The Background Story
JFK invited Robert Frost to be the first poet ever to speak at a Presidential Inauguration and Frost was a frequent guest at the Kennedy White House. A break in the relationship between Kennedy and Frost occurred when Frost misspoke upon returning from the USSR, where he met with Premier Khrushchev in September 1962.
Kennedy’s speech at Amherst represented a posthumous reconciliation with Frost, nine months after Frost died, and was called the “most majestic” of JFK’s career. Twenty-seven days later, Kennedy was assassinated.
Setting for the Symphony
Inspired by President Kennedy’s speech honoring the poet Robert Frost, delivered at Amherst College October 26, 1963, the work will include lines from JFK’s Amherst speech interspersed with lines from poems by Robert Frost.
A Libretto Concept
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go,
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Privilege is here, and with privilege goes responsibility…
There is inherited wealth in this country and also inherited poverty. And unless graduates…who are given a running start in life — unless they are willing to put back into our society those talents, the broad sympathy, the understanding, the compassion — unless they’re willing to put those qualities back into the service of the Great Republic, then obviously the presuppositions upon which our democracy are based are bound to be fallible…the need is endless, and I’m confident that you will respond.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Today this College and country honors a man whose contribution was not to our size but to our spirit, not to our political beliefs but to our insight, not to our self-esteem, but to our self-comprehension. …Our national strength matters, but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much. This was the special significance of Robert Frost…He held a deep faith in the spirit of man.
And God has taken a flower of gold
And broken it, and used therefrom
The mystic link to bind and hold
Spirit to matter till death come.
The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable, especially when that questioning is disinterested, for they determine whether we use power or power uses us…
It’s hardly an accident that Robert Frost coupled poetry and power, for he saw poetry as the means of saving power from itself. When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.
There is a call to life a little sterner…
It makes the prophet in us all presage
The glory of a next Augustan age…
A golden age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday’s the beginning hour.*
[Robert Frost] brought an unsparing instinct for reality to bear on the platitudes and pieties of society. His sense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation. “I have been,” he wrote, “one acquainted with the night.” And because he knew the midnight as well as the high noon, because he understood the ordeal as well as the triumph of the human spirit, he gave his age strength with which to overcome despair.
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain.
I have outwalked the furthest city light.
I have looked down the saddest city lane.
I have passed the watchman on his beat
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.
I have been one acquainted with the night.
The great artist is a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover’s quarrel with the world. … If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice which must motivate any true artist. … The nation which disdains the mission of art invites the fate of Robert Frost’s hired man, the fate of having nothing to look backward to with pride and nothing to look forward to with hope.
Poor Silas, so concerned for other folk,
And nothing to look backward to with pride,
And nothing to look forward to with hope,
So now and never any different.
If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth… [In] democratic society…the highest duty of the writer, the composer, the artist is to remain true to himself and to let the chips fall where they may. In serving his vision of the truth, the artist best serves his nation.
Anything more than the truth would have seemed too weak
To the earnest love that laid the swale in rows…
The fact is the sweetest dream that labor knows.
My long scythe whispered and left the hay to make.
I look forward to a great future for America – a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose. … I look forward to an America which will reward achievement in the arts as we reward achievement in business or statecraft. … And I look forward to an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well.
The woods are lovely dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Libretto Copyright © 2021 by Neil Bicknell, All Rights Reserved
* Excerpt from “Dedication” by Robert Frost from THE POETRY OF ROBERT FROST edited by Edward Connery Lathem.
Copyright © 1961 by Robert Frost, Copyright © 1989 by Alfred Edwards. Used by permission of Henry Holt and Company. All Rights Reserved.
About the Libretto
On an idyllic New England fall day in 1963, President Kennedy spoke at Amherst College in Massachusetts to honor his friend, the poet Robert Frost, who for many years had taught at Amherst. It would be the President’s last major speech.
The libretto for “JFK: The Last Speech” celebrates these two men and the values they shared – a faith in the human spirit, a commitment to learning and reason, and an awareness of the fragility of our democracy. Conceived as a musical conversation between the President and the Poet, the libretto alternates narrated lines from the President’s Amherst speech with lines from Frost’s poems. But the Poet’s words are sung, as if from an oracle on high, as Frost had died nine months prior to Kennedy’s commemoration.
The libretto opens with lines from Frost’s “October,” evocative of the autumn day, and includes an entreaty to make the day seem less brief, an innocent reminder of the President’s impending fate.
With his characteristic courage to speak the truth that inspired the nation, President Kennedy opens his speech reminding the students that they are privileged by virtue of the education they are receiving. Such privilege carries with it responsibility – a responsibility to serve the public interest, and to contribute not only their talents to the “Great Republic,” but as well, their sympathy, their understanding, and their compassion. Pledging his confidence in the students, Kennedy quotes from “A Road Not Taken,” and counsels them that a decision to serve the nation will make “all the difference.”
The President’s tribute to Frost is also an ode to the indispensable role the arts and artists play in ensuring the strength of our democracy.
Weaving the Poet’s words throughout his speech, Kennedy speaks of how Frost coupled poetry and power and of Frost’s belief that when power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. Then he offers his own belief that “when power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truths which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.”
Acknowledging the solitude that can come with the artist’s search for truth and concern for justice, Kennedy uses Frost’s words to argue that a nation that disdains the mission of art has “nothing to look backward to with pride, and nothing to look forward to with hope.”
The President ends his tribute with his aspirations for America to match its military strength with its moral restraint and its wealth with its wisdom – for an America which commands respect throughout the world not only for its strength but for its civilization as well. To achieve this vision, Kennedy realizes he has “miles to go” before he sleeps, a phrase from Frost that he often used on the campaign trail.
At Kennedy’s inauguration, Robert Frost honored the President with a poem written for the occasion. He predicted the new administration would usher in a golden age of poetry and power, “of which this noonday’s the beginning hour.” At Amherst, Kennedy honors Frost as one whose contribution was not to our size but to our spirit, not to our self-esteem but to our self-comprehension. “Our national strength matters,” he says, “but the spirit which informs and controls our strength matters just as much. This was the special significance of Robert Frost.”
The President’s speech at Amherst has been called the “most majestic” of his career. Kennedy exhibited both his sensitivity to the human spirit and his civic values as he spoke that day — when he spoke about the importance of the arts and artists in our democracy; and about the importance of those who question power, “especially when that questioning is disinterested.” He said we need the service of every man and woman, “to make it possible for Americans of all different races and creeds to live together in harmony, to make it possible for a world to exist in diversity and freedom. All this requires the best of all of us.”
– Neil Bicknell, 2024
INITIAL THOUGHTS ON A CLASSICAL COMPOSITION HONORING
PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND ROBERT FROST
For Discussion
THE WORK: President Kennedy honored the poet Robert Frost in a speech at Amherst College on October 26, 1963, 27 days before he was assassinated. Frost had passed away nine months earlier. In honoring Frost, JFK also honored the importance of the arts and artists in our democracy in a speech called the “most majestic” of his career. The proposed composition will reflect the majesty of JFK’s words at Amherst and will include a libretto consisting of lines from Kennedy’s Amherst speech interspersed with lines from poems by Robert Frost – in a sense, a conversation they never had, in their own words.
DURATION: Estimated at 25 to 30 minutes.
LIBRETTO DELIVERY: JFK’s words will be narrated and Frost’s lines will be presented in one of three formats:
- A dramatic narration, as if from an oracle on high, reflecting on Kennedy’s words.
- A single vocalist singing Frost’s lines, clearly articulated and understandable by the audience.
- A choral presentation, perhaps presented with superscripts or the printed text available.
CONCEPTUAL MODEL: Formats 1) and 2) would include orchestral theme development prior to introduction of the libretto, reminiscent of Copland’s Lincoln Portrait where the libretto starts halfway through the piece, thereby allowing the piece to be judged on both the orchestration and the libretto presentation.
INSTRUMENTATION: Acceptable to major orchestras while also accessible for smaller orchestras, including academic orchestras. We seek a Work that will be widely performed, including by the major orchestras.
TIMELINE: To be determined.
NAME OF THE WORK: To be determined. The focus is on JFK’s speech at Amherst, so the title likely will include “JFK” or “President Kennedy.” The title, “JFK: The Last Speech” is available.
SPECIAL CONSIDERATION FOR COLLEGE ORCHESTRAS: We prefer that presentations by college/university orchestras be accorded special consideration, minimizing the financial burden of their presentations.
The Symphony As Celebration
“JFK: The Last Speech” celebrates the civic values and inspiring leadership of President John F. Kennedy, and the spirit of the great American poet, Robert Frost. The Symphony is a project of members of the Amherst Class of 1964 through their non-profit Reunion ’64, Inc. They had the privilege of witnessing President Kennedy deliver his last major speech, October 26, 1963. The Symphony will join two earlier projects, a book and documentary that are both titled, “JFK: The Last Speech.” (See The Book and The Film pages of this website.)
Please contact: JFKTheLastSpeech@gmail.com for additional information.