{"id":7249,"date":"2017-05-29T19:58:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T19:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=7249"},"modified":"2017-05-29T20:14:44","modified_gmt":"2017-05-29T20:14:44","slug":"to-venus-and-mars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2017\/05\/to-venus-and-mars\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cTo Venus and Mars\u201d by Rodney Rawlings – Amanda Neal, Soprano – World Premiere"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Rodney Rawlings and Amanda Neal<\/span>
\n<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/div>\n
******************************<\/div>\n
\n

Soprano Amanda Noelle Neal performed Rodney Rawlings’s song “To Venus and Mars” at New Brew Chicago’s “A Warm Welcome” concert on May 16, 2017, at The Elbo Room, Chicago, Illinois. This was the first live, public performance of the full song.<\/p>\n

Watch the video of Ms. Neal’s performance here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Description by Rodney Rawlings (March 22, 2004)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTo Venus and Mars (The Spaceman\u2019s Lament)\u201d is another song from my musical The Watcher on the Shore<\/em>, offered in the hope of sparking interest in the play\u2019s production. The theme of the song is the homesickness that would undoubtedly be felt at times by a lone explorer of deep space\u2014especially if he thought he might never return to Earth. Utterly alone and impossibly far from one\u2019s home planet, would the thought of perhaps never again experiencing earthly life be bearable?<\/p>\n

Of course, many pioneering spirits would not be afflicted with thoughts like this; their deep-seated passion to explore and learn would overwhelm all other considerations. In fact, in the play, the song is sung by one who does not wholly identify with such spirits. But one must admit that the case of outer space is extreme, and I can\u2019t help but think that even the strongest souls might now and then succumb to such a sentiment. Especially in the coming early years of interplanetary travel, travelers may have to contend with a new malady consisting in a soul-destroying longing and nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Lyrics for “To Venus and Mars” (May 29, 2017)
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

While children down here in the fields
\nCatch fireflies in jars,
\nSo grown men chase evening light \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 To Venus and Mars
\nSomeday a brave man will go,
\nSomeone who can bear to be launched
\nAnd leave us below.<\/p>\n

But deep in the sky
\nHe will lose sight of the earth
\nEre catching that one final glimpse\u2014
\nStuff of memoirs\u2014
\nKnowing he\u2019s bound on a course
\nTo Venus and Mars.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Now he must seek other realms instead.
\nIt was time for those last looks to end.
\nEchoes remind him of what they said
\nWhen he first heard their call to ascend:
\n\u201cDo you find most of this globe absurd,
\n\u201cWith its throngs, restless passions, and tears?
\n\u201cThis world is vain, as we\u2019ve often heard.
\n\u201cDo you long for a mission that\u2019s one-way
\n\u201cTo Venus and Mars\u2014to Venus and Mars\u2014?\u201d<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

Near Venus and Mars,
\nYet might he grow ill at ease
\nTo gaze on them, visions of Earth
\nTaint all that he sees?
\nThis trav\u2019ler may soon
\nDream he will one day return
\nTo mingle on streets full of life,
\nTo chase falling stars
\nAnd quite serenely look up to Venus and Mars.<\/p>\n

(Spoken:) And quite serenely look up
\n(Sung:) To Venus and Mars.<\/p>\n

\n

Rodney Rawlings is a Toronto writer and composer\/songwriter. He\u00a0arrived at the concept of hypercomplex numbers independently<\/a>, using Ayn Rand\u2019s philosophy of Objectivism to guide him. \u00a0See his YouTube Channel<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Amanda Noelle Neal is a Chicago-based lyric soprano with degrees in Vocal Performance from Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts and Loyola University New Orleans. While pursuing her Master’s Degree at CCPA, Amanda performed the roles of Genovieffa in “Sour Angelica”, Ariadne in “The Abandonment of Ariadne”, and The Unseen Voice in “The Deliverance of Theseus”, both by Darius Milhaud.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amanda has sung lead and supporting vocals in multiple bands in Chicago. She is a member of the all-female opera-improv troupe Forte Chicago<\/a>. See her YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rodney Rawlings and Amanda Neal ****************************** Soprano Amanda Noelle Neal performed Rodney Rawlings’s song “To Venus and Mars” at New Brew Chicago’s “A Warm Welcome” concert on May 16, 2017, at The Elbo Room, Chicago, Illinois. This was the first live, public performance of the full song. Watch the video of Ms. Neal’s performance here.\u00a0 Description by Rodney Rawlings (March 22, 2004) \u201cTo Venus and Mars (The Spaceman\u2019s Lament)\u201d is another song from my musical The Watcher on the Shore,…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5216,5217,277,583,5215,5218,5219,5220],"class_list":["post-7249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-amanda-neal","tag-amanda-noelle-neal","tag-composition","tag-mars","tag-rodney-rawlings","tag-song","tag-soprano","tag-venus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7249"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7257,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7249\/revisions\/7257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}