AUDUBON
multimedia oratorio for chorus, orchestra, and baritone
libretto and score by James Kallembach
Promo Video
EXCERPTS WITH SCORES FROM AUDUBON
No. 13, The Silver Band
Finale "The Silver Band": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
The second act of Audubon finds him entertaining a wealthy British household in his rather ridiculous "American Woodsman" persona he adopts to sell subscriptions for his "Birds of America" in Europe. In the final movement Audubon returns to the letter from his wife Lucy he received at the top of the act. Reading it, he knows he must return home to his family after his three years of separation or face permanent estrangement. He sings of "the silver band" that he, over a decade ago, placed on the legs of a pair of Phoebes– which marked the first bird he truly studied, perhaps the first instance of bird banding in history, and the beginning of his courtship of Lucy. He is reminded of the silver bands that "mark us and guide us and lead us home." The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.
Finale "The Silver Band": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
The second act of Audubon finds him entertaining a wealthy British household in his rather ridiculous "American Woodsman" persona he adopts to sell subscriptions for his "Birds of America" in Europe. In the final movement Audubon returns to the letter from his wife Lucy he received at the top of the act. Reading it, he knows he must return home to his family after his three years of separation or face permanent estrangement. He sings of "the silver band" that he, over a decade ago, placed on the legs of a pair of Phoebes– which marked the first bird he truly studied, perhaps the first instance of bird banding in history, and the beginning of his courtship of Lucy. He is reminded of the silver bands that "mark us and guide us and lead us home." The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.

Audubon_13_TheSilverBand | |
File Size: | 860 kb |
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No. 11, The Eccentric Naturalist
"The Eccentric Naturalist": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
Also from the second act (see above), this aria relates a story from Audubon's journals and writings. The French naturalist Constantine Rafinesque was duped into accepting Audubon's phony drawings and descriptions of American wildlife, which Rafinesque published as fact upon his return to France. The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.
"The Eccentric Naturalist": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
Also from the second act (see above), this aria relates a story from Audubon's journals and writings. The French naturalist Constantine Rafinesque was duped into accepting Audubon's phony drawings and descriptions of American wildlife, which Rafinesque published as fact upon his return to France. The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.

Audubon_11_TheEccentricNaturalist | |
File Size: | 447 kb |
File Type: |
No. 3, The Wood Thrush
"The Wood Thrush": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
The first act of Audubon finds him lamenting his recent bankruptcy before boarding a skiff on the Mississippi river. With only "the shirt on his back, his drawings of birds, and his gun" left, he resolves to leave his family behind and float down to Louisiana where he can more easily pursue his study of birds. He sings of the the Wood Thrush, the "harbinger of day." The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.
"The Wood Thrush": Chorus pro Musica; Sumner Thompson, baritone; Jamie Kirsch, conductor; Kathy Wittman, videographer
The first act of Audubon finds him lamenting his recent bankruptcy before boarding a skiff on the Mississippi river. With only "the shirt on his back, his drawings of birds, and his gun" left, he resolves to leave his family behind and float down to Louisiana where he can more easily pursue his study of birds. He sings of the the Wood Thrush, the "harbinger of day." The libretto for Audubon is adapted from Audubon's own writings in journals and books.

Audubon_3_TheWoodThrush | |
File Size: | 294 kb |
File Type: |
SYNOPSIS
ACT I: A FRENCHMAN FLOATS DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI
1. PROLOGUE: Audubon is forced to declare bankruptcy after a financial crisis as a merchant. He decides to float down the Mississippi, leaving his family behind, in order to pursue his drawing and studies of birds.
2. OVERTURE
3. THE WOODTHRUSH: Audubon is at a clearing in the woods next to a dock on the Mississippi River. In his despair over his bankruptcy, he sings about the Wood Thrush, “the harbinger of day.”
4. THE PHOEBE: A drunkard disembarking a skiff takes interest in Audubon, and Audubon proceeds to show him his drawings of birds. He comes to the Phoebe and explains how closely linked the bird’s biography is to his own, and how the bird reminds him of meeting his wife Lucy for the first time.
5. RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD: A captive audience, Audubon is now keen to tell the drunkard about the humming bird. While speaking of how incredibly small and helpless the nurslings are, he is reminded of the loss of his daughter Rose, who died in infancy around the time of his bankruptcy. He is moved to tears.
6. O GREAT POET: The chorus sings an excerpt of Audubon’s journal, in which Audubon pleads with the great writer Sir Walter Scott to come and describe America for the sake of future generations, before it has declined in the industrial era.
7. MISSISSIPPI KITE: In the depth of his despair, Audubon spies a Mississippi Kite, and resolves to float down the Mississippi and create his great work.
ACT II: THE AMERICAN WOODSMAN
8. ENTR’ACTE
9. IMAGINE A LANDSAPE: The choir sings an excerpt from a review of Audubon’s paintings in Edinburgh in which the sheer magnitude and vivid depictions of an exotic (to Europe) American landscape are praised as a triumph. Audubon enters to entertain British high society in a fancy parlor. He is now dressed as the “American Woodsman”, a rather overwrought costume of furs, greased hair, and other similar trappings. He is delivered a letter from Lucy just as guests are arriving. Absent now for three years, Audubon laments the long time away from Lucy and his family.
10. THE MOCKINGBIRD: Audubon begins entertaining his British audience, telling of the Mockingbird’s unparalleled ability to imitate nature and its flamboyant and elaborate ways of courtship.
11. THE ECCENTRIC NATURALIST: Audubon turns to one of his famous tall tales from the Birds of America, likely based on an actual French Naturalist (Constantine Rafinesque) whom Audubon duped into taking fake drawings as actual specimens, which Rafinesque later publishes as fact.
12. THE WHITE-HEADED EAGLE: Intrigued by the humorous story, the audience sheepishly asks about rumors of outlaws and violence on the American frontier. Audubon is only too happy to oblige, telling them of Francis Dacosta, whom Audubon’s father put in charge of Audubon’s business affairs when he first arrived in America, only to find out Dacosta had cheated them both and nearly prevented Audubon’s marriage to Lucy.
13. THE SILVER BAND: Reminded of Lucy, Audubon excuses himself and returns to the letter handed to him at the opening of Act II. In reading it he realizes he must return to salvage his marriage. He sings of the “silver band”– the thin threads he had tied on the Phoebes, perhaps the first instance of bird banding, to prove that the birds were returning to the same site each year. Audubon sings of the thin, silver band that binds us to those we love, and leads us home.
ACT I: A FRENCHMAN FLOATS DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI
1. PROLOGUE: Audubon is forced to declare bankruptcy after a financial crisis as a merchant. He decides to float down the Mississippi, leaving his family behind, in order to pursue his drawing and studies of birds.
2. OVERTURE
3. THE WOODTHRUSH: Audubon is at a clearing in the woods next to a dock on the Mississippi River. In his despair over his bankruptcy, he sings about the Wood Thrush, “the harbinger of day.”
4. THE PHOEBE: A drunkard disembarking a skiff takes interest in Audubon, and Audubon proceeds to show him his drawings of birds. He comes to the Phoebe and explains how closely linked the bird’s biography is to his own, and how the bird reminds him of meeting his wife Lucy for the first time.
5. RUBY-THROATED HUMMING BIRD: A captive audience, Audubon is now keen to tell the drunkard about the humming bird. While speaking of how incredibly small and helpless the nurslings are, he is reminded of the loss of his daughter Rose, who died in infancy around the time of his bankruptcy. He is moved to tears.
6. O GREAT POET: The chorus sings an excerpt of Audubon’s journal, in which Audubon pleads with the great writer Sir Walter Scott to come and describe America for the sake of future generations, before it has declined in the industrial era.
7. MISSISSIPPI KITE: In the depth of his despair, Audubon spies a Mississippi Kite, and resolves to float down the Mississippi and create his great work.
ACT II: THE AMERICAN WOODSMAN
8. ENTR’ACTE
9. IMAGINE A LANDSAPE: The choir sings an excerpt from a review of Audubon’s paintings in Edinburgh in which the sheer magnitude and vivid depictions of an exotic (to Europe) American landscape are praised as a triumph. Audubon enters to entertain British high society in a fancy parlor. He is now dressed as the “American Woodsman”, a rather overwrought costume of furs, greased hair, and other similar trappings. He is delivered a letter from Lucy just as guests are arriving. Absent now for three years, Audubon laments the long time away from Lucy and his family.
10. THE MOCKINGBIRD: Audubon begins entertaining his British audience, telling of the Mockingbird’s unparalleled ability to imitate nature and its flamboyant and elaborate ways of courtship.
11. THE ECCENTRIC NATURALIST: Audubon turns to one of his famous tall tales from the Birds of America, likely based on an actual French Naturalist (Constantine Rafinesque) whom Audubon duped into taking fake drawings as actual specimens, which Rafinesque later publishes as fact.
12. THE WHITE-HEADED EAGLE: Intrigued by the humorous story, the audience sheepishly asks about rumors of outlaws and violence on the American frontier. Audubon is only too happy to oblige, telling them of Francis Dacosta, whom Audubon’s father put in charge of Audubon’s business affairs when he first arrived in America, only to find out Dacosta had cheated them both and nearly prevented Audubon’s marriage to Lucy.
13. THE SILVER BAND: Reminded of Lucy, Audubon excuses himself and returns to the letter handed to him at the opening of Act II. In reading it he realizes he must return to salvage his marriage. He sings of the “silver band”– the thin threads he had tied on the Phoebes, perhaps the first instance of bird banding, to prove that the birds were returning to the same site each year. Audubon sings of the thin, silver band that binds us to those we love, and leads us home.