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THE CAPITALISTIC MACHINE AGAINST A RADICAL INDIVIDUAL

could argue that this unknown choral opera’s vision of Smith, “Grand Oratorio with a Social Conscience: Marc
“the capitalistic machine against a radical individual” Blitzstein’s ‘This Is the Garden (1957)’.” Choral Journal 49,
inspired all of Blitzstein’s music and politics through no. 8 (2009): 32-47.
the 1930s and beyond. If so, The Cradle Will Rock, in 4 Blitzstein was the victim of a gay-bashing incident in
which a radical union member does manage to stand Martinique, in which he was lured into an alley under
up against the “capitalistic machine,” could be con- false sexual pretenses and badly beaten by three sailors
sidered a more successful implementation of the basic he met in a bar. He would soon die of his injuries. See
theme of The Condemned, the flower that would blossom Pollack, Marc Blitzstein, 468-9, 496-7.

from this root. 5 Gordon, Mark the Music, 60.
6 MB, notes on Cain, 1931. The ballet would wait nearly
ninety years for its premiere, which finally occurred in

NOTES 2019.
7 MB, notes, 1931 (R6#242 in the Marc Blitzstein Papers,
1 Marc Blitzstein (MB), letter to Josephine Blitzstein Davis microfi lm).
(JBD), 16 October 1932. This and all letters quoted are 8 MB, notes, 1931 (R44#59). The chronology here indicates
from the Marc Blitzstein Papers collection, housed in that the idea of a choral opera may have preceded his
the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, decision to take Sacco and Vanzetti as a thematic subject.
part of the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives 9 MB, letter to JBD, 9 August 1931 (R2#946).
in Madison. Blitzstein used bits of The Condemned as 10 MB, letter to JBD, 10 August 1931 (R2#953-4).
source material for later works, but the choral opera 11 See Paul Avrich, Sacco and Vanzetti: The Anarchist Background
as originally conceived has never been performed. All (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1991); John F.
Blitzstein quotations are reprinted with the permission Neville, Twentieth-Century Cause Cèlébre: Sacco, Vanzetti, and the
of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, New York. All Press, 1920-1927 (Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2004); David
rights reserved. Felix, Protest: Sacco-Vanzetti and the Intellectuals (Bloomington,
2 Some European works invite comparison, although Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1965); William Young and
Blitzstein’s choral opera precedes them all. Hanns Eisler David E. Kaiser, Postmortem: New Evidence in the Case of Sacco
would write the Communist-themed oratorio Die Mutter and Vanzetti (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts
in 1935, which features substantial music for chorus, and Press, 1985); and Douglas Linder, “The Sacco and
concern for the Jewish situation in Germany inspired Vanzetti Trial,” Famous American Trials, https://famous-
Michael Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (1939-1941), trials.com/saccovanzetti.
which would also use choral music to great eff ect. 12 Felix, Protest, 54.
3 Biographies available include Howard Pollack, Marc 13 Pollack, Marc Blitzstein, 134-5.
Blitzstein: His Life, His Work, His World (New York: 14 Neville, Twentieth-Century, 151-2.
Oxford, 2012) and Eric A. Gordon, Mark the Music: The 15 Avrich, Anarchist Background, 56-7.
Life and Work of Marc Blitzstein (New York: St. Martin’s 16 Neville, Twentieth-Century, 36-7. While there is still no
Press, 1989). Gordon’s was the first full-length treatment consensus on the innocence or guilt of Sacco and

of Blitzstein’s life; Pollack’s masterful biography may Vanzetti, many historians agree that they should have at
be considered the most definitive to date. Blitzstein’s least been granted a second trial.

protégé and friend, Leonard Bernstein, was a tireless 17 Carolyn West Pace, “Sacco and Vanzetti in American Art
advocate of his music, and in the choral world Blitzstein and Music” (Ph.D. diss., Syracuse University, 1997), 37.
would collaborate closely with Robert Shaw in The 18 MB, “Sketch for a one-act opera” (R44#59).
Airborne Symphony (1946). Edward Albee, the Broadway 19 MB, character list (R44#144-5).
playwright, believed Blitzstein “sadly neglected.” A 20 MB, sketch (R44#59).
treatment of another little-known Blitzstein work has 21 MB, sketch (R44#60-1).
appeared previously in the Choral Journal: see Justin 22 Gordon, Mark the Music, 74-5.

48 CHORAL JOURNAL June/July 2021 Volume 61 Number 11