From the introduction to “The Collected Musical-Plays of Essendim” published Sept. 3039
Six works of Essendim survive, more than any other single composer of American musical-plays. They are The Barber-Devil Suindoda, Joroga in the Pleasure-Garden upon the Sun’s Day, The Companions, The Foolish Acts, The Ones that Venture into the Forest, and We, The Gaily-Proceeding. (The Foolish Acts’ title is an untranslatable pun: the word in ancient English referred not only to ill-conceived deeds but also to a kind of extravagant live entertainment that features prominently in the piece itself.)
The titles of other musical-plays survive, but the works themselves are irrecoverably lost. Two of these lost works, The Evening’s Small Song and The Peaceable Prelude, were regarded as masterpieces.
Essendim wrote virtuosically, but always with a keen regard for character. He was famed for his skill at rhyming, and indeed his verses are meticulously arranged. But he also garnered a reputation early in his career for writing harsh music. While none of the notated music survives, contemporary sources characterize his melodies as lively and covering large intervals—without many pauses for the singer to recover breath. This meant that a performer of Essendim’s pieces needed great vocal skill and exactitude.
To introduce Essendim’s particular style, I have translated an excerpt from The Companions below. Any attempt fully to render the many rhymes and intricate structure in our language will inevitably fall short. However, I hope to give at least a flavor of Essendim’s urbanity and probing intelligence.
It sounds! The ‘phone*–
And, yes, so does the door’s bell–
The companions flood in;
Held not by firm ties
But by conviviality,
And the companions make the chamber ring.
O, sleepless nights,
brief meals
And entertainments,
heartfelt murmurs,
lengthy ambles,
conversations upon the telephone—
Minds join,
Spirits mingle,
Secret names are said,
And we gaze upon a gallery of photographs**
Filled with love
And the days too are filled with love
Seventy times they are filled,
To Bohabi***, lovingly
From these gentle madmen
Who are my friends–
My friends who are wedded.
*short for “telephone”, a rudimentary communication device popular when Essendim was writing
**something like flat, still, two-dimensional holograms; the most modern and widespread type of image in his day
***the central character of The Companions and the speaker of this excerpt
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