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06/06/08
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6:40
Mrs. Bixby's Sons
for baritone and piano
Executive Mansion, Washington, November 21, 1864.
Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts:
DEAR MADAM: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
Program Notes
Despite the fact that Mrs. Bixby, a Southern sympathizer, destroyed the letter, that she lost not five but two sons in the Civil War (the War Department misspoke), or that many believe John Hay, one of Lincoln's private secretaries, is the author of the letter, this message of condolence is generally considered unsurpassed. The number five is pervasive in this musical setting, used metrically, rhythmically and intervallically. The song was written for and is decidated to Stephen Swanson, who premiered it 24 October 2004 at the University of Iowa.
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