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About the Composer
Abbie Betinis
Abbie Betinis Music Company
A Blessing of Cranes
Hopeful, geometric and meditative – healing the world through 1,000 paper cranes.
SSAA chorus, piano
On August 6, 1945, the force from the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, blew two-year-old Sadako Sasaki out the window. She survived, but by age 12, developed leukemia, caused by radiation from the blast. A Japanese legend promises a wish granted to anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes, so Sadako did, wishing to heal all children from the effects of war.
From its contemplative, intimate opening measures to the climactic textural effect of the flapping of “thousands of wings,” this score invites singers and audience alike on a memorable, healing journey. Composer Abbie Betinis (who won a McKnight Artist Fellowship with this score) transforms the meditative, geometric process of folding paper cranes into intimate, hopeful music, with beautiful poetry by Michael Dennis Browne. Program around any aspect: war, cancer, children, healing, origami, math, and even – for music theory buffs – tonal serialism. (See Abbie’s composer notes for more teaching resources.)
Composer’s Notes
On August 6, 1945, the force from the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, Japan, blew two-year-old Sadako Sasaki out the window. She survived, but by age 12, began to show signs of leukemia, caused by radiation from the blast. Her friend Chizuko visited her in the hospital and brought a gold piece of paper which she had folded into a paper crane using the art of origami. A Japanese legend promises a wish will be granted to the person who folds a thousand cranes, so Sadako set to work, saying “I will write peace on your wings, and you will fly all over the world.” She folded over 1,300 cranes in the hope of healing her cancer, and healing the world from war. Sadako died later that year, but her statue stands today, holding an origami crane – now a worldwide symbol of peace – at the Children’s Peace Monument in Hiroshima, and it receives colorful “Senbazuru” (a thousand cranes tied together) from people around the world.
When I realized there would be about 1,000 singers as part of this special commission, I wondered, could I ask each singer to fold a paper crane? Perhaps together we could advance our wish for peace. What if each choir could “fold” a crane musically, just by singing? I started experimenting with the paper, creasing and folding – trying to figure out how to render this beautiful, meditative, and geometric activity into sound. By mapping each fold to a note on the staff, I was able to slowly transform the folding process from physical to musical. With my cranes and sketches in tow, I approached poet and librettist Michael Dennis Browne, to ask if this idea inspired him too, and I’m so grateful that it did. He wrote a beautiful poem – geometric, hopeful, intimate and worldly – and I’ve attempted to craft the music with as much elegance.
At the end of this score is a pattern for you to cut out and fold into your own paper crane. I hope you enjoy the process of transforming this flat square into a symbol of hope, and – likewise – of transforming this silent score into sound.
– Abbie Betinis, 2015
ps. If you’re interested to learn more about the process of creating this piece, I have a photo journal here.
Video Resources for this piece:
Text
How do we love you more than to shape you?
Turning so firmly in the shadows of fingers.
How do we love you more than to let you go?
Waves of earth’s oceans, waves of our willing hands
Creasing and folding, creasing and folding, unfolding.
How do we love you more than to shape you?
Never a thought of thinking, only this weaving,
These thousands of wings we make to carry our longing;
How do we love you more than to let you go?
No trembling before the task, simply this sweetness,
Freedom from fear, receiving this heartbeat, receiving.
How do we love you more than to shape you?
Blossoms that shimmer and gather about their branches,
Returning to earth her peace, her original blessing;
How do we love you more than to let you go?
Deeper than dream to say, even than singing,
Releasing the wishes we have, the asking for healing;
How do we ever love you more than to shape you?
How do we love you more than to let you go?
– Michael Dennis Browne
© 2014, Used by permission of the poet. These lyrics are under copyright, but may be reprinted for use in concert programs and promotion related to this musical work. For permission to reprint for any other purpose, please contact the copyright holder.
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