nature-filled Garden of Eden that impressionistically suggests the
pre-historic, pre-European contact period through use of the native
Ohlone and Miwok words for earth, water, sky, salmon, abalone, live
oak, tule grass, and redwood; the names of the principal Indian tribes
of the area; and the sounds and music that might have been part
of this world. The successive periods of contact are suggested as

”
these same elements are translated into Spanish and then English.


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement II — Belief: Suspended (Building)

“ “Belief: Suspended (Building)” refers to the bridge as a belief in
possibility, suspended, as it were, over the waters of the bay.
It evokes, in multiple ways, the period of the building of the
bridge—over astonishingly strong protests and open disbelief
in the era of The Great Depression. The movement begins with
the sound of alarm bells, explosions, and pile drivers, reflecting
what contemporary observers claimed was a staggering assault
of violent noise that accompanied the bridge construction as it
progressed from 1933-1937.


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement II — Belief: Suspended (Building)

Fragments of the period waltz, “There’s a Silver Moon on the
Golden Gate,” the official song of the opening of the bridge, waft
in and out like a radio signal. The twelve-tone row of the first
section represents the 12 workers who fell through the safety net
when scaffolding broke on February 17, 1937. The noisy, rivet-by-
rivet rise of the towers and spinning of cables bring an optimism
and a triumph of the “spirit of yes over no,” culminating in the
exuberance of the opening-day celebrations on May 28, 1937. At
the end of the movement, we simply gaze in awe at the remarkable
and improbable new bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the

”
world—for the next quarter of a century.


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement III — Here is Where I Go

“ Acknowledging the history of suicides that have shadowed the
bridge, this movement uses words directly drawn from suicide
notes and the words of surviving family members, concluding
with a blessing for the victims using the ancient Latin words from
the Requiem Mass, “Requiem aeternam, dona eis domine, et
lux perpetua luceat eis’ (Grant them eternal rest, Lord, and let

”
perpetual light shine on them.)


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement IV — How Long

“ The Finale brings us back to earth through the sounds of modern
life on the bridge with the choral words “Earth and water and
sky,” the English words for the original Ohlone and Miwok used
in the opening. The recurring refrain, “a passageway, a Golden
passageway, Chrysopylae” is interspersed with text drawn wholly
from the actual physical facts of the bridge itself.


PROGRA M NOT ES

Movement IV — How Long

How long . . . is the Bridge? 4,200 feet . . . “How long . . . will
your bridge survive?” asks an imagined recording of Michael O’
Shaughnessy, San Francisco’s Chief Engineer, of Joseph Strauss,
Chief Engineer of the Bridge, in an exchange pulled, word-for-word,
from newspaper archives . . . . Strauss answers, “Forever,” to which
O’Shaughnessy replies, “How long is forever?” This piece was the
end result of an enormous amount of research in newspaper, radio,

”
television and film archives, and historical special collections.



March 2012 — Marin Symphony Chorus rehearsal.



March 2012 — technical session at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium.


HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Cynthia Newport of Illume Productions is filming the creation of the
Golden Gate Opus for a documentary film.


Fresh. Local. Music.

Beethoven and the Bridge
PROGRAM 5
Sunday, May 6, 2012 at 3pm (world premiere)
Tuesday, May 8, 2012 at 7:30pm

Alasdair Neale, conductor
Featuring the Marin Symphony Chorus

Kapilow Chrysopylae (kris-sop΄-i-lee), Golden Gate Opus
Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Ronit Widmann-Levy, soprano
Julie Anne Miller, mezzo soprano
Brian Thorsett, tenor
Eugene Brancoveanu, bass

Tickets: 415.499.6800 www.marinsymphony.org
Concerts made possible by LVP Marin Realtors, Bank of Marin, William &
Flora Hewlett Foundation. Guest artist sponsored by Steve & Christina Fox.

Rob
Kapilow

Fred Alasdair
Newman Neale
Photo: Peter Schaaf Photo: Matthew Washburn

Marin Symphony, Rob Kapilow, Chrysopylae, May 2012

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