Consisting of 8 brief, simple movements, "only a visitor" is inspired by the story of the Soviet space dogs. Between 1957 and 1966, a period when space exploration was considered too dangerous for humans to attempt, the Russians sent approximately 60 dogs into space. These animals–all female strays caught in Moscow–underwent many days of inhumane training before being launched on sub-orbital and orbital flights. Surprisingly, most of the dogs survived their missions, and some even returned to space on subsequent flights. A number of the dogs, however, did not come back alive or at all, dying gruesome and terrifying deaths in their cramped capsules hundreds of kilometers above the earth. It is the tragic story of these dogs in particular that "only a visitor" seeks to commemorate.
I wrote "only a visitor" in honor of the 40th anniversary of my music school, The Levine School of Music, in Washington, DC. This is the recording of the premiere performance given by INTERFERENCE new music collective: Noah Getz (saxophone), Osman Kivrak (viola), Nancy Snider (cello), and Jenny Lin (piano).
The title "only a visitor" comes from an untitled 1962 poem by Robert Lax:
"are you a visitor?" asked
the dog.
"yes," i answered.
"only a visitor?" asked
the dog.
"yes," i answered.
"take me with you," said
the dog.
The 8 movements can be divided roughly into two categories: the "voice" of the dog (as performed by me) and the voice of science, which features recordings of interviews with elderly Soviet scientists who worked with the space dogs many years earlier. I am grateful to musicologist Yana Lowry, PhD, for her generous assistance in transcribing and translating these interviews.
Following is a brief synopsis of the movements:
"Dog's Voice"
Movement 1 ("o spaceman") represents the dogs' unconditional love.
Movement 3 ("questions") represents the dogs' ignorance of the dangers of their missions.
Movement 6 ("observations") represents what the dogs see on their missions.
Movement 8 ("in paradise") is a plea for help.
"Science Speaks"
Movements 2, 4, and 7 use the Soviet scientist interviews.
Movement 5 is an interlude.