New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Opera film ‘Soldier Songs’ about war trauma heads to Grammys
A display case in his old high school gave David T. Little the inspiration for his first opera — a work that 18 years later has followed an unusual path to a nomination at this year’s Grammy awards.
“Soldier Songs,” an hour-long piece for baritone and orchestral septet, depicts with unrelenting intensity the horrors of war and the PTSD faced by many returning veterans.
It calls on the singer to portray a variety of roles in quick succession, among them a boy fantasizing about going off to battle (“I want to be a real American hero”); a soldier dazed by the constant danger and bloodshed around him (“This movie is out of control … Someone yell cut!”); and a grieving father notified that his son has been killed (“Two Marines came to my house ...”).
Little’s amplified, pulsating score mixes rock with classical and minimalist forms and opens and closes with repeated percussive blasts that sound like distant explosions.
The composer recalled how the idea for the piece took shape when he visited his old school. It was 2004 — three years after 9/11 — and he noticed a stark change in the exhibit space outside the auditorium.
“Where normally there would be pictures of the prom, instead there were pictures of graduates who were currently deployed, friends in uniform with machine guns,” Little said. “It was really shocking to me. I didn’t get it. I had a hard time understanding making that choice. The military felt very far away from me personally.”
He decided to interview and record former classmates who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as relatives who had fought in Vietnam or World War II. Their memories formed the basis for his libretto and their actual voices are woven into the score of the opera.
Opera as film — as distinct from a video of a stage production — is somewhat of a rarity, and “Soldier Songs” is unique in that respect among this year’s five Grammy nominees for best opera recording.