Oskar Morawetz grew up in the small Czechoslovak town of Kalischt.
In his youth he would sometimes peek out the window and see a funeral
procession winding through the town on the way to the cemetery.
"I was heartbroken when I saw the children walking behind the coffin,"
he says in an interview.
"I was frightened, too. In those days people didn't live as long and I
thought of my parents."
Thankfully, Morawetz's parents lived a long time and these childhood
memories receded into the background. Until April 1968, when Dr.
Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis, Tenn.
"These childhood memories came back to me as I watched Dr. King's life
on television for three days."
Until then, Morawetz was only vaguely familiar with King and his mission.
TV images of Coretta Scott King left widowed and her children left
fatherless aroused his interest as well as his sympathy.
The end result: "Memoriam to Martin Luther King" which is part
of tonight's Edmonton Symphony Orchestra concert featuring the work
of Canadian composers.
After King's assassination Morawetz noticed that the music for the
funeral procession was played by winds and percussion. This inspired
the Memoriam's unconventional orchestration of winds and
percussion which is additionally overlaid by a narrative solo cello line.
Dr. King's historic speech "I have a Dream" was based on the words
of his favorite spiritual Free at Last, and for Morawetz it
seemed appropriate to incorporate in Memoriam. Yet upon
discovering it's "a very happy song," he balked at the idea until
managing a metamorphosis of the tune into something more appropriately
funereal.
[...]
Cellist Gary Hoffman plays Memoriam and Samuel Wong guest
conducts.
