In Spite of This These Walls Will Rise a Divertissement in Two Acts

Americana and American History, Music and Performing Arts, Most Recent Listing; 4to; (iv), 22 pages; Washington, DC: Very Good. N. D. First Edition. (iv) , 22 pages; A typed (mimeographed) manuscript (rectos only) of this libretto for a musical play. Stapled at top left corner, some toning to title page, small chip at top of final leaf. Original words and lyrics by Crawford S. Brown, M. D. Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan, Rudy Vallee, Jule Styne. Produced and Directed by Richard Dirksen and All Cast Members. Sets and lighting by Crawford S. Brown, M. D. Assistant lighting director, Madeline Hicks. The plays centers on a dispute between two factions of canons for the Washington Cathedral over their dissimilar taste for modern versus gothic architecture. The gothic plans for the completion of the church are stolen and the Dean is horrified. An investigation and courtroom drama ensues. Acknowledgements concludes: "Our grateful thanks and sincerest gratitude is hereby extended to these men of the Washington Cathedral Choir, and to Winifred Waldo for all their interest and hard work, and to others of the Cathedral Staff who have assisted in preparing this production. // Our most special thanks and gratitude go to Miss Evelyn Richeson and Mrs. Dagmar Thott for their most excellent typing and collating of the libretto. // Crawford S. Brown, Jr. / Richard Dirksen. " Richard Wayne Dirksen was a composer of liturgical music who was canon emeritus of Washington National Cathedral and its former organist and choirmaster. Mr. Dirksen wrote nearly 300 works for choir, instruments and theater, and his liturgical works were widely performed. He was the organist on recordings of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Kennedy Center premiere of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" and other performances. He produced liturgical recordings at the cathedral and elsewhere. His annotated catalogue of music was published by Oxford University Press. He won a Washington Emmy Award for "Six Carols and Lessons, " televised in 1965, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in music for his oratorio "Jonah. " . N.D.