Martha Helen Schmidt ’79 recently composed a song cycle that is featured in a PBS documentary that was filmed in Minnesota and Iceland.
The art song cycle is called Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death. It was commissioned by and features Dr. Daniel Rieppel, pianist, and Ryan Hugh Ross, singer. Pioneer PBS followed the process and made a documentary featured in its Postcards series about Icelandic-American writer, poet, and teacher Bill Holm—a beloved figure in both Iceland and Minneota, Minnesota, where he lived until his passing in 2009.
“He was like a rock star there; he was very well loved,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt was approached a few years ago by Rieppel and Ross, who commissioned her to set Holm’s epic poem, Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death, to music for voice and piano. Many consider the poem to be Holm’s masterpiece.
“We all had this southwest Minnesota connection,” Schmidt said. “I grew up on a big farm, so they thought I would have a pretty good understanding of the prairie.”
UPDATE: Pioneer PBS' Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death won an Upper Midwest Emmy Award.
In the documentary, Rieppel says the undertaking deals with the subjects Holm most loved.
“The themes of life and death, and how we spend our time here on this planet,” he said.
A challenge of the project was that Holm hadn’t written the poem with music in mind. Schmidt had to call upon all her creativity, her Lawrence education, and years of experience.
“As with anything, some of it comes out easily, and some of it is really hard work,” Schmidt said.
She specializes in art songs, which feature voice and piano accompaniment set to text, all done in the classical tradition. It is the marriage of poetry and music.
Over a year and a half, Schmidt set each of the 15 stanzas into 15 separate movements. A final movement was added to the 15 based on a separate poem, Letting go of what cannot be held back. It is referred to as the Epilogue in the song cycle.
“It’s a really great poem, so I was very excited to start,” Schmidt said.
To fit with the poem, Schmidt used classical composer Joseph Haydn as her main influence.
“I wasn’t always a huge fan of Haydn … but I started going through Haydn’s music again and realized how brilliant he was,” Schmidt said.
The poem referenced specific Haydn pieces that Schmidt weaved into her composition. For some movements she used a few of her favorite Haydn piano pieces and worked a vocal line into them. Other composers were also mentioned in the poem including Wagner, Brahms, Bach, Beethoven, and Rachmaninoff, and Schmidt used quotes from their music as well. Schmidt says two of her biggest influences are Bach and Stravinsky.
“For me, a lot of it is just sitting at the piano, trying to internalize and get the feelings of the poem, then putting my hands on the piano to start experimenting,” she said.
A journey of discovery
This was not Schmidt’s first time traveling to Iceland. Schmidt said IcelandAir’s transatlantic flights tend to be more affordable. Travelers can also book a stay in Iceland and its capital, Reykjavík, on their way to a further destination without adding extra fees.
“They’ve got tourism figured out,” said Schmidt. “I’ve been to Reykjavík a number of times, and I highly recommend it. … There is some stunning scenery.”
Schmidt, the musicians, and the rest of the documentary crew traveled to Reykjavík last October, where the piece was performed in a beautiful church.
“I was afraid no one would come to the concert, but we had a decent sized audience,” she said.
“When I was there in August, staying at the Airbnb, I was telling the host why we were there and she said, ‘Oh, my dad and Bill Holm were good friends,’ so he’s very well-known there. We were very happy to be able to bring it to Reykjavík.”
Spreading the word
Schmidt said her composing career began as a student at Lawrence.
“The fact that Lawrence has a conservatory was a big draw for me,” she said.
She entered as a choral and voice education major but became a theory composition major. Listening to Ravel’s String Quartet in her sophomore theory class inspired her to write an entire Mass for SATB choir.
“It was ridiculous to think that I could write a five-movement Mass, but sometimes when you’re young, naïve, and don’t know any better, you just do it,” she said.
Between Schmidt’s junior and senior years, her parents sent her to France to study with world-renowned teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger. It was a life-changing experience and Schmidt is still connected with the school in Fontainebleau, France.
“There are so many more women composers now, which is great,” said Schmidt. “Just push forward and don’t be afraid. Enter contests. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”
Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death premiered on PBS Wisconsin’s website on May 25, 2023, and is available to watch for free. An extended cut is also available on the Postcards | Pioneer PBS YouTube channel.
