INSTRUCTIONS
Robert Ashley
SOUND
The Soloist is given a “focus” pitch for each of the fifteen sections of the piece.
“Focus” means singing “in tune with” the given pitch but using the inflections of
speech. The vocal sound is a kind of inflected chanting.
Section and focus pitch: 1-F / 2-C / 3-Db / 4-Eb / 5-Ab / 6-Gb /
7-F / 8-C / 9-Db / 10-Eb / 11-Ab / 12-Gb / 13-F / 14-E (naturel) / 15-F
The Solo vocal style should be as “casual” as possible; c'est, it should be as much
like speech as possible but focused on a sung pitch. This style is a kind of “crooning.”
This means that the sounds of “extended vocal techniques” are not appropriate to the
meaning of the text. Aussi, the Soloist uses the microphone rather than “projecting”
the voice. This means that the vocal sound is rather softer than in traditional singing.
The tempo of the Solo line is roughly the tempo of the title spoken slowly and
evenly at a natural rate.
WORLD WAR THREE / JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS.
(While the word “the” in the title is usually spoken as an unaccented pick-up to
the next word, in the singing of the solo line that syllable is treated as a beat that
is equal in stress and duration to the other seven.)
12 PAJ 101 (2012), pp. 12–21.
© 2012 Robert Ashley
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
WORLD WAR III
JUST THE HIGHLIGHTS
Robert Ashley
[F]
je
/
Op-
do
It’s
/
gets
à
/
vents
Though
ma
/
/
/
je –
death
/
lequel
un
[C]
Some
/
ma-
San
went
Ils
am
que
er-
/
ex-
je-
/
le
le
/
it’s
gine
dans
would
/
de-
/
/
/
fa-
concernant-
sur-
jor
Fran-
un-
don’t
pas
/
un
/
acte-
de
/
d'abord
haut
/
hard
que
/
/
Rich-
un
lead
le
sounds
na-
à
le
est
le
ly
un
ex-
/
school
com-
/
le
le
sub-
ard
que
à
ici-
/
tic
li-
prised
Pennsylvanie-
cis-
long
know
gion
/
trons
co
avec
/
tous
San
plan-
Ring.
/
/
cit-
meet-
/
mit-
/
haut
Bay
scribe
Wag-
suf-
hap-
af-
plus
je-
/
/
/
Op-
le
what
sur-
Fran-
ning
/
le
/
ing
ing
/
tee.
à
/
UN-
/
ner’s
fer-
pi-
ter
like
de
prised
cis-
/
/
kind
que
/
de
/
/
/
fly-
concernant-
à
/
ing
ness
/
/
un
nor
que
de
er-
deal.
they’re
am
/
/
un
/
get-
/
co
à
/
de
/
/
/
e-
/
je-
ers
un
/
/
et
dans
/
/
depuis
je
/
le
/
/
ting
ASHLEY / World War III Just the Highlights 13
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
/
rea-
Af-
five
/
vieux
leave
/
/
chemin
/
am
cis-
ate
plus
/
/
ly
/
/
un
de-
ers
concernant-
par-
/
/
tours:
/
Nouveau
hav-
ence
/
/
box
dol-
dol-
/
/
son
ter
min-
et
man
le
le
/
un-
who’s
sur-
co
did
/
plus
/
pro-
Pour
le
dans
fer-
de
un
je-
concernant-
Pour
/
dans
York
ing
prob-
/
est
/
lar
lars
/
et
/
/
utes
pow-
/
wife
donc-
(Or
round
count-
prised
Op-
pas
/
mu-
/
duc-
dans-
San
San
ing
/
/
ence
mem-
dans-
/
Nash-
Ci-
/
lems
ces
pack-
/
seats
/
à
/
à
le
le
er-
peut
/
cial
/
de-
ing.)
/
er-
come
cre-
si-
plus
tive
position,
Fran-
Fran-
le
/
un
/
ber
position,
Le
ville,
ty,
quelques
de
/
ing
avec
/
/
le
ils
care.
d'abord
ve-
ful
split
à
/
/
pend-
/
que
un
en haut
un-
cal
/
/
/
/
/
ry
et
/
/
/
le
ing
/
le
di-
avec
tive
/
fi-
/
/
co
co
er-
le
er-
would
avec
/
/
cis-
cis-
op-
/
op-
ils
/
/
Grand Ole
le
/
lequel
/
/
/
its
/
/
jours,
le
/
deux-
/
pour
/
toi
si
ry
ve-
dans-
have
/
pour-
rich
bus-
/
clean
mess.
oth-
/
/
San
rec-
/
/
/
nan-
[Db]
plan.
clos-
Op-
/
un
Bay
un
/
plea-
guid-
Op-
Met
/
au-
propre
/
bal-
hun-
twen-
get
à,
Non
/
ty-
/
oui
et
en haut
/
er
sur
je
Fran-
tor-
un
et
et
cial-
/
ing
er-
et
lov-
UN-
ex-
/
sure.
éd
ry
dans
est
di-
/
et
lot
dred
ty
là
14 PAJ 101
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
[Eb]
/
ris
nan-
fume
dus-
na,
dur-
oui
est
ping.
ca-
/
hor-
ing
ing
que
pour
/
ses
/
ler-
food,
juste
they’ve
ner
le
et
pu-
tle
un
last
Pa-
fi-
par-
dans-
dans-
shop
Ver-
ce
shop-
mous
tel.
weird
dans-
know-
/
/
/
cu-
based
al-
ar
Or
où
Wag-
de
oui
concernant-
à-
pas
There were
mem-
ber.
min-
et
cial
et
tries.
/
ing
/
what
/
fé,
/
ses
go
/
toi
/
/
pour
sur
gies,
/
prendre
/
chose
twen-
donc
ta-
/
place
tous
/
[Ab]
à-
Bey-
stuff
sont
dol-
dans
tle.
reuth,
là.
pay-
lars
le
/
/
/
ing
/
Pa-
ute.
le
/
le
/
/
le
ex-
/
/
/
/
et
à
/
will
le
avec
/
/
/
et
eux
been
/
ti-
cre-
tion
/
/
ceux
/
Et
si
/
/
pour
ra-
/
sub-
back-
gar-
/
/
day.
pen-
je
Eat
Freud
Go
alors
le
dans
stay
d'abord
plen-
leav-
tra-
et-
ce
à
do-
depuis
eth
à-
/
/
un
mov-
Ce
God
ils
je
thou-
sev-
dores
/
stan-
ing
ment
Or
où
/
sive.
call
dans
/
à
dans
op-
ad-
/
/
ty
ing
vel
fa-
te-
Se-
ing
le
/
ing
pour
de
would
ies
et
/
still
mean
sands
dans
de
/
tial
de
/
/
toi
/
/
/
un
/
voir
le
er-
vance
sur-
acte
de
/
stress,
mi-
ra.
à-
/
mid-
cen-
/
/
être-
go.
/
que
knows
do
peo-
/
nights
north-
/
/
le
/
Vi-
peut
/
Now
/
fa-
et
le
ev-
un
/
ly
/
ex-
/
/
li-
/
tle
le
dle
tur
le
Se-
ing
/
concernant-
Se-
/
que
ple
de
/
ern
ASHLEY / World War III Just the Highlights 15
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
/
you’re
le
/
/
ple
à
/
get
dow.
pas
dans
night
else
It’s
/
go
/
tired
/
/
un
/
/
/
dans
/
/
de
/
know-
Pa-
là
/
good
amour
un-
Not
look-
/
ing
ra-
est
à
pour
/
oui
donc
ing
/
que
dore
Non
go.
/
OMS
place
good
dehors
/
/
/
place
/
deux
don’t
/
si
le
/
Espagne
once
pour
/
/
peo-
want
else.
toi
win-
[Gb]
Looking out the window
Hoping to see the ghost of
El Cid, Rodrigo Diaz,
Who terrorized
These desperate plains
In war.
El Cid,
The model for those
conquistadores
That brought Spain
To America
And made us
What we are.
[F]
Rodrigo took himself
Off into exile once more.
This time he struck out
As a freelance — free lance —
In the literal meaning of the term.
Renowned as a commander
And wealthy
From the spoils of
Successful warfare,
He could attract
Enough troops
To form his own
Private army.
During the remaining
Ten years of his life
16 PAJ 101
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
He campaigned
Up and down
The region of
Eastern Spain
Known as the Levant.
Sometimes he fought Christians
Like the count of Barcelona,
Sometimes the rulers of
The taifa states.
He was his own man
And went his own way.
He pillaged the countryside,
He exacted tributes
And he ended up
By besieging
And taking
The town of Valencia —
Somewhat as
Ibn ’Ammar
Had taken
The nearby city
Of Curcia.
Rodrigo ruled there
For the last
Five years of his life,
Prince of a little
Taifa statelet
All his own.
He died there.
[C]
(The Cid in Benicadell)
When the Cid Campeador
Had taken Benicadell,
They are grieved in Jativa
And in Cullera
As for Valencia
Its dismay is boundless.
[Db]
(The conquest of the entire
Region of Valencia)
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
ASHLEY / World War III Just the Highlights 17
Seizing and despoiling,
Riding at night,
Sleeping in the day time,
Taking those towns,
My Cid spent three years
In the lands of the Moors.
[Eb]
(The Cid lays siege to Valencia.
He sends heralds announcing the war.)
And he has chastised severely
Those of Valencia.
They do not dare to leave the city
Or meet him in battle;
He has laid waste to their farmlands
And brought havoc among them;
Every year of those three
My Cid deprived them of bread.
They grieve in Valencia,
Not knowing what to do.
They cannot obtain
Bread from anywhere;
The father cannot help his son
Nor the son his father,
Friend and friend
Cannot console each other.
Great hardship it is, sirs,
To be without bread,
To see children and women
Dying of hunger.
And they see their affliction growing,
That there is no remedy,
And they have sent word
To the King of Morocco;
He was so deep in war
With the King of the Atlas,
That he neither sent to advise them
Nor came to their rescue.
My Cid learned of this;
It gladdened his heart.
He went out from Murviedo
One night, and rode all night;
18 PAJ 101
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
He appeared at daybreak
In the lands of Monreal.
He sent forth a herald
To Aragon and Navarre;
He sent his messages
To the lands of Castile:
“Whoever would leave
His toil and grow rich,
Let him come to My Cid,
Whose taste is for battle.
He would now lay siege to Valencia
To give it to the Christians.”
[Ab]
(Repetition of the announcement)
“Whoever will come with me
To besiege Valencia —
Let all come freely
And no one against his will —
I shall wait three days for him
By the Canal of Celfa.”
[Gb]
How different the real man was
From the legendary one.
The Cid of reality was a condottiere.
He was neither humane
Nor loyal nor patriotic.
On the contrary
He was a harsh man,
A breaker of promises,
A pillager of churches,
Only interested in pay and plunder.
[F]
/
/
/
dans-
pose
Op-
/
UN
would
come
/
er-
/
guid
être
/
/
un
/
éd
un
et
Le
à
/
op-
source
/
San
le
/
er-
/
would
Fran-
wrath
/
un
/
pas
cis-
/
/
tour
de
ex-
co
de
ASHLEY / World War III Just the Highlights 19
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
/
au-
ize
/
/
dans-
/
/
/
im-
di-
que
/
un
à
Mais
à
/
por-
ence
go-
est
blood
/
/
Dans-
/
tant
OMS
ing
/
/
un
avec
ter-
/
mem-
did-
à
like
clot
Par-
drinks
mis-
/
bers
n’t
hear
/
ou
un-
/
sion
/
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
/
le
al-
ner
ing
ing
/
/
ly.
ceux
de
concernant-
Wag-
hav-
check-
dore.
/
sur-
[E]
But in this place
with its
particular
patch of sky
Dans ce
desert
facing west
the particular
patch of sky
disappearing
westward
into the horizon
Dans ce
desert
you can feel
the Earth
turning eastward
[F]
Two thousand steps
between home
and the grocery store
(one way)
at thirty inches per stride
equals
sixty thousand inches
which divided by
twelve inches per foot
equals
five thousand feet
or almost a mile
20 PAJ 101
to get beer
non-alcoholic
for reasons of health
and tequila
for other reasons.
© Robert Ashley, 2010
END
ROBERT ASHLEY is known for his work in new forms of opera. Dans
the 1960s, Ashley organized Ann Arbor’s legendary ONCE Festival and
directed the ONCE Group. During the 1970s, he directed the Center for
Contemporary Music at Mills College, toured with the Sonic Arts Union,
and produced and directed Music with Roots in the Aether, a fourteen-hour
television opera/documentary about the work and ideas of seven American
composers. Ashley wrote and produced Perfect Lives, an opera for television
widely considered the precursor of “music-television.” Staged versions of
Perfect Lives and Atalanta (Acts of God) and the monumental opera tetralogy,
Now Eleanor’s Idea, have toured throughout Europe, Asia, and the United
États. He wrote and directed Balseros for Florida Grand Opera, Dust for
premiere at the Kanagawa Arts Foundation in Yokohama, and Celestial
Excursions for the Berlin Festival and Hebbel Theater Berlin. Made Out of
Concrete was premiered at La MaMa E.T.C. in New York in 2009. Ashley
is working on his latest opera, Quicksand. Kyle Gann’s biography of Robert
Ashley is forthcoming from the University of Illinois Press. www.lovely.com,
www.robertashley.org
ASHLEY / World War III Just the Highlights 21
je
D
o
w
n
o
un
d
e
d
F
r
o
m
h
t
t
p
:
/
/
d
je
r
e
c
t
.
m
je
t
.
e
d
toi
p
un
/
j
j
/
je
un
r
t
je
c
e
–
p
d
F
/
/
3
4
2
(
1
0
1
)
/
1
2
1
7
9
5
5
2
8
p
un
/
/
j
j
_
un
_
0
0
0
8
9
p
d
.
F
b
oui
g
toi
e
s
t
t
o
n
0
7
S
e
p
e
m
b
e
r
2
0
2
3
Télécharger le PDF