Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands - Queen Lili'uokalani and her Music - Part 3 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/hi/hifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: by Darlen6 E. Kelley January 10, 2007 http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00026.html#0006374 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Historical Collections of Hawai'i Keepers of the Culture Queen Lili'uokalani and her Music Part 3 - 1870's and Creative outpouring. Political Ascent ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Part 3- A perusual of the songs written by Lili'u by date of composition reveals that her activity crested, numerically, during the 1870's. Songs of the decade constitute nearly half the entries of the collction and roughly the same proporation in her lifetime body of works. Perhaps because she was increasingly drawn into politics during this period, her creative emphasis lay on lyrics rather then melodies. Her thoughts and feelings were in full tide. and she often simplified the task of setting them to music by using the same tune for verse and chorus. The period from 1870 through 1872, Lili'u produced only a few translations, but it seems as looks may be deceiving, cause some of her songs may have belonged to those years. In any event, her output arose beginning in 1873. Sent from the German government in a response to a request fom Lot, the arrival of Henry Berger in June 1872, as a director of the Royal Hawaiian Band, he single handed raised Hawaiian standards of Western musical performances far beyond what they had been. His forty three years of tenure exerted a major influence on the evolution of Hawaiian music. However, the King did not have much time to enjoy the national band's new professionalism as he died December 11, 1872, and a month later was succeeded by William Lunalilo, the same Prince Bill to whom Lili'u had once been engaged. Because Lot was a bachelor and had left no monarch, Lunalilo's only serious rival for the throne had been Kalakaua, and the new king's poor health would soon make it possible to end the Kamehameha dynasty and win the crown for his family line. In the meantime, the Kingdom was embroiled in bitter debates about sugar interets, relations with the United States, and the protection of Hawaiian lands and sovereignty, weary and in ever-worsing health, Lunalilo availed himself of the old traditions and went to Kona for a rest cure. He was accompanied by his physician and a large entourage that included Lili'u and her husband, John Dominis, who was now governor of the islands of Hawai'i and O'ahu; her younger brother and sister; the widowed Queen Emma; and various other ali'i and government functionaries, as well as the Royal Hawiian Band. Queen Emma was lobbying Lunalilo to name her his successor, and in Kona, Lili'u composed " Ka Wai 'Opuna Makani," ( Wind of the Water-of-Cloud-Banks ) to honor Lunalilo and obliquely to condemn Queen Emma's quest for the throne. Lunalilo's brief reign ended when he died on February 3, 1874. Again no heir had been left or designated and nine days later an election was held in the national legislature. Strong partisan loyalties were stirred during the brief and acimonious campaign, and Kalakaua emerged the victor. Supporters of Queen Emma rioted, and bitterness between the families and their allies lingered long thereafter. Lili'u celebrated the elevation of her family to ruling status by composing " Ka Hae Kalaunu" ( The Flag of the Crown ), whose text alludes to each of the four royal siblings and includes a jubilant chorus that goes; " The crown of the Kingdom is For the four ruling chiefs, This royal flag is theirs, Forever may it wave," Although Lili'u's marriage was not especially happy, she continued to make Washington Place her principal residence, perhaps in part for its convenience to "Iolani Palace. People who knew Washington Place in the late ninteenth century remember a cottage east of the main house. ( Waikiki ) This was the cottage where Lili'u received visitors while Mary Dominis ( mother-in-law ) was still alive and where at times she chose to sleep. This may have been the cottage that Lili'u called " Hinano Bower " and identified as the site where she composed several songs; " E Kala Ku'u 'Upu 'Ana " ( Long Years Have I Yearned for Thee), written in 1873. " La 'i Au E" ( Peaceful Am I ) and " Lei Ponimo'i " ( Carnation Wreath or as more commonly referred to as Carnation Lei ), date from November of the following year. Shortly after, Kalakaua had proclaimed his younger brother Leleiohoku regent and heir apparent and departed for the United States to lobby for a treaty of reciprocity. During his absence, a friendly competition occurred among singing clubs representing Lili'u, Leleiohoku. and their sister Likelike, who by then was married to Scottish businessman Archibald Cleghorn. Lili'u reported in her autobiography; " Our poems and musical compositions were repeated from one to another, were sung by our friends in the sweetest rivalry, and their respective merits extrolled; but candor compels me to acknowledge that those of Prince Leleihoku were really in advance of those of his two sisters, although perhaps this was diue to the fact that the singing club of the regent was far superior to any that we could organize.It consisted in a large degree of the very purest and sweetest male voices to be found amongst the native Hawaiians." She further explains that the songs were learned and passed on not through sheet music, but by rote, in the time-honored oral tradition. Lili'u herself, continued setting down new songs and noting their dates and places of composition. Twelve songs carry dates of 1874 and 1875 include an unusual number that bear two dates of composition and two different titles. The disparity in composition dates can be explained if the words were written at one time and the music at another, but the differnces of title have not been adequately explained. The mid-1870's brought the reigning family a mixture of joy and sorrow. In October 1875, Likelike brought forth the first member of the next generation of royalty, Princess Victoria Ka'iulani, who would always be much cherished by her family. The following year, Kalakaua scored a diplomatic coup, managing to wrest a treaty of reciprocity from Washington without giving up Pearl Harbor, whose naval potential even then had been recognized. In April 1877, however, the family was stunned by the death of heir apparent Prince Leleiohoku, just twenty three years old. Lili'u responded to the loss of her favorite sibling with a dirge ( mele kanikau ), a poignant expression of grief and tender farewell to a brother she deeply loved. The music to which she set the piece, though, is a prosaic vessel for such powerful words and emotions. In the wake of Leleiohoku's death, Kalakaua proclaimed Lili'u next in succession and marked the occasion by composing a melee inoa entitled " He Iona No Kalanikauikamoku, Liliiuokalani, thereby lengthening his sister's name. Soon aterward, with her husband, her sister, and a large contingent of friends, Lili'uokalani set out on a tour around O'ahu so that " all classes, rich and poor, planter or fisherman, might have the opportunity to become somewhat acquainted with the one who some day should be called to hold the highest executive office." She enjoyed the royal circuit immensely, described its events in detail in her autobiography, and always recalled it as a triumphal march. In the following months, she made simular tours of the other major islands. These gradual. overland processions may have been important to her future both politically and as a composer, for they put her in touch with the people and expanded her knowledge of the 'aina -- its physical contours and the particular winds, rains, and species that since time immemorial have served as the poetic signature of Hawaiian localities. During her circuit of Kaua'i in mid 1877, Lili'ukalani wrote three melee inoa for her young neice. Ka'iulani, one of several signs that more than ever,she was turning her thoughts to continuation of the royal linage. When Lili'ukalani made her first voyage to the United States, in March the following year, she went ostensibly for her health, but biographer Helena Allen suggests that Kalakaua and her husband hoped the overseas sojourn would distract the childless princess from plans to acquire a hanai. If that was so, the trip was a failure. Lili'uokalani spent more than a month in California and, after she returned to Hawai'i, traveled to Maui and claimed her first hanai, a baby girl, Lydia Ka'onohipaniponiokalani Aholo. It is not certain, when she went to Maui, but she composed two songs there in May. " Pride of Waiehu," written at Lahaina, and " Akahi Ko'u Manene" ( I Have Just Shuddered ), written at Wailuku-- which suggests that she acted with dispatch. The latter song stands out in the work of Lili'uokalani as an expression of outright anger, an emotion rarely encountered in Hawaiian music composed after Western contact, and one is left to wonder if her outburst was triggered by efforts to obstruct her adopting the child. A third song " Liliko'i." composed on Maui in August, ends with the little girl's middle name and was surely intended as a mele inoa. Beside the Maui songs already mentioned, five other compositions by Lili'uokalani can firmly be ascribed to 1878 and this date is usually accepted as well for her most famous song, " Aloha 'Oe," though that conclusion remains open to question. Three of the songs were dated on successive days in November: " Na'u No Oe" ( You are Mine ), a charming waltz; " Manu Kapalulu " ( Quail ) which is not about the bird; but yet another mele inoa for Princess Ka'iulani, the well known " Lamalama i luna ka 'onohi la ---" ( Bright above is the rainbow ---) Whether the three were composed from scratch in a surge of creative energy or simply finishing touches on constructive days, we shall probably never know. Lili'uokalani completed more songs in the the 1870s than ever before, and as a group they demostrate her increasing maturity as a composer. Favorable personal circumstances undoubtedly contributed to the outpouring. Lili'uokalani was in the prime of life, between the ages of thirty-two and forty-two, young enough to be animated, passionate, and enthusiastic, old enough to have developed self-assurance. Whispered and public challenges to the family's genealogy had been swept aside with its ascent to power, and the pride Lili'uokalani felt in the vindication shows in her work. She no longer stood in the shadow of the Kamehamehas and, as princess and heir apparent, remained largely free to enjoy life, reaping the benefits of her standing without yet shouldering the burdens of office. She began to shoulder independency of a troubled marriage and free herself of a burden of a loveless husband. John Dominis bared a a boy child from another woman. Acceptance was a matter of fact. "After all she had her " Liliko'i." " The new decade ( 1880's) brought to an end to such freedom and, not surprisingly, a downturn to Lili'uokalani's song writing. This account, focusing on the musical strand of her life, is not a place to chonicle the political developments that increasingly occupied her time and attention. For present purposes, it will suffice simply to acknowledge the enormous power struggle that transpired during the next thirty years, as competing interests sought to control the land, wealth, and political future of the Islands. In January 1881, King Kalakaua departed for a nine-month tour of the world, declaring Lili'uokalani regent. Almost immediately her government was comfronted with the challenge of dealing with a smallpox epidemic. This emergency and other affairs of her regency she handled decisively and apparently with grace. U.S. Minister James Comly reported that " the Princess Regent Lili'uokalani won praise by the prudence and tact of her course and made friends by the simple dignity of her style and by her accessibility to the people in public receptions and othrwise." One attempt at accessibility to her people-- a second tour of O'ahu -- lead to a serious injury when the carriage she was traveling in overturned. Despite the accident and other trials of her regency, she found the time to compose three songs: " He 'Ai Na Ka Lani ( Foods For the Royalty ), in honor of Kalakaua; " Anahulu," which took its name from a stream in Waialua, one of the Princess' favorite areas; and the adoring " Ka lpo Nohea " ( Gem of Beauty, often translated as : The Handsome Sweetheart). She also translated and arranged " Ho 'oheno," a song whose title means " a tender tribute," composed by two of her longtime retainers, Joseph 'Ae'a and Joseph Heleluhe. No compositions carry dates from 1882, but a note among various memornda attached to her diary attests to her continung interest in music " Commenced music with Mrs. Hartvie February 28/82 -- $ 3.00 a lesson--paid $ 50.00 on 21st April." Augusta Hartvie was a voice teacher, and the amount of the payment suggests Lili'uokalani was studying with her at least once a week. Lili'uokalani also maintained her interest in hanai children and in 1883 acquired two more, both boys, born to women among her retainers, Kaiponohea 'Ae'a was the son of " Ho'oheno" composer Joseph 'Ae'a and his wife, Kahae, while John Dominis 'Aimoku, as his name implies, was the offspring of her husband and a woman of the 'Aimoku family. The three children provided Lili'uokalani an outlet fo her strong nurturing instincts. Like 1882, the following three years apparently were a dry spell for Lili'uokalani's musical output. The only work of 1883 is a chant written for Kalakaua's late, lavish, and controversal coronation, which occurred in February 1883 on the ninth anniversary of his accession to the throne. " A Chant." written for Bernice Pauahi Bishop's funeral, draws its text from the Book of Job and is the sole work dated 1884. Nothing whatsoever is known for 1885. ++++++++++++++++ " A Chant " 1. If a man die, shall he live again ? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, Till my change come. 2. For there is hope of a tree if it be cut down, That it will sprout again, And that the tender branch thereof will not cease. 3. Though the roots thereof wax old in the earth, Yet through the scent of water it will bud, And bring forth boughs like a plant. 4. But man dieth and wasteth away. Yea, man giveith up the ghost, And where, oh, where is he ? 5. As the waters fail from the sea, So man lieth down and riseth not. Till the heavens be no more. 6. Oh, that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, That thou wouldst keep me insecret, till thy wrath be past, That thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me. 7. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, And that He shall stand inthe latter day upon the earth. And though worms destroy this body. yet in my flesh, shall I see God. Amen. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ To be continued in part 4.