Benjamin Lees's Visions of Poets

Abstract

From the expressive point of view, as was shown in the first part of this article the special quality of Lees's music is that it is concerned with the emotional unrest of contemporary life—the sense of violence, the feelings of doubt, discouragement, even despair—but while voicing these unflinchingly, it confronts them with a natural vitality which is not devoid of humour, courage, and hope. Seattle therefore made an appropriate choice when they commissioned him to write a large-scale choral work to open the ‘Century 21 Exposition’ of 1962. The result, Visions of Poets, was performed at the exposition on May 15 and 16, by Adele Addison (soprano), Albert da Costa (tenor), the Seattle Chorale and Symphony Orchestra, under Milton Katims. It was a spectacular occasion, the stage of the new Seattle Opera House being filled with a chorus of 90 and an orchestra of 95; the work created a profound impression, and was generally voted Lees's outstanding achievement to date.