The Long View: The Story of a Song and a President’s Second Farewell
It was well known that President Dennis J. Murray wanted nothing for his parting gift when he retired in 2016. Sarah Williams remembers talks of a statue in his honor –– an idea the outgoing president immediately expelled. Williams, the director of Choral Activities at Marist, and her music students devised a very different idea: a song commissioned for Murray and his wife, Marilyn, for their service to the college.
Williams, the director of Choral Activities at Marist, and her music students devised a very different idea: a song commissioned for Murray and his wife, Marilyn, for their service to the college. Source: Sarah Lynch
This was the spark that brought “The Long View” to life.
The song carries an air of reverence for the Marist Singers, including myself. It’s more than an homage to the president’s service –– it's a testament of his core values, an expression of his ethos. It was his swan song. Or, rather, it was meant to be. Murray’s unexpected return to Greystone in 2019 preceded what he called the most difficult year and a half of his 40 years at Marist. With his successor not yet announced, the final sunset on Murray’s presidency remains uncertain.
Facing a pandemic that disfigured nearly every normal aspect of campus life, Murray and his administration encountered copious challenges and vocal criticism. The college’s response to George Floyd’s killing nine days later, the spring’s spike in COVID-19 cases (resulting in over 650 students contracting the virus) and a Marist student’s alleged assault drew impassioned editorials and social media outrage. Policies surrounding the music department drew criticism, as well.
After months of what could feasibly be called a department-wide shutdown, Singers and Band members began testing in McCann three times per week at the end of April, just like athletes. These protocols allow band members to play with instruments bagged and singers to sing outside for the first time since last March. Rather than the usual juggling many songs in a semester, the singers have focused on perfecting just one song:
“The Long View.”
Tony’s Poem
Charles Anthony Silvestri had a spiral bound notebook and 15 minutes with President Murray. Silvestri, with a background in both music and history, asked Murray what this song would feel, look and sound like. It would look like a painting from the Hudson River School, it would sound like “Fanfare for the Common Man” and it would embody the spirit of Marist and its students.
Charles Anthony Silvestri with a background in both music and history, asked Murray what this song would feel, look and sound like. Source: Sarah Lynch
Murray talked about the river, which would become a central image in Silvestri’s finished work. “The river is meaningful to me and all the residents, and I think most graduates of the college remember the river as an important part of their aesthetic college experience,” Murray said.
The president and his wife first heard “The Long View” in Fusco Hall. Williams remembers her hands shaking as she stood in front of her choir and Murray. The excitement from the singers was palpable; they were about to sing a song no one had heard before.
“It was beautiful hearing it for the first time and emotional,” Murray said. “And even later reading the words and seeing how much more went into it really meant a lot to me.”
More than a powerful moment for the Murrays, it was a watershed moment for the music department with a powerhouse group of singers, Williams said. “That was probably the first year of real change,” Williams said. “Exponentially it got bigger. Singers just got stronger. When that group came in as freshmen, my seniors were scared.”
There are details in the song that would escape a first-time listener. The line “the work and prayers of generations” alludes to the words surrounding the college’s crest: “orare et laborare” –– to pray and to work. The imagery of the setting sun over the Hudson River describes “an impossible tapestry of lavender, vermilion and golden satin.” Williams recently watched the sunset herself and watched the colors appear one by one, in Silvestri’s exact order.
There’s another part of Tony’s poem that strikes Williams: “This water flows through villages and towns past farm and mill through time.” For her, this evokes pictures of the churning river, the wheel of water and the wheel of time simultaneously moving –– “the constant motion of all of us being here for a certain amount of time and knowing that you don't get to stay.”
Taking the Long View
Longview park, the strip of land by the Marist Boathouse, was a multi-million dollar project in the 90s that transformed a polluted riverfront into one of the most beloved parts of the Marist campus. The Dutch called this part of the river a word that translates to the “Long Reach.”
Williams said that Silvestri had no idea there was a park on campus called Longview until after he had already given the song its title.
To Murray, the “long view” is a framework for leadership. “In my leadership writing, I always talked about the concept that leaders have to take the long view. They have to take the long view while they're leading the organization, and not make decisions that are only in the short-term best interests of the organization, but really the long-term best interests of the organization,” Murray said.
He quoted an old proverb that postulates the true meaning of life is to plant trees whose shade you’ll never sit.
Murray is among the longest-serving college presidents. And yet, there were obstacles he had not yet faced. When he got the call asking him to return to Marist as interim president, Murray was enjoying vacation with his wife.
“I literally said something to the effect of, ‘Well, what could go wrong?’”
What Could Go Wrong
In March, Murray had to make a decision previously unthinkable: shutting down the college’s campus mid-way through the semester. It’s global and undeniable influence rattled the nation, only to be further compounded by the impact of George Floyd’s killing last May. Nine days after Floyd’s death, Murray released a memorandum condemning the killing and promising more action, later announcing the establishment of a Board-level committee to address issues of racism, diversity and inclusion at Marist.
This announcement followed groundswell of Marist community members condemning the college’s silence on the issue for days. Instagram accounts emerged like @redfoxes_againstracism, garnering over 2000 followers and encouraging students to email Murray “stating that this memo must be met with direct and immediate action.”
“The issues that were raised are important issues for our country to address and for all the organizations in the country,” Murray said. “I have to say that, on top of COVID with everything else we were dealing with, it even became more complicated because we were stretched so thin, and yet we had to respond to that, because that's what good organizations did and organizations that have the values that Marist College has.” He said he recognizes this issue won’t be solved in a year, and that the Board of Trustees have been involved with faculty and student leadership to help Marist become a better institution.
Another social issue came to the fore this spring when news of a Marist student’s assault broke and a subsequent petition reached over 23,850 signatures. Students gathered on the green to condemn the assault and call for administrative action and increased funding for Title IX, and a group of students held a process conference off campus with local news stations.
“We started to address that. The Board of Trustees has become involved in it. We're going to develop an educational campaign for the college community about healthy relationships,” Murray said.
When asked if he ever regretted his decision to come back as president, Murray answered with a prompt “no.”
“When I look back on the year, I feel we did the right thing at the time based on what we knew at that particular time,” he said.
“The” to “That”
When Murray’s first presidency concluded, his presence on campus remained strong. He worked on the library’s third floor as the President Emeritus and taught an Honors seminar on leadership. He said he would like to stay involved in a similar way, but what comes next will largely depend on the wants of the new president and the Board.
“I feel good about where I am. I feel good about what I’ve done for Marist, and I only want, going forward, what's in the best interest of the institution,” Murray said.
There’s a change in one line of “The Long View” that’s so subtle, it always trips me up when we sing. At the beginning of the piece, we sing “as I take in the long view down the river.” At the end of the piece, it changes to “that long view down the river.” It symbolizes that moment of reflection, because you can come back to visit but, as Williams said, you can’t stay.
The very last note the singers utter in “The Long View” is a hum, in unison, on the tonic note –– like coming home.
“I love that everyone is singing the exact same note,” Williams said. “Completely together.
Over the ridge
The summer sun sets
Colors tumbling
Sun strewn
An impossible tapestry
Of lavender
Vermilion
And golden satin
Glittering upon
A ribbon of water
As I take in
The long view down the river.
This water flows
Through villages and towns
Past farm and mill
Through time
Into this valley pour
The joys and sorrows
The work and prayers
Of generations
This rugged land rises up
And tumbles down
A testament of ages
Majestic, wondrous, free
Over the ridge
The sun sets
And I reflect on my time
In this wholesome valley
My heart is full
My spirit free
As I take in once more
That long view down the river
— Charles Anthony Silvestri