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This is Our Story

Humanity United in Action,
Driven By Love and Compassion,
Informed by Science and Reason.

You are here: Home / Cycle-of-Life Season / 5 Interlude / Advocating – Championing

Advocating – Championing

Juliette Schlucter, patient advocate

Hector Concepcion, little league coach

The task of pleading a case is not reserved for lawyers, who are not the only ones skilled in that art. Each of us is an attorney-in-fact: the parent advocating for a child, a student defending a thesis, a worker requesting a raise or better working conditions. By standing up for our children, we teach them to stand up for themselves.

Real

True Narratives

Clarence Darrow, the iconic trial attorney of the early 20th century in the United States.

Margaret Thatcher, prime minister of the United Kingdom in the late 20th century, was an advocate for her causes:

Other advocates:

Technical and Analytical Readings

Photographs

Documentary and Educational Films

Imaginary

Fictional Narratives

And now, men and women of America, is this a thing to be trifled with, apologized for, and passed over in silence? Farmers of Massachusetts, of New Hampshire, of Vermont, of Connecticut, who read this book by the blaze of your winter-evening fire, — strong-hearted, generous sailors and ship-owners of Maine, — is this a thing for you to countenance and encourage? Brave and generous men of New York, farmers of rich and joyous Ohio, and ye of the wide prairie states, — answer, is this a thing for you to protect and countenance? And you, mothers of America, — you who have learned, by the cradles of your own children, to love and feel for all mankind, — by the sacred love you bear your child; by your joy in his beautiful, spotless infancy; by the motherly pity and tenderness with which you guide his growing years; by the anxieties of his education; by the prayers you breathe for his soul’s eternal good; — I beseech you, pity the mother who has all your affections, and not one legal right to protect, guide, or educate, the child of her bosom! By the sick hour of your child; by those dying eyes, which you can never forget; by those last cries, that wrung your heart when you could neither help nor save; by the desolation of that empty cradle, that silent nursery, — I beseech you, pity those mothers that are constantly made childless by the American slave-trade! And say, mothers of America, is this a thing to be defended, sympathized with, passed over in silence? [Harriett Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly (1852), Volume II, Chapter 45, “Concluding Remarks”.]

Novels:

Poetry

Music: Composers, artists, and major works

Édouard Lalo, Cello Concerto in D minor (1876) (approx. 23-28’) was composed “in collaboration with the talented Belgian cellist Adolphe Fischer (1847-1891) who was the soloist at the work première the following year at the Cirque d’Hiver under the baton of Jules Pasdeloup.  The programme was a great success and a week later it was repeated.” “The work is brilliantly written from a cellistic perspective, as it showcases the deepest register as well as the brightest.” It “is remarkable for the assuredness with which Lalo keeps the soloist in the foreground as protagonist.” Great recorded performances are by Starker & (Skrowaczewski) in 1962, du Pré (Barenboim) in 1967, Harrell (Chailly) in 1985, Jesús Morales (Jaime Morales) in 2007, Moser & PKF Prague Philharmonia (Hrůša) in 2015;, Müller-Schott (Bloch) in 2021, and Vogler (Domenech) in 2023.

Susana Baca has compiled a long and distinguished career singing Afro-Pervian and other South American music. “Although many of her songs are based on traditional forms such as the landó or vals, she also incorporates elements of Cuban and Brazilian music.” Here are links to her playlists, a live concert, and a presentation to her contributions to Afro-Peruvian music.

System of a Down is a metal/rock group known for its members’ political activism and opposition to injustice. “All members of System of a Down grew up in Los Angeles’ Armenian-American community and each had family who survived the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923). The ongoing denial of the genocide by the Turkish government highlighted to them how injustice can persist without the political will to stop it.” “For (Serj) Tankian, whose outspoken political activism often animates his songwriting, seeking international recognition of the Armenian genocide has been a lifelong and personal campaign. On stage that night in Yerevan he told the story of his grandfather Stepan Haytayan, who was just five years old when he saw his father murdered in the atrocities; he later went blind from hunger.” Here is a link to its releases, its playlists, and some videos, and a documentary film called “All Roads Lead to Yeravan”.

Many conductors have served as composers’ advocates. Examples include John Barbirolli and Adrian Boult for the composer Edward Elgar; Adrian Boult for composer Ralph Vaughan Williams; Herbert von Karajan for composer Richard Strauss; and Eugen Jochum for composer Anton Bruckner. Such advocates sometimes are called champions of the composer. Similarly, in life, an advocate is a champion for a person, organization or cause.

Similarly, great artists have championed the music of great composers:

Award-winning albums by individual artists:

In 1920, pianist Vladimir Sofronitski married the daughter of the late composer Alexander Scriabin. Then he became perhaps the greatest champion of his works for piano. 

The Alessandro Stradella Consort has recorded volumes of music from Alessandro Stradella, including these albums:

Compositions:

Music: songs and other short pieces

Visual Arts

Film and Stage