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Last summer, my dear friend and colleague, Michael Johns, came up to Newburyport and gave a talk on birds and music in conjunction with the commission for theremin and string quartet. Here, in a guest post, he turns his eyes from the skies to the water.

It was a great pleasure to visit Newburyport during August 2024, participate in the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival, and meet new friends. It was so delightful that, upon returning home, I did further research into the city's history and civic traditions. This inquiry revealed one small, surely unintentional, oversight in its long and substantive narrative. Newburyport lacks a town song.

As a coastal seaport, its nautical heritage suggests a watery musical motto might be in order, music that is compatible with its natural advantages: ocean/freshwater and the native/civilized aquatic denizens that dwell within. In the spirit of beginning this search, several examples follow for your consideration:

Claude Debussy (1862-1918) wrote “The Golden Fish” in 1907. This solo piano composition was inspired by a small Japanese lacquer panel Debussy kept on his nightstand. The lamination illustrates a single golden fish and its reflection in the water. Flowing water and darting/leaping movements capture a mood of sparkle, elegance, grace, and detached self-absorption.

‍Catalan composer Lamote de Grignon’s (1899-1962) “The Fish Convent” creates an Impressionistic fish world. Gently flowing, comforting, unhurried, and lovely, this short solo piano piece emphasizes the contemplative mood and clear water to which convent fish might be entitled.

François Couperin’s (1668-1733) piece for harpsichord, “The Eel,” is a fascinating portrait of his time and its entertainments. He presents friends, enemies, intrigues, magic shows, street fairs, and animals. The eel makes its appearance as an imitating canon, perhaps mimicking the tail following the head.

Franz Schubert’s (1797 – 1828) song “The Trout” is about a capricious fish joyfully darting in a clear brook while a cold-blooded angler, unable to entice fish to line, cunningly plots a new course by clouding the water to confuse prey, ending with his prize on the line. The moral of the poem is to warn young women about the wiles of young men. Schubert saw potential in the “The Trout’s” tune and enlarged it into a theme and variations movement within his Piano Quintet, in A Major, D. 667 (1819) for five “Trout” playing violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano.    

American composer Alec Wilder (1907-1980), composer of popular songs and classical pieces for unique combinations of instruments, wrote “The Neurotic Goldfish” for an octet of harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, bassoon, bass, and drums. It iis one piece of a larger set, all with off-beat, humorous titles. Restless energy and  jazzy rhythms give it a sense of going-fast-but-nowhere unease.              

And there you have it; some music to inspire Newburyport to develop a town anthem. Although it could be a challenge for a place to agree on such a thing that can’t even find consensus on the best lobster roll in town.  

David Yang, Artistic Director

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