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sai-national.org • Winter 2024 25 Grinder's husband returning from his trip away to possibly finding his wife in bed with Lewis; killing himself to relieve the pain caused by one of his illnesses or because he was depressed by his life's condition, including financial woes and lack of female companionship. I present all these possibilities in my opera, and I add my own theory for his death: Lewis, realizing that his journals when published would open up the vast West to the uncontrolled migration of American citizens and unleash on Native Americans an invasion that they would not be able to overcome, kills himself. He began to see himself as a biblical Serpent in Eden, destroying the Native American civilization. In the last scene of my opera, Lewis attempts to burn his journals and then kills himself out of despair. To provide evidence to support my theory, I exhibit that Captain Meriwether Lewis commissioned a portrait of himself in 1807, a year aer the end of the expedition, wearing the Native American regalia given to him during his expedition by an Indian chief to help Lewis camouflage himself against other hostile Indian tribes. Lewis, through the experience of his expedition, saw himself transformed into a Native American. Such a transformation, like in the classical myths of the poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses, was life changing and life ending. A moment of transfiguration. My opera ends with a transfigured-rising- from-the-dead Lewis singing a lament taken from omas Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia, of Native American Logan's famous speech ending with the words "but who will mourn for me and mine." Composing this opera was a working through of Lewis' personal realization that our white European belief in the Divine Right of Discovery, to take for our own selves all that we discover, would annihilate the civilization of the Native Americans, who were here before we came and whose lands we took and whose history, thought, culture, and music we attempted to end by our taking. My opera is my attempt to mourn. Transfiguration at Grinder's Stand is scheduled to be premiered during the summer of 2024 in Bismarck, ND by Dakota Pro Musica under the direction of Dr. Jason oms. Just as we gradually became aware over many decades of the African-American impact on white American history, thought, culture, and music (gospel, jazz, hip-hop), so now too we are beginning to recognize the impact of the Native American presence. e enslavement of African- Americans and the removal of Native Americans from their sacred lands are original sins of our country. Recognizing our sins and honoring the history, thought, culture, and music of these American citizens are steps toward reconciliation and renewal. ENDNOTES ENDNOTES 1 Charlotte Bronte A Fiery Heart. Harmon, Claire. Page 297. 2 Charlotte Bronte A Fiery Heart. Harmon, Claire. Page 301. 3 Lamb, Arthur J. and Harry von Tilzer, 1900. 4 I-AA-BB-CCDCDC. This is sometimes known as "military" march form. Cosmopolitan Ame- rica is I-A-B-C-A-D. Composer and researcher Hollis oms has had a number of articles published in PAN PIPES over the years. He has had 40 articles published in journals and written over 150 musical works: symphonies, operas, chamber music, vocal, and choral music. He has a masters in composition from Northwestern University and finished the course work for the PhD in composition from the Eastman School of Music. In addition, he has an EdS in educational administration from the University of Toledo and a masters in liberal studies from St. Johns College, Annapolis. He was a teacher of English and music and a school administrator for over 30 years. He has been the recipient of a Joseph Klingenstein Fellowship to Columbia University, an Alden B. Dow Creativity Fellow, was a Fulbright Exchange Teacher to Scotland, and was selected to participate in the summer principal seminar at Harvard University Graduate School of Education. His musical compositions and research projects are in special collections at the Maryland State Archives, Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and Church Music Center at Concordia University-Chicago. View his composer website and booklets available for purchase at: www.hollisthoms.com. Cposers

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