The Defense of Corinth by Elliot Carter Jr • Washington Men's Camerata

“I love its lively piano scoring, intricate vocal rhythms, and the alliterations in its text," says conductor Scott Tucker. The humorous story it tells adds a playful charm: Diogenes furiously bangs on his tub to prove to the Corinthians, who were preparing for war, that he was not lazy. Carter (1908-2012), was commissioned by G. Wallace Woodworth to write the piece for the Harvard Glee Club in 1941. Scott Tucker directing Washington Men's Camerata with pianists Julie Huang Tucker and Guzal Isametdinova, and narrator Eugene Stromecki. FRENCH TEXT by François Rabelais, transl. Thomas Urquhart When Philip, King of Macedon, enterprised the Siege and ruin of Corinth, the Corinthians, having received certain intelligence, by their spies, that he with a numerous army in battle array was coming against them, were all of them, not without cause, most terribly afraid; and therefore were not neglective of their duty, in doing their best endeavors to put themselves in a fit posture to resist his hostile approach, and defend their own city. Some from the field brought into the fortified places their moveables, cattle, corn, wine, fruit, victuals, and other necessary provisions. Others did fortify and rampire their walls, set up little fortresses, bastions, squared ravelins, digged trenches, cleansed counter-mines, fenced themselves with gabions, contrived platforms, emptied casements, erected the cavaliers, mortaised barbacans, plaistered the courtines, fastened the herses and cataracts, new pointed with portcullices with fine steel or iron, and doubled their patrouille. Everyone did watch and ward, and not one was exempted from carrying the basket. Some polish'd corselets, varnished backs and breasts, cleaned the headpieces, mailcoats, briggandins, haubergeons, brassars and cuissars, greves, jacks, targets, shields. They sharpened spears. They sharpened staves, prepared scymetars, partisans, chipping knives, javelins, javelots, zagages, truncheons, dags, daggers, poignards, bayonets, darts, dartlets, rapiers, arrowheads, staves, skenes, sables, maces, back-swirds, battle-axes, quarter-staves, cutlasses, clubs. Every did watch and ward, and not one was exempted from carrying the basket. Ev'ry man exercised his weapon; every man scowered off the rust from his natural hanger; nor was there a woman amongst them, (though never reserved or old), who made not her harness to be well furbished; as you know, the Corinthian women of old were reputed very courageous combatants. Diogenes, seeing them all warm at work and himself not employed by the magistrates in any business whatsoever, he did very seriously (for many days together without speaking one word) consider and contemplate the countenances of his fellow citizens. Then on a sudden, as if he had been roused up and inspired by a martial spirit, he girded his cloak, scarfways about his left arm, tucked up his sleeves to the elbow, trussed himself like a clown gathering apples, and giving to one of his old acquaintances his wallet, books, and opistographs, away went he out of town towards a little hill or promontory of Corinth called Craneum: and there on the strand, a pretty level place, did he roll his jolly tub, which served him for an house to shelter him from injuries of the weather; there, I say, in a great vehemency of spirit, did he turn it, veer it, wheel it, whirl it, frisk it, jumble it, shuffle it, huddle it, tumble it, hurry it, justle it, jumble it, joult it, evert it, overthrow it, subvert it, beat it, thwack it, bump it, knock it, thrust it, push it, batterit, shock it, shake it, throw it, toss it, jerk it, overthrow it upside-down, topsy-turvy, arsiversy, tread it, trample it, stamp it, slamp it, tap it, ting it, ring it, tingle it, towl it, sound it, resound it, shut it, unbung it, stop it, close it, unstopple it. He hurled it, slid it down the hill, precipitated it from the very height of the Craneum; heaved it, transfigured it, bespattered it, garnished it, furnished it, bored it, bewrayed it, parched it, bedashed, tottered it, adorned, staggered it, transformed it, brangled it, heaved it, carried it, bedashed it, hacked it; then from the foot to the top, like another Sisyphus with his stone, bore it up again, slid it down the hill, and every way so banged it and belaboured it that it was ten thousand to one he had not struck the bottom of it out. Which, when one of his friends had seen, and asked him, why he did so toil his body, perplex his spirit, and torment his tub, the Philosopher's answer was that not being engaged in any other office by the Republic, he thought it expedient to thunder and storm it so tempestuously upon his tub, that amongst a people so fervently busy, and earnest of work, he alone might not seem a loitering slug and lazy fellow Washington Men's Camerata, a nonprofit, is DC's premier chorus performing, promoting, and preserving diverse tenor and bass choral music and camaraderie since 1984. http://www.camerata.com