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THE CAPITALISTIC MACHINE AGAINST A RADICAL INDIVIDUAL

choral singers positioned in varying states of exhaustion, of Blitzstein’s favorite works, Stravinsky’s Symphony of
representing his fractured state of mind. A soft trumpet Psalms (1930).
and bassoon fanfare in D sounds, followed by an expo- Blitzstein uses his choral writing throughout the work
sition of motives in succession, forming the basis for the to indicate the psychological state of his characters, as il-
movement’s development. The most important musical lustrated later in the scene. After the Condemned (choir
idea, an ascending four-note scale taken up later as the I) sings his fi rst entrance (“Awake”), the choir further

chorus’s main theme, appears first in the horn. A few develops the horn’s ascending four-note scale in coun-

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elements already stand out: first, Blitzstein favors poly- terpoint. An alternating two-note motive appears in
tonality, the hint of D major at the outset being quickly the low strings (again, denying D major and implying
denied by the strings and clarinets (Figure 1). These ele- the minor). The opposition of the low strings against the
ments—clashing simultaneous thirds, polychords, mod- choir, and the contrapuntal writing, indicates the Con-
al mixture in the major and minor, and incidental aug- demned’s disturbed state of mind: “Dream let go, will
mented chords—are found throughout The Condemned, you never let go?” (Figure 2 on page 39).
appearing again at the end of the first and last scenes. Blitzstein continues with a tightly constructed explo-

The harmonies call to mind the third movement of one ration of these themes, possibly infl uenced by the style

38 CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11