Ellis Island: The Dream of America was born out of my fascination with the relationship between history and music. I’m drawn to good stories—especially stories which come from the past but are relevant to the present—and as an orchestral composer, I’m intrigued by the potential of the orchestra as a storytelling medium. Of course, orchestral music cannot tell stories in a literal way, but its ability to suggest scenes and emotions, and evoke responses in listeners, has challenged and stimulated composers for centuries. –Peter Boyer
Between 1892 and 1954, Ellis Island was the gateway for over 12 million European immigrants to the USA (Immigrants from other parts of the world came in through different ports of entry). In 1973, in an attempt to preserve the history of this epic migration, there began the Ellis Island Oral History Project, recording interviews with immigrants who had passed through this gateway. Over the years, the project has collected about 2,000 interviews, housed in the Ellis Island National Immigration Museum.
Peter Boyer composed Ellis Island in 2001-02 on commission from the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut, using seven interview excerpts from the Oral History Project read by actors, coupled with projections of historical images from the Ellis Island Archive.
Although Boyer’s work began before 9/11, the work takes on an emotional intensity in light of the tragedy. The music is recognizably American, with echoes of Aaron Copland and the more lightweight Morton Gould. Muted orchestral accompaniments support the recitations, and interludes follow each recitation.
Most of the accounts follow the same trajectory, represented in a few minutes in the Prologue: from the voyage from the old world into the ominous of the unknown, to the sight of land, and finally, to arrival and hope in the new – although experiences with immigration personnel on the island are sometimes as frightening as the ocean trip itself. The interludes echo the same trajectory: initially reflecting the narrator’s reason for emigrating and ending with the arrival. Boyer makes little attempt to reflect the musical traditions of the speakers’ home countries, although he does capture the emotional tone of their individual testimonies. For example, Interlude 3, following Sicilian immigrant Lillian Galleta’s account of a storm off the straits of Gibraltar, is a violent musical seascape.
After the seven immigrants have safely landed and processed for a new life, Boyer concludes Ellis Island with the words of Emma Lazarus carved on the plaque from neighboring, welcoming Liberty Island.
Composer and conductor Peter Boyer is a native of Rhode Island who received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Hartt School of the University of Hartford. He has also studied with noted composer John Corigliano. His numerous compositions have been performed and praised worldwide. Currently he works as a freelance composer and conductor, and was on the conducting faculty at UCLA.
Program notes by: Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn