Oliveros, Pauline / To Valerie Solanas And Marilyn Monroe In Recognition Of Their Desperation

Roaratorio

Intrigued by the egalitarian feminism set forth in Valerie Solanas’s 1968 SCUM Manifesto, and needing to express her own resonance with the energy of the surfacing women’s movement, PAULINE OLIVEROS incorporated the principles in the structure of a new piece she was composing at the time. Monroe had taken her own life and Solanas had attempted to take Andy Warhol’s. Both women seemed desperate, caught in the traps of inequality: Monroe needed to be recognized for her talent as an actress and Solanas wished to be supported for her own creative work. Commissioned by the Music Department of Hope College, Holland Michigan, To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation had its premiere in 1970. Though everyone knew Marilyn Monroe, hardly anyone recognized Valerie Solanas at the time or took her Manifesto seriously. Oliveros brought the names of these two women together to draw attention to their inequality. Roaratorio’s LP—the first commercially available release of this eerie, beautiful, and important Oliveros work—contains the 1970 Hope College premiere, performed by a 14-piece ensemble, and a 1977 recording from Wesleyan University, performed by a 43-piece orchestra. Cover artwork by JUDITH LINDBLOOM. Download coupon included.

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