- Written in 2021, Runestad’s choral symphony, Earth Symphony, is a 5-part dramatic monologue in the voice of a post-anthropocene Mother Earth.
- The librettist for the symphony is American poet Todd Boss.
- Program notes from the composer:
- Over hundreds of years of musical creation, composers developed the symphonic form into a potent, large-scale framework for exploring profound ideas. The sheer number of musicians involved and long duration of the work, allow the time, space, and sonic possibilities for a significant musical journey. For this commission from True Concord Voices & Orchestra, I knew that creating a large work for these forces would necessitate a significant story to tell — one of relevance and power, drawn from our beautiful and complex human experiences. Every day, we hear of more fires, floods, hurricanes, droughts, tsunamis, extinctions, and diseases that impact life around the globe. The earth is changing due to the impact of human behavior, and how we respond to these changes will determine the survival of our species.
Through brainstorming with my frequent collaborator, poet/librettist Todd Boss, we decided that giving voice to Mother Earth would be a powerful approach for this piece. Todd created a sweeping, gorgeous, and compelling five-part monologue of a mother telling the history of her children — how they admired her, harmed her, and ultimately how she recovered.
Her story begins in a pre-life genesis that tracks the evolution of humans, whose apprehension of Earth’s laws endear them to her as nothing short of miraculous (her beloved “Mirabilia”). Movement 1: “Evolution” hints at the musical themes of each subsequent section and establishes a sonic relationship between Earth (D Major) and humankind (Eb Major), which is explored throughout the work. Movement 2: “Ambition” dramatizes humanity’s fall from grace by retelling the Greek myth of Icarus and harkening to ancient instruments and melodies (including the Seikilos Epitaph — the oldest, complete musical composition yet discovered). Movement 3: “Destruction” charges through a series of ecological cataclysms — forest fire, storms, earthquakes — illustrated by growling brass, raging percussion, and shrieking woodwinds. Movement 4: “Lament” expresses Earth’s grief in a loving farewell to humanity that echoes Henry Purcell’s 17th-century aria, “When I Am Laid in Earth” (Dido’s Lament), and its iconic descending bass-line chaconne. Movement 5: “Recovery” finds Earth restoring balance and moving on, into a deep spacetime like the one from which she emerged. By anthropomorphizing Earth herself, drawing on the familiar earth-mother trope, “Earth Symphony” enables entry into our own ecological shame, guilt, responsibility, potential, and redemption, all from a wide-angled, time-telescoped lens, thereby asking our most immediately pressing environmental questions in an entirely new way.
- Over hundreds of years of musical creation, composers developed the symphonic form into a potent, large-scale framework for exploring profound ideas. The sheer number of musicians involved and long duration of the work, allow the time, space, and sonic possibilities for a significant musical journey. For this commission from True Concord Voices & Orchestra, I knew that creating a large work for these forces would necessitate a significant story to tell — one of relevance and power, drawn from our beautiful and complex human experiences. Every day, we hear of more fires, floods, hurricanes, droughts, tsunamis, extinctions, and diseases that impact life around the globe. The earth is changing due to the impact of human behavior, and how we respond to these changes will determine the survival of our species.
- Earth Symphony is scored for orchestra and SATB choir.1
- Click here to read the libretto (scroll down).
Sources
- “Earth Symphony,” Jake Runestad, accessed April 14, 2026, https://jakerunestad.com/products/earth-symphony.
Cut IDs
26634