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Handwritten sheet music for "One Red Rose" composed by Steven Mackey
Handwritten sheet music for "One Red Rose" composed by Steven Mackey

Handwritten sheet music for "One Red Rose" composed by Steven Mackey

Object number2013.111.0003
DateJuly 2012
ClassificationsDocuments
ObjectSheet music
Credit LineSteven Mackey Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza
MediumPaper
Dimensions12 1/2 × 9 9/16 in. (31.8 × 24.3 cm)
Collections
DescriptionHandwritten sheet music for "Anthem to Aria" movement of "One Red Rose," composed by Steven Mackey. Commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Yellow Barn and the Nasher Sculpture Center to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, "One Red Rose" honors Kennedy’s legacy and acknowledges the lingering effects of the tragedy endured by his family, friends and country. The three movements of the piece – titled Five Short Studies, Fugue and Fantasy, and Anthem and Aria – explore the emotions felt after the assassination by the people who knew President Kennedy and by the world at large. “The contrast and coexistence of control and chaos which characterized the minutes, hours and days unfolding from the assassination… is related to the dialectic between the personal and public [that] is… an important aspect of the piece,” said Mackey.
Curatorial Commentary
The title of this piece is inspired by something seen by a secret service agent in the Kennedys' vehicle after the President had been taken into the emergency room at Parkland Hospital. The agent reported seeing one blood-soaked red rose in the backseat of the presidential limousine that had fallen out of Mrs. Kennedy's bouquet. - Jan Masterson, Collections Cataloguer
One Red Rose made its World Premiere at Carnegie Hall in New York, New York, on February 12, 2013. The piece was performed again by the Brentano String Quartet at The Sixth Floor Museum on November 24, 2013, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. - Jan Masterson, Collections Cataloguer
Exhibit Label: Born in Frankfurt, Germany to American parents, Mackey grew up in northern California, where he loved playing electric guitar in rock bands. Mackey has been a professor of music at Princeton University since 1985, where he teaches composition, theory, twentieth century music and improvisation. He has composed orchestral music which has been performed by the San Francisco Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Sydney Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic, among many others. He has won a Grammy, several awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Kennedy Center Friedheim Award. Mackey has also been the composer-in-residence at major music festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen and the Holland Festival. (Special exhibit, "Art Reframes History," on view on the Museum's seventh floor from September 9, 2020 through May 9, 2021) 
Composer Steven Mackey, who was seven years old and home sick from school on the day of the assassination, wrote that the title, "One Red Rose," came "from the report from a secret service agent examining the presidential limo for clues after Kennedy was taken into the emergency room. All he saw was one blood soaked red rose that had fallen from the bouquet of 12 that Jackie was given upon her arrival." In his compsoer notes for "One Red Rose," he wrote, "In the most abstract terms this piece explores the dialectic between the personal and the public. The news of the assassination of JFK was broadcast around the world. Until 9/11 it was the biggest news story of my life. Nothing could be more public and at the same time the news hit individuals in a personal way as they stopped on city streets stunned and often crying." -- Stephen Fagin, Curator
In addition to this 2016 oral history, Royce Vavrek and David T. Little also participated in a Museum virtual panel discussion, "Trauma, Tragedy and the Healing Power of Music," in October 2020. The full recording can be viewed on the Museum's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09UOOpQOgj8&t=19s -- Stephen Fagin, Curator