For soloists, chorus & large ensemble. A commission from the Susquehanna Valley Chorale with a libretto by Herschel Garfein based on recollections of chorus members and friends with relatives who’ve had the dreaded disease. It was premiered October 9, 2009 at the Weis Center for the Performing Arts conducted by Dr. William Payn. Recorded for broadcast by PBS television station WVIA and subsequently performed throughout the U.S and Europe. Published by C.F. Peters
Montclair State University Chorus
Heather Buchanan, conductor
Adriana Zabala, mezzo-soprano
Keith Phares, baritone
December 6, 2015
The Numbers
The Stories
For the Caregivers
Download Alzheimers Stories Libretto
Program Notes
In 2008, a member of the Susquehanna Valley Chorale who asked to remain anonymous made a donation to the chorale to help fund the commissioning of a musical work on the subject of Alzheimer’s disease to honor his parents, who had both died of it. In collaboration with 2012 Grammy Award winning opera librettist Herschel Garfein (Elmer Gantry), a blog was set up on the choir’s website www.svcmusic.org to record stories by chorus members and the local community describing experiences with relatives and friends who had Alzheimer’s disease with a selected group of those stories becoming the basis for the work: Alzheimer’s Stories for soloists, chorus and large ensemble.
The work is in three movements the arc of which loosely mimics the progression of the disease:
The Numbers – an objective description of the discovery of the disease by Dr. Alois Alzheimer in 1901 including the number of individuals currently afflicted, future projections and dramatized conversations between Dr. Alzheimer and his first patient, Auguste Dieter. The movement ends with an extended setting of a quote from his patient Ich hab mich verloren, “I have lost myself.”
The Stories – a pastiche of a number of selected stories taken from the choir’s blog. With a mixture of pathos, poignancy and humor, we meet a number of individuals afflicted with the disease, portrayed by the two soloists, as well as the recollections of family members. Two notables: a woman who still thinks she’s on a boat to Panama with her father; and a WWII Navy veteran who repeats the same bawdy story of the war so many times that the chorus can recite it by heart.
For the Caregivers – The most difficult part of writing a work about such a terrible and ultimately hopeless disease was how to end the work with some semblance of hope. The clue came in a recollection by one of the chorus members about a visit to a nursing home where a patient asked them to sing. When asked what, the patient replied: “Sing anything.” First referenced in the second movement, this idea became the centerpiece and focus of the last movement. The core of the brilliantly realized libretto is as follows:
Find those you love in the dark and light. Help them through the days and nights.
Keep faith. They sense what they cannot show. Love and music are the last things to go. Sing anything.
Alzheimer’s Stories received its world premiere on October 9, 2009 performed by the Susquehanna Valley Chorale at the Weis Center for the performing arts in Lewisburg PA in a program entitled “Monument to Memory.” It was recorded for radio and television by the PBS station WVIA and broadcast in November, 2009 and has had subsequent performances throughout the U.S. and in Europe, was recently performed at Carnegie Hall by the San Antonio Mastersingers and is scheduled to be there again in April 2020.
According to recent data provided by the Texas Department of State Health Services, these are the most recent statistics on the disease.
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- Approximately 5.3 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Unless a cure or prevention is found, that number will increase to between 11 and 16 million by 2050.
- Alzheimer’s affects up to 10 percent of people 65 and over and increasing to 50 percent at 85 and older.
- Direct and indirect costs of AD and other dementias amount to more than $172 billion annually.
- Almost 11 million Americans are caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia; in Texas, approximately 900,000 unpaid caregivers are providing care to the 340,000 individuals with the disease — this equates to 971 million hours of unpaid care at a cost of 11.1 billion dollars per year.
- Texas ranks third in the number of Alzheimer’s disease cases and second in the number of AD deaths.
- A new person develops Alzheimer’s disease every seventy seconds — this is projected to increase to every 33 seconds by 2050.
- Between 2000 and 2006, deaths due to heart disease, stroke, and prostate cancer declined by 12 percent, 18 percent, and 14 percent, respectively, whereas deaths attributable to Alzheimer’s disease increased by 47 percent.
Alzheimer’s Stories is published by Edition Peters
What critics have to say about Alzheimer’s Stories:
“One of the greatest achievements a work of art can hope to reach is to bring us to our darkest places and show us a light. To illuminate our fears, ease our anxieties, and heal our pain. Whether or not you’ve struggled with this disease personally or as a caregiver, this is what makes Alzheimer’s Stories a truly special experience.”
– Kody Wallace, Choral Journal (Oct. 2018)
“At times somber, jaunty and inspirational, this earnest exploration of a difficult theme, conducted with great insight by Anna Hamre, connected on both a cerebral and emotional level.”
– The Fresno Bee
“Best Arts 2015” (Dec. 26, 2015) “In terms of getting the message out about this debilitating and devastating disease in a heartfelt and meaningful way through music, this reading of Cohen’s innovative work could be deemed a total success.”
– Guytano Parks, Cleveland Classical (Nov. 18, 2012)
Past and Upcoming Performances of Alzheimer's Stories
| 4/19/20 | National Concerts – Carnegie Hall Bruce Rogers, conductor BRogers@MtSAC.edu |
| 9/22/19 | UU Church of Studio City Choir, Jet Propulsion Labs Choir, Donald Brinegar Singers Nancy Holland. Conductor nholland22@gmail.com |
| 5/10/19 | Westmoreland Choral Society Thomas Octave, conductor Thomas.octave@stvincent.edu |
| 4/13/19 | Texarkana Regional Chorale (Perot Theatre) Marc-Andre Bougie, conductor mabougie1@yahoo.com |
| 2/27-3/2/19 | ACDA 2019 National Conference in Kansas City (Helzberg Hall) Tallahassee Community Chorus Andre Thomas, athomas32312@aol.com athomas@fsu.edu |
| 7/21-29/18 | Quintessence, Alburqueque NM Matthew Greer, cond. matthewgreer68@gmail.com |
| 5/4, 5/5/18 | University of San Francisco Choral Ensembles & Friends Rebecca Seeman, cond. seeman@usfca.edu |
| 3/25/18 | Voices of Canton, Canton OH John Hayward, cond. jhayward@voicesofcanton.org |
| 10/27/17 | Mississippi Chorus Mark Nabholz manabholz@mc.edu |
| 6/4/17 | Falmouth Chorale, Falmouth MA John Yankee jyankee@rmi.net |
| 4/30/17 | Deer Creek Chorale & Goucher College Chorus Towson, MD Daniel McDavitt Daniel.McDavitt@goucher.edu |
| 5/30/16 | San Antonio Mastersingers (Carnegie Hall) John Silantien jsilan@satx.rr.com |
| 5/8/16 | San Antonio Mastersingers, The Bascillica of the Little Flower John Silantien jsilan@satx.rr.com |
| 3/13/16 | The Las Vegas Master Singers David B. Weiller, cond. david.weiller@unlv.edu |
| 1/30, 31/16 | Durham Community Church Choir, Durham NH David Erwin, cond. dervin@orcsd.org |
| 12/6/15 | Montclair State University Choir, Montclair NJ Heather Buchanan heatherjbuchanan@outlook.com |
| 5/9/15 | Choral Art Masterworks Chorus, Portland, ME Robert Russell rrussell@usm.maine.edu (207) 780-5272 |
| 4/12/15 | University of Texas @ San Antonio Choir John Silantien jsilan@satx.rr.com |
| 3/22/15 | Fresno Community Chorus Master Chorale, Fresno CA Anna Hamre ahamre@csufresno.edu (559) 278-2654 |
| 6/13,15/14 | VedMed Choir, Vienna Austria Kujrt-Martin Herbst, cond. kurtmartin.herbst@gmail.com |
| 1/25/14 | Tallahassee Community Chorus, Tallahassee FL Andre Thomas, athomas32312@aol.com athomas@fsu.edu (850) 644-2730 |
| 11/18/13 | Choral Arts Society, Cleveland OH (Severance Hall) Martin Kessler, cond. martinlkessler@gmail.com |
| 11/11/12 | Minnesota Chorale, Minneapolis MN Nancy Menk, nmenk@saintmarys.edu (574) 284-4633 |
| 10/28/12 | Chamber Choir of Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, MI Mark Webb, mark.webb56@gmail.com (616) 575-3286 |
| 10/14/12 | Bach Choir of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA Thomas Douglas, thom@andrew.cmu.edu (412) 241-4044 |
| 6/9/12 | Angeles Chorale, Pasadena CA John Sutton, jsutton@apu.edu (626) 815-6000 x3581 |
| 2/27/12 | Wayne State College Choir & Orchestra Ronald Lofgren, rolofgr1@wsu.edu (402) 375-7358 |
| 2/26/12 | Fort Dodge Chorale, Fort Dodge IA Bruce Perry, cond. brucelperry@gmail.com |
| 11/19/10 | San Antonio Mastersingers, San Antonio TX John Silantien jsilan@satx.rr.com |
| 10/9/09 | Susquehanna Valley Chorale, Lewisburg PA William Payn, svcmusic@svcmusic.org (570) 837-3869 |