"…between the hammers, our heart endures,
like the tongue between the teeth,
and is still able to praise."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

In the summer of 1998, conductor Matthew Savery approached me about writing a large piece for and about the residents of Butte, Montana. His request was simple: “I want you to find the essence of this city, and provide its citizens with a musical vehicle to express this essence in their own unique way.” I could not have imagined, at the time, how difficult this task would be. It is not unusual for a composer to tailor music to a specific voice-type, instrumental combination, level of technical difficulty, and even a particular musical event. However, it is quite another matter to be asked to provide a city with a mouth and words to sing the truth of itself.

Where to start? Well, it’s not hard to trace the origin of Butte to the mining industry. Those are documented facts. But, to understand the personality of a mining town, one must be willing to dig – deeper and always deeper – to the heart of the story. Before Butte had a name, there were unknown pioneers travelling westward, seeking gold in the wild frontier, gambling their lives to follow clues, which might lead them to a carefree existence. And before that, there was an anonymous stretch of virgin land in Montana, pregnant with THE ANSWER to the prospectors’ dreams. In my mind, the Butte story begins here.

In a way, Butte is the epitome of the American success story. This story lives in everything “American” and can be found in movies/moviestars, books/authors, music/musicians, the news, big business, politics, science, religion, all celebrities, local heroes and villains. It’s a well-loved formula that somehow appeals to our national consciousness: 1.) an unexpected rocket-rise to stardom, 2.) the affirmation of how one’s power of ambition can overcome the odds to achieve the “American dream,” 3.) after continued exploitation, the burn out and the inevitable fall into obscurity.

At one point, I envisioned this scenario: BUTTE is the name of a quiet, unobtrusive, even plain-looking girl who harbours a secret - she has an unbelievable voice, and behind closed doors she dreams of the day that she will be revered as “BEAUTY, the world-famous singer.” What happens when a prodigious natural talent is discovered by an intrepid promoter with hungry vision? A superstar is born who electrifies the world. But alas, natural talent is not a bottomless incorruptible well, and what happens when the voice is gone? Can you return to the past? The entrepreneurial founders of Butte were not inclined to going half-way - madly dig, dig, dig until you can’t dig anymore. And the volcanic fountain-song of mineral inspiration erupted without stopping – burn! burn! Burn! - until there was nothing left but a feeble whisper. Was it all worth it?

As the saying goes, “Be careful of what you ask for, you may get it.” The historical fact is that Butte got it. It was an undisputed superpower in the world economy, and it did literally “electrify the world” with its astonishing abundance of copper. Tragically, the lyrical outpouring of copper was not infinite - what was once a superhuman accomplishment at the Berkeley Pit Mine is now a Superfund site – a mile-wide, mile-deep man-made crater which is rapidly filling up with extremely toxic water, an urgent environmental crisis. A palpable horror. It must be seen to be believed.

Still, although the once-powerful clear voice of Butte (“Beauty”) may be fainter now, her message remains, and is perhaps more poignant now as she is reduced to slow and labored whispers. She points at herself: “Look at me. Look deep and long, and remember…and learn…” I have learned, and it seems to me now that Butte revealed more to me than her story, she opened my eyes to the essence of human nature and the inevitabilities of succumbing to one’s desires. Thus, I invite you to descend into these mines for yourself. Down there, in that darkness, there is no one’s story but your own…


* this performance is by the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and Choirs, Jerry Blackstone, cond.