Alfred, Lord Tennyson once wrote a poem so moving, so poignant in its depiction of grief and loss of love that the piece’s eventual impact would ripple far beyond the Victorian literary world of its time and straight into international legal code.
Let me introduce you to the poem: “Enoch Arden.”
Tennyson published the narrative poem “Enoch Arden” in 1864, and it tells the story of a fisherman who returns home after years of being shipwrecked, only to discover his wife has remarried and found happiness with another man. It’s the kind of moral dilemma that kept Victorian thinkers like Tennyson up at night.
The poem’s cultural impact was so profound that it helped inspire what became known as the “Enoch Arden law” – international legal doctrine addressing situations where a spouse, presumed dead after a prolonged absence (typically five to seven years), could be remarried without the surviving partner facing bigamy charges.
What Tennyson rendered in haunting words with his narrative poem, German composer Richard Strauss molded into what basically amounts to a 19th-century concept album in 1897: a narrator-and-piano performance of “Enoch Arden.”
Recently, Brooklyn-based composer and cellist Molly von Gutzeit decided Strauss’s arrangement deserved an even fresher interpretation of its own, so she transcribed “Enoch Arden” for string trio and enlisted Baltimore classical radio host Judith Krummeck as narrator. This project is about to take the stage at the Baltimore Theater Project between May 15-17.
Now, let me introduce you to that very project: Molly von Gutzeit’s string arrangement of “Enoch Arden.”
Through what would become their “Poets in Words” project, von Gutzeit and Krummeck – working with violist Benni von Gutzeit and violinist Nikita Borisevich – have transformed Strauss’s intimate piano accompaniment of “Enoch Arden” into a richly layered string arrangement in two parts, with a prelude to each part and a postlude.
von Gutzeit and Krummeck spoke to Volume One Brooklyn about their collaboration, the challenges of adapting a century-old work, and what makes this particular story so timelessly compelling…
East Coast Enoch Arden: A Collaborative Revival
What inspired you both to take on Enoch Arden for “Music in Words” and can you also add a bit of info about “Music in Words” in general?
Krummeck: Music in Words came about when Molly and I first performed together (and met!) and I felt an immediate rapport with [her]. We had emailed back and forth about how specific music (Molly) and words (me) would complement each other, and it all just came together when we came together. Since then, we have collaborated on programs for Avila Music Makers around the theme of Spring; Manor Mill around Art; and Music at St. David’s for an All Saints’ Concert.
I had been introduced to Richard Strauss’s narrator-and-piano setting of Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s epic poem Enoch Arden by the gifted pianist, John Nauman, and we performed it for the Odyssey Program at Johns Hopkins University some years back. Then, because Molly had made cello arrangements of a number of pieces for the programs we had worked on together, it occurred to me to ask if she would consider making a string arrangement of Strauss’s piano accompaniment of Enoch Arden so that we could present it together.
Judith, as the narrator, how have you approached bringing the Enoch Arden to life through your performance?
Krummeck: It’s such an extraordinarily powerful work—part melodrama, part incidental music—and it’s very much of its time; that is to say, Victorian. But it’s also universal in its themes of love and loss. The poem, which tells the story of a sailor who returns home after years of absence to find his wife remarried, lends it name to the Enoch Arden law, a doctrine that addresses situations where a spouse remarries after their original partner has been absent for an extended period and is presumed dead. As a narrator, I need to inhabit all of this and immerse myself in the full emotionality and drama of it all. I find myself drawing on every shred of my past acting experience to bring to life the three main characters—Enoch Arden, Annie Lee, and Philip Ray—and to convey the exquisite poignancy of their story.
Molly, can you share the process of arranging and adapting Strauss’s original piano accompaniment for the string trio format?
von Gutzeit: When first approaching the project, Judith and I originally had the instrumentation of cello and violin duo in mind. Strauss’s writing can be gloriously dense with multiple voices and cross rhythms through the piano writing. After drafting a small portion of the piece, the parts were so virtuosic that it seemed like some of the tuneful ease in many musical lines would be lost. So, the only option I had with this conundrum was to add a viola!
Beginning again, I found the arranging process to flow as the lines now had independence, enabling a fleshed out, chordal sound with added color potential. Many melodic figures and harmonic bass functions were easy to define, but the real work was teasing through every chord, trying to sacrifice as little as possible while keeping it playable for the musicians. As I can only imagine how different passages would feel on the violin or viola, aspect of the process was only really codified by working through the parts with the players live.
The original score has really interesting low voicing, descending down to a G1, which is lower than the cello’s lowest string at C2. I decided to keep the octaves intact for this arrangement, having the cello scordatura, tuning the string down. Doing this slightly changes the overtone frequency, which is felt more in playing than heard.
After completing some drafts, together with Benni von Gutzeit, my husband and the violist performing in our trio, we compared my adaptation to the recording. Benni has fantastic ears from his years of training as a jazz musician, so while editing, we listened for how certain chords were balanced, if any frequencies tied over creating different harmonies than what was apparent, and improving the voice leading in the parts.
Likely after these concerts I will tweak the arrangement further based on timings of the text and preferences of the players that arise. However, that’s the beauty of it. This arrangement of Enoch Arden is a living, malleable project that we are bringing new, creative life to with each iteration!
Judith and Molly, what are the unique challenges and opportunities you’ve encountered in collaborating on this production?
Krummeck: One unique challenge is that we have been doing this long distance, with Molly in Brooklyn and me in Baltimore. Molly and I have always worked like this, and we have found ourselves on the same wavelength when it comes to the performance; but this is a far bigger project, and Strauss’s score is really complex. I can read music up to a point, but this is hard stuff, and the narration and music are interwoven in ways we have not done before, so that is certainly a challenge for me.
von Gutzeit: Judith and I have only really been collaborating from afar, making art in an “exquisite corpse” type of way. We bring our ideas and they come to life before our eyes! Additionally, stretching my musical muscles in tackling this enormous piece from as many angles as one can was an incredible experience.
What are you most looking forward to in bringing this work to audiences during your residency at the Baltimore Theatre Project?
Krummeck: Honestly, I’m most looking forward to the collaboration with Molly, Benni, and Nikita. But, of course, the ultimate goal is to share it with others. This work was hugely popular when Richard Strauss first composed and presented it in the 1890s, but then fell out of fashion for a while. More recently, artists of the caliber of Michael York, Patrick Steward, Glenn Gould, and Emanuel Ax have brought it to life, and it will be wonderful if we can build on this momentum and capture the imagination of our audiences with this remarkable work.