In a cave, somewhere in the Western Cape region, is a well-documented San (Bushman) painting of a Dutch (or, perhaps English) ship, resplendent with flags and sails, rounding the Cape. The painting dates back to the early 1700s and serves as a poignant reminder of the incredible powers of observations of these now virtually extinct people.

Sadly, the very people the San saw as gods, certainly in terms of stature and relative opulence, were to become their executioners (with the help of other black tribes). Physically small, the San described their larger neighbors as animals without hooves and were often mistakenly regarded as cowardly due to their non-confrontational approach to conflict with friend and foe alike.

The eland (a large antelope) represented more than just food and took on an almost supernatural significance, while the rain was seen, supernaturally, to be either male of female (either rain-cow or bull) depending on its intensity.

“Horizons” was written at the request of The King’s Singers for their 1995 South African tour and commissioned for them by the Foundation for the Creative Arts (South Africa).

Sleep, my springbok baby,

Sleep for me, my springbok child,

When morning comes I’ll go out hunting,

For you are hungry and thirsty.

Small moon, Hai! Young moon,

When the sun rises you must speak to the Rain,

Charm her with herbs and honeycomb,

O speak to her, that I may drink, this little thing…

She will come across the dark sky:

Mighty Raincow, sing your song for me

O Star, Hai! Hunting Star,

When the sun rises you must blind with your light

The Eland’s eyes,

O blind his eyes, that I may eat, this little thing…

He will come across the red sands:

Mighty Eland, dance your dance for me,

They will come across the waters:

Mighty saviors in their sailing ships,

And they will show us new and far horizons.

And they came, came across the waters:

Gods in galleons, bearing bows of steel,

Then they killed us on the far horizon.

I wrote Carrot Revolution in 2015 for my friends the Aizuri Quartet. It was commissioned by the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia for their exhibition The Order of Things, in which they commissioned three visual artists and myself to respond to Dr. Barnes’ distinctive “ensembles”, the unique ways in which he arranged his acquired paintings along with metal objects, furniture, and pottery, juxtaposing them in ways that bring out their similarities and differences in shape, color, and texture. While walking around the Barnes, looking for inspiration for this string quartet, I suddenly remembered a Cézanne quote I’d heard years ago (though which I later learned was misattributed to him): “The day will come when a single, freshly observed carrot will start a revolution.” And I knew immediately that my piece would be called Carrot Revolution. I envisioned the piece as a celebration of that spirit of fresh observation and of new ways of looking at old things, such as the string quartet- a 250-year-old genre - as well as some of my even older musical influences (Bach, Perotin, Gregorian Chant, Georgian folk songs, and Celtic fiddle tunes). The piece is a patchwork of my wildly contrasting influences and full of weird, unexpected juxtapositions and intersecting planes of sound, inspired by the way Barnes’ ensembles show old works in new contexts and draw connections between things we don’t think of as being related.

-Gabriella Smith

Commissioned by Trinity Wall Street as part of their “Mass Re-Imaginings” Project, Mass for the Endangered is a hymn for the voiceless and the discounted, a requiem for the not-yet-gone. Using original text by writer, visual artist, and musician, Nathaniel Bellows, in combination with the traditional Latin, Mass for the Endangered embodies a prayer for endangered animals and the imperiled environments in which they live. Written for SATB choir and twelve instruments, the six-movement piece appeals for parity, compassion, and protection, from a mindset—a malignance or apathy—that threatens to destroy the planet we all are meant to share.

Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy.)

On earth, air, and water

Have mercy

On stone, tree, and flower

Have mercy, world have mercy

Kyrie Eleison

Give mercy to all wing and paw

Mercy to all creed and claw

On flower, seed, leaf and root

Give mercy to all broods and tribes

Mercy to all nests and prides

To tide and spring, squall and breeze

To those who plead for calm and peace

not hunted, hounded, poisoned, fleeced.

To barren, poisoned land

Forgive us

To the vanished, and the left

Forgive us, world forgive us

Mercy on this refuge,

this braided boundless stone

Mercy for their old

Mercy for their young

And mercy now for what we’ve done

Kyrie Eleison

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Glory to God in the highest.

Et in terra pax

And peace on earth

hominibus bonæ voluntatis.

to those of good will.

Laudamus te; benedicimus te;

We praise Thee; we bless Thee;

adoramus te; glorificamus te.

we worship Thee; we glorify Thee.

Gratias agimus tibi

We give thanks to Thee

propter magnam gloriam tuam.

for Thy great glory.

Domine Deus, Rex coelestis,

O Lord God, Heavenly King,

Deus Pater omnipotens.

God the Father Almighty.

Domine Fili unigenite Jesu Christe.

O Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son.

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei,

Lord God, Lamb of God,

Filius Patris.

Son of the Father.

Qui tollis peccata mundi,

Thou that takest away the sins of the world,

miserere nobis.

have mercy upon us.

Qui tollis peccata mundi,

Thou that takest away the sins of the world,

suscipe deprecationem nostram.

receive our prayer.

Qui sedes ad dextram Patris,

Thou that sittest at the right hand of the Father,

O miserere nobis.

have mercy upon us.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus,

For thou alone art holy,

tu solus Dominus,

thou alone art the Lord,

tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.

thou only art the most high, Jesus Christ.

Cum Sancto Spiritu

Together with the Holy Ghost

in gloria Dei Patris.

in the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

Sea of cradle, foundling,

current, cold and quelled as morning.

Braid of vapored ashes,

shadowed creche, collapsing.

Contour, carve, corrode -

breathe through camphor, coal,

seed each breeze with gold.

Poison, parch, pollute-

plow the coast, the dune,

flow toward constant moon.

Alleluia

Hearth of stone, of tar, of lava,

shelter shielding mother.

Oh, save us mother!

She who is sleeping,

Is she who will wake.

Fracture, foist, defoul -

shatter cliff and shoal,

sand each stone to whole.

Harbored, held, unharmed -

she’ll wake, rise, rejoin,

her daughters and her sons.

Alleluia

We believe in stone and moss,

sand and grass. Land limned on loam,

haven to the harmed and the whole,

the lesser and the left, the spirit housed

in the opposite.

We believe in all who are offset.

We believe in the blessing of wing,

angelic, ingenious - every soaring thing.

We believe in the holy pelt and fin,

hoary hide and shell.

The armor of every beast is blessed,

adorned in their own regalia.

Mercy now,

on all animalia.

Take no tooth or tusk, steal no

heart, hair, or husk.

Et expecto…

No shark robbed of its fin, no mink

denied its skin.

resurrectionem mortuorum et

vitam venturi saeculi…

No bath in bowls of salted blood

And I await the life of the world to come…

no cove for corpse, no reddened veldt.

A flora fashioned, valued, known

to heal the mind and mend the bone.

We believe in all who are at risk.

We believe in all who are voiceless.

We believe in all who are helpless.

We believe in all who are at risk.

Lay down the spear, lay down the hook,

lay down the gun, the knife, the net.

No majesty in poison. No virtue

in the snare.

No salvation in a strangled spirit.

We believe in songs at daybreak,

cries and calls at dusk.

In quell and coo, drone and hum,

in hovel, hollow, river, pond.

We believe in listen. We believe in wish.

And to be worthy of their gift:

the chance to look within ourselves

and change how we have lived,

to change how we have lived.

We believe in all who are offset.

We believe in all who are outcast.

We believe in all who are voiceless.

We believe in all who are stranded.

We believe in all who are stalwart.

We believe in all who are fearless.

Expecto vitam venturi saeculi…

We believe in all who are dauntless.

And I await the life of the world to come…

We believe in all offset, outcast,

voiceless, stranded, stalwart,

fearless, dauntless, promised.

We believe in all who are silenced.

We believe in all silenced.

We believe in all who are promised.

We believe in all promised.

And I await

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus,

Holy, holy, holy

Domine Deus Sabaoth.

Lord God of Hosts.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Osanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord

Osanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei,

qui tollis pecata mundi

Lamb of God,

of longing, loss, have mercy on us.

Accept, embrace these sins - release

the callous, the conquering,

replace this hardened wrath,

with calm.

Lamb of God,

in calling, call, grant them peace.

The deepest sleep of safety

The unencumbered yawn.

To bathe and breed with no threat or risk

trade our sins

our trespasses for bliss

Let, allow, admit, accord:

The slumbering of the gods

The wandering unbound

The hunted hunting whole

The grazing under moon

The breathing boundless breath

The freedom found in self

The feeling life is whole

The meaning known, unknown

Lamb of God,

the goodness, gold, share your mercy.

Enslaved by sordid time -

The inward-turning eye,

in scarcity, with lie.

They who take our basest acts -

Lamb of God - no punishment

no cruel attack

They who rise from all we lack -

Lamb of God - give wonder, wish

give kindness back

Agnus Dei