Melissa Dunphy

Related Works

The Gonzales Cantata (SSAT choir, soloists, piano)

The Gonzales Cantata (SSAT choir, soloists, organ)

The Gonzales Cantata (SSAT choir, soloists, piano)

Selected arias for voice and piano from The Gonzales Cantata, the nationally acclaimed large-scale choral work based on the 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee hearings of former Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales. Arias include "I Don't Recall," "This Is Not About Alberto Gonzales," and "Differently" for soprano as Alberto Gonzales, and "I Think We Can All Agree" for mezzo-soprano as Orrin Hatch.

The Gonzales Cantata was performed at the 2009 Philadelphia Fringe Festival and received rave press and reviews from The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The National Review, The Huffington Post, Harper's Magazine, Fox News, The Chicago Tribune, The Daily Show's Indecision Forever, Talking Points Memo, and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, who featured the Cantata twice on The Rachel Maddow Show and called it "the coolest thing you will ever see on this show."

Text

I DON'T RECALL
Soprano Aria

GONZALES: I did not make decisions
about who should or should not
be asked to resign
I don't recall ever saying
"No, take that person off,"
or, "Add this person."
I ultimately approved the list of recommendations
that were submitted to me.
Those were my decisions.


THIS IS NOT ABOUT ALBERTO GONZALES
Soprano Aria

GONZALES: This is not about Alberto Gonzales.
This is about the Department of Justice.
I look back with pride in the things that we've accomplished:
protecting our kids, protecting our neighborhoods,
protecting our country.
I have to be—I have to know in my heart
that I can continue to be effective
as the leader of this department.
The moment I believe I can no longer be effective,
I will resign.


I THINK WE WILL ALL AGREE
Mezzo-soprano Berceuse

HATCH: I think we will all agree,
I think you've agreed that this was poorly handled.
I mean, how many times
do you have to be flagellated over that?
There are two legitimate issues
in the U.S. attorney controversy.
First, were any of them removed for an improper reason?
Second, did any administration officials
knowingly mislead Congress or the public?
After three months of hearings, all kinds of interviews,
and thousands upon thousands of pages of documents,
the evidence shows that the answer
to both of those questions is a resounding no.


DIFFERENTLY
Soprano Aria

GONZALES: Looking back,
things that I would have done differently?
I should have told him,
and I think he should have—
I should have asked him
I should have told him the factors
that I thought were important for him to consider.
I should have told him,
and I think I would have told him—
I should have told him,
and we should have a list.
I think these are the things—
I think these are the kinds of things, in hindsight,
that I wish would have happened.
I think it's also unfair
(I think it's all so unfair)
it is clear that we struggled—not struggled—
Where we made a mistake, clearly—I think—
is once we said "performance,"
we should have defined that.
Because performance, for me, means lots of things.
It means whether or not you've got leadership skills,
whether or not you've got management skills.
It may mean whether or not
you support the president.
It may mean that you don't have—
that you have a sufficient—
that you have relationships.
And so there are lots of things that fall within
the definition of performance-related.
And I think that we should—
we should have defined what we meant by that.