Southeast symphony elegantly commemorates Lincoln's bicentennial

The exceptional quality of the Lincoln bicentennial symphony performance Tuesday night at Southeast Missouri State University should not go unnoted.

Ten minutes into the show, I realized that -- in addition to a fine orchestra -- I was experiencing a unique history lesson. Obviously any salute to the great president is by its nature a review of our nation's past. The fact that during Lincoln's administration the nation was forced to reinvent itself in such a remarkable and tragic fashion is one thing. But in addition to being a remarkable president, Lincoln was an incredible character and an author whose skill was on par with men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. A study of Lincoln's letters, speeches or actions is a great history lesson, but I never realized music alone could communicate so richly.

I was especially moved by "The Unanswered Question," a piece entirely new to me and throughout which a bed of beautiful strings (to my mind representing "America the Beautiful") is consistently interrupted by a trumpeted question asked over and over: Yes, but what about slavery? It is a question that is dodged or ignored or danced around by a quartet of flutes that symbolize our hard-earned liberty but which are baffled by the repeated question. In the end, the question is left unanswered and the problem ominously unresolved. Incredible.

I'm not an art critic, and this is not meant as a review. But the whole selection of music seemed to me superb. And from what I could tell, it was played spot on. It evoked an experience that was about all of America around Lincoln's time, and the sensations ranged from the joy and promise of the country to the great Western frontier to a sense of the spirit and struggle and heartbreak of "Afro-Americans" (the name of one of the selections).

The performance culminated with Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait," originally written (I assume) to mark the centennial of Lincoln's inauguration. That piece is extraordinary on its own, and to have it narrated by Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, knowing his appreciation for U.S. history and (regardless of politics) devotion to the same democracy that Lincoln so beautifully articulated and so ardently advocated, it was -- to borrow a phrase from my son Luke -- awesome.

Again, I'm not a music student, and I'm probably one of the last guys you'd want to rely on for a history lesson, but I do know art when I hear and see it. And pretentious as it sounds, I can assure all reading this note that nowhere in America was art better expressed than Tuesday night at the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

My sincere congratulations and thanks to all who made it happen.

James W. Riley Jr. is a Cape Girardeau businessman and resident.