program note
manifesto was commissioned by Cantus Vocal Ensemble for a concert about love. It is a subject I am very curious about, and, as I so often do, I went to the internet to find out more. In the hopes of finding the essential qualities of a loving relationship, I ended up searching for things that people say they look for in a romantic partner. I searched the phrase “I want to be with someone who….” and then assembled the text out of the auto-completions. Not all of them – not the ones that were insulting to other people or were pornographic, or were unique to a certain culture or nationality or religion. I really only wanted to find the answers that seemed most universal. I was hoping to imagine a larger community of people, all actively in search of love, listing the characteristics of lovers they could believe in. And because it ended up reading like a statement of belief I called it manifesto.
Libretto
manifesto
words and music by David Lang
I want to be with someone
who won’t get tired of me
who wants to be with me for who I am
who will never leave me
I want to be with someone
who is actually afraid to lose me
who values open communication
who really knows me
I want to be with someone
who cares about me, supports me, encourages me
who makes my heart jump when I hear their key in the door
who wants to be with me
who is exactly what I’ve said I always wanted
who accepts me for who I am
who I find so interesting and exciting and understands my thinking
who’s going to be healthy for the long haul
who is smarter than that, with more depth and more soul
who feels the same way
who won’t clip my wings
who laughs at my jokes
who won’t leave
who likes to have fun
who will want to be with me
who is very comfortable
who respects all the other aspects of me
who gets me
who can see a future with me
who is comfortable
who wants to work
I want to be with someone
who matches me
who teaches me
who wants to be
