Op. 51 SAN RAFAEL NEWS (February 1, 1995)
Ten Deathsongs for Voice[s] and Instrument[s]
Found Texts
I. AIDSong (Helix)
II. Conference Room Technique / How to Survive (Chart)
III. Death Catch (Caccia)
IV. Immortality ("ex una voce tres") (Mensuration Canon)
V. Lifespan (Encyclic)
VI. Ozymandias (Artifact)
VII. Pontoon Tattoo (Photograph)
VIII. Rain-Death Fugato (Adage)
IX. The Reproductive Organs (Diagram)
X. Sylvia Dreyer (Poster)
Score:
https://imslp.org/wiki/San_Rafael_News%2C_Op.51_(Alburger%2C_Mark)
Performances:
June 1, 1995
Mark Alburger, Voice and Piano
NEW MUSIC HOUSE, San Rafael, CA
December 1, 1996
Mark Alburger, Voice and Piano;
Bruce Salvisberg, Flute;
Carolyn Alburger, Oboe
NEW MUSIC HOUSE San Rafael, CA
June 1, 1997
Mark Alburger, Voice;
Carolyn Alburger, Oboe;
Molly Axtmann, Piano
NEW MUSIC HOUSE, San Rafael, CA
December 1, 1997
Mark Alburger, Voice; I'lana Cotton, Piano
NEW MUSIC HOUSE, San Rafael, CA
June 7, 1998
AIDS Quilt Songbook II
Barbara Martin, Soprano
Dorothy Freeman, Oboe
James Freeman, Piano
Orchestra 2001
Academy of Vocal Arts, Philadelphia, PA
June 18, 1998
Mark Alburger, Voice
Carolyn Alburger and Brenda Schuman Post, Oboes
Thomas Goss and Patti Deuter; Pianos
NEW MUSIC House, San Rafael, CA
July 11, 1998
American Composers Forum Improv Festival
Mark Alburger, Voice;
I'lana Cotton, Piano
Audience Sing-Along
Berkeley Store Gallery, Berkeley, CA
October 11, 1998
National Association of Composers
Haverford School Singers
Marcia Bobnak, conductor
Quaker Meeting House, Lansdowne, PA
December 12, 1998
Mark Alburger, Voice and Keyboard
NEW MUSIC House, San Rafael, CA.
June 21, 1999
Mark Alburger, Voice
I'lana Cotton, Piano
20th Century Forum Garden of Memory
Chapel of Chimes, Oakland, CA
June 26, 1999
Mark Alburger, Voice
I'lana Cotton, Piano
NEW MUSIC House, San Rafael, CA
June 2, 2002
Mark Alburger, Voice and Piano
Missing Persons Concert
Goat Hall, San Francisco, CA
January 25, 2006
Composer's Gala
Goat Hall, San Francisco, CA
May 21, 2006
Fresh Voices VI Festival
Sarah Hutchinson, Eliza O'Malley
Douglas Mandell,
Miriam Lewis
John Kendall Baily, Mark Alburger, Voices
Keisuke Nakagoshi, Piano
Thick House Theatre, San Francisco, CA
April 20, 2007
Halfway Mark
San Francisco Cabaret Opera
San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra
Old First Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA
April 26, 2007
Radio Riot
Mark Alburger, Voice
Diablo Valley College Duck Pond, Pleasant Hill, CA
April 26, 2008
WIP (Works-in-Progress)
Mark Alburger, Voice
Chamber Arts House, Berkeley, CA
May 9, 2008
Horsewomen of the Apocalypse:
The Black Horse, With a Touch of Gray
Elizabeth Henry, Kristen Jones, Janet Lohr,
Eliza O'Malley, Harriet March Page
St. Gregory of Nyssa, San Francisco, CA
Rehearsal shots, 4/6/08,
Chamber Arts House, Berkeley, CA
[Henry, Allan Crossman, Page]
[O'Malley]
Performance shots, 5/9/08
[Page]
[Page, Lohr, Henry, Jones, O'Malley]
March 18, 2017
The Opus Project presents Opus 51: Questionable Practices
The Opus Project Orchestra
Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, San Francisco, CA
Recordings / Video:
HALFWAY MARK
New Music
April 2007
DEATHSONGS
Complete Works, Volume 14
New Music, 2008
Harriet March Page
Eliza O'Malley
Kristen Jones
Elizabeth Henry
Janet Lohr
Mark
Alburger
San Rafael News
I. AIDSong
AIDS is the final life-threatening stage of infection with
Human Immuno-Deficiency Virus -- HIV --
AIDS stands for Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome
HIV damages a patient's own disease-fighting system
Cases of AIDS were identified in 1981
Millions of AIDS cases have been diagnosed around the world
II. Conference Room Technique
(Harriet March Page)
(2) Stands in the doorway
(1) Opens fire on the first subject to react
swings across the room toward center of the mass
(2) Covers group to prevent individual dangerous reactions
fires burst of rounds
(1) Finishes burst commends Shift
(2) On commend Shift
opens fire on the opposite side
(1) Finishes burst commends Shift
(2) Kills the survivors with two-burst round leaves propaganda
How to Survive on Land and Sea
In the Air in the Water
In a world-wide war of movement you may suddenly find yourself stranded
In unfamiliar situations
Lost in the arctic
Or in the ocean
Or on an island
Or jungle
Or the desert
You may tend to magnify the hazards of these foreign occupations
These unfamiliar situations
Do not panic
III. Death Catch
(Mark Alburger)
Death is the end of life
Every living thing eventually dies
But human beings are probably the only
Creatures that can imagine their own deaths
Most people fear death
And try to avoid thinking about it
But the awareness of death has been one of the chief
Forces in the development of civilization
Throughout history people have continually sought new medical knowledge
With which to delay death
Philosophers and religious leaders have tried to understand
The meaning of death
Some scholars believe that most human progress
Results from people's efforts to overcome death
And gain immortality
Through lasting achievements
IV. Immortality ("ex una voce tres")
(Eliza O'Malley, Kristen Jones, Elizabeth Henry)
(1) Immortality
Is a term for the theory believe
In human life
Continuing after death
The question whether there is life after death
Has played an important role
In philosophy and religion
(
2) Immortality
An ability to void death totally
V. Life Span
(Elizabeth Henry, Janet Lohr, Mark Alburger, Eliza O'Malley)
Elephants - 70 years
Dogs - 18 years
Cats - 14
Horses - 20 years
Whales - 50 years
Carp - 30
Guppies - 5 years
Eagles, Owls, and Parrots - 60 years
Parakeets - 12 years
Box Tortoises - 100
Giant Tortoise - 200
Redwood Tree, Creosote Bush - 3000 years
Every higher organism
Has a species characteristic average life span
Which is defined and limited
By the best interest in species survival
For an adult plant or animal
To live forever after procreation
It would deplete the food supply
And then jeopardize the species survival
Immortality would halt the process
Of the natural selectivity
Which is the major instrument
In adaption for all species survival
Mortal generations have superior adaption
Via sexual means
Than an immortal populace
In the challenges of species survival
VI. Ozymandias (Percy Bysshe Shelley)
(Kristen Jones)
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:
Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert.
Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye
Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
VII. Pontoon Tattoo (In Memoriam Sonny Bono)
(Janet Lohr)
(Mark Alburger)
Pontoon Tattoo
I've had hit records
Produced T.V. shows
Here I am bawled out by a midget
VIII. Rain-Death Fugato
(Kristin Jones, Elizabeth Henry)
(Mark Alburger)
Death is the rain
That fills the river
Of life inside us all
Nature's not fed by mercy
IX. The Reproductive Organs
(Elizabeth Henry, Kristen Jones, Eliza O'Malley)
(Mark Alburger)
The reproductive organs
(Which from a biologist's perspective
Are the only reason for existence)
Control and contribute to
Everything from the mood
To how cholesterol is used
In the body
X. Sylvia Dreyer
(Elizabeth Henry)
(Mark Alburger)
Sylvia Dreyer
White female 79 years 5' 2" 100 pounds
Sylvia Dreyer
Short gray hair page boy style blue eyes partially blind
Sylvia also suffers from Alzheimer's
And a severe case of asthma probably in need of her medication
Sylvia Dreyer
Clothing: black and blue flowered dress
White cloth jacket brown leather sandals
Sylvia
Last seen around 3:30 pm yesterday
Near Ted's Bar in San Anselmo
Missing from a residential rest home located on
West End Avenue in San Rafael
Any information please call
San Rafael Police at
(415) 485-3000
I. If It Is Thus
II. Cunning Hunter
III. Eyes Dim
IV. Fly Away 
V. Well, Well, Well, Well, Well
VI. Shouldn't Work for Nothing 
VII. How To Depart 
VIII. On His Way 
IX. One Day Dinah 
X. If It Is Thus 
