Historical Collections of The Hawaiian Islands -  Queen Lili'uokalani and her Music - Part 5

************************************************
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 16, 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 5 - Work of the last Decades

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Part 5

Lili'uokalani having been released and placed on parole in early
October, while visiting Kealohilani, one of her Waikiki houses at the
old Hamohamo site, composed " Ka Wai 'Apo Lani " ( Heavenly
Showers ), a song expressing hope that she would be returned to the
throne. Ascribed to the same year is " Ke Aloha
'Aina" ( Love for the Land ) , alternately called " He Lei Aloha " ( A
Lei of Love ).
The song is a plea for the land and for the life of a nation and a
extortation to her people to resolute :

" Oh, my love and adoration
For my native people,
Be of one heart
And stand firm with unity."

Music was not sufficient to the cause, however, and late in 1896, after
her civil rights had been fully restored, she sailed for the United
States. She made her way first to Boston, where she was warmly received
by her husband's relatives, and the kindness and attention they bestowed
eased the pain of indignity she had recently endured. While she was in
Boston, the Queen renewed an old acquaintance with Captain Julius
Palmer, who proposed that she publish her story and volunteered his
services as secretary. That was the genesis of her autobiography.

In January, Lili'uokalani and her party continued on to Washington to
seek restoration of the Kingdom. In the seven months she resided there,
she spent a good deal of time lobbying and entertaining but also worked
on three major projects -- the autobigraphy; a translation of the
Kumulipo, a extended Hawaiian cosmogonic and genealogical chant; and an
opera called Mohailani 
( Chiefly Offering ), based on the experiences of her reign. The last
she drafted under the pseudonym " Madame Aorena ," probably writing it
more for amusement than as a serious attempt at opera composition.

During her time at Washington, Lili'uokalani gave final form to her book
of songs, calling it " He Buke Mele Hawai'i."
She sent one copy to Queen Victoria and deposited another in the Library
of Congress. The book includes two compositions dating from the sojourn
in
the U.S. capital, a chant in the aiha'a 
( bombastic and emphatic ) style about children's games, and a mele hula
ku'i titled " Ka Wai O Niakala," inspired by a trip to Niagara Falls
that she had made from Boston.

After further travels and a second  stopover in Washington in 1898,
Lili'uokalani returned to Honolulu, throroughly unsuccessful in her
quest to regain sovereignty. Indeed, ten days after her return home, a
brief ceremony marked the Islands' annexation to the United States. Soon
afterwards, Lili'uokalani composed a chant, " Ho'okahi Puana "
( One Answer ), in which she pronounced clearly, without the cutomary
veiled language of Hawaiian chant, her views of the new government.

That year also saw the publication of her autobiography, " Hawaii's
Story by Hawaii's Queen," largely through the dedication of Julius
Palmer and the publishing company of Lothrop, Lee and Shepard, a firm in
which her late husband's family had a financial interest.
In the book, she speaks of composing as 
" a gift of nature ( which ) , never haing suffered to fall in disuse,
remains a source of the greatest consolation to this day...... Hours ...
I might have found long and lonely, passed quickly and cheerfully, by
occupied and soothed by the expression of my thoughts in music; and even
when I was denied the aid of any instrument I could transcribe to paper
the tones of my voice."

The last decades of her life brought many sorrows, but Lili'uokalani by
then evidently no longer took solace in composing; only two songs are
known from those final years. Besides, several more futile trips to
Washington in efforts to prevent the loss of crown lands, she endured
profound personal tragedies, among them the death of her hanai sons. (
Only her daughter, Lydia, outlived her.) Another source of grief was the
souring of her relationship with Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana'ole, who filed a
lawsuit contesting the trust she established to benefit Hawaiians
orphans, a suit she finally won little more than a year before her
death.

Lili'uokalani translated verse 3 of the " Ke
Aloha O Ka Haku " as follows:

" Oh ! look not on failings,
Nor on the sins of men,
Forgive with loving kindness,
That we might remain pure."


The verse reflect a warm and compassionate woman with her mind and heart
intent on forgiveness. The serenity and graciousness with which the
Queen lived out the closing years of her life may have come from the
understanding that it is necessary to forgive as well as to be forgiven.

On November 11, 1917, the gracious and talented Queen Lili'uokalani was
released from her earthly travail. At her lying-in-state and funeral
services, she received all the honors due a Hawaiian ali'i, and all
classes of citizenry in Hawai'i
joined in paying tribute to her. Later, as a final accolade, the words
of " Aloha 'Oe " were inscribed on a bronze tablet that was set in a
boulder and lodged on the grounds of Washington Place.  

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++