On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 (Paris time), the Armistice went into effect that formalized Allied victory and the end of World War I.

In 1954, at the urging of U.S. veterans, Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day. Though the intent of the holiday is frequently confused with that of Memorial Day, Veterans Day is a time to honor ALL military veterans, not just those who died in service to their country.

While the content of today’s post would certainly be appropriate for Memorial Day, all too many veterans, I’m sure, could relate to the experience of returning home and having difficulty reassimilating, making others feel uncomfortable, and perhaps even feeling unwanted themselves.

Hans Chlumberg’s 1930 drama, “Miracle at Verdun,” follows an international brigade of dead soldiers of the Great War who rise from their graves only to find themselves irritants to their wives who have taken new husbands, to the workers who have replaced them at their jobs, and to powerful captains of finance and government. In the end, the veterans are ordered back to their graves.

I was very interested to discover that the first U.S. production of the play featured incidental music by none other than Aaron Copland. It was first presented in New York by The Theatre Guild on March 16, 1931. Among the cast was a young Claude Rains.

Critic Brooks Atkinson characterized it as a “ghoulish war play.” “…[T]he fantastic idea of bringing all the war dead to life again, and then measuring their sacrifice against the brazen greed of the world that has climbed up on their broken bodies is certainly a startling theme for a play, and certainly ought to harrow us,” he observed.

Sadly, he was less than enthused about the production, which incorporated three motion picture screens and ear-shattering amplified sound. He was impressed with Rains, though. “Claude Rains, as the Prime Minister of Belgium, makes himself heard above the general din, and gives a splendid, potent performance,” he wrote.

Dorothy Parker declared the whole “pompous, pretentious, pseudo-artistic, and stuffy.”

The production closed after 49 performances.

Prior to its arrival in America, “Miracle at Verdun” caused a sensation at its debut in Leipzig and circulated throughout Europe on stage and radio. It was the last anti-war play permitted in German theaters during the early 1930s. Of course, it wouldn’t be long before the world would be plunged into war all over again. Tellingly, the action is set in 1934.

No doubt the gathering clouds were the impetus for Chlumberg writing the play in the first place. Chlumberg, who was Austrian, experienced the horrors of the Great War first-hand as a teenager, while serving as a cavalry officer on the Italian front.

The enormous casualties suffered during the ten-month Battle of Verdun – two million took part; 700,000 died, with no perceptible gain – made it an enduring symbol of the futility and senselessness of war.

Ironically, Chlumberg would die from injuries sustained in a fall into the orchestra pit during the dress rehearsal for the play’s premiere.

“Miracle at Verdun” combines elements of expressionism and realism. By its very nature, the play invites experimental stagings. While the content itself is unsettling, its reception varied from country to country, depending on the local political situation. Compared to its electric opening in Germany, for instance, the U.S. debut was met with relative complacency.

Copland’s music remains unpublished. Scored for chamber orchestra and chorus, it includes a grim funeral march for the rising of the dead, quotations from Gregorian chant, the “Marseillaise,” and the German soldier’s song “Morgenrot,” and for its more satiric moments, recycled material from some of the composer’s works of the 1920s, including “Ukulele Serenade.”

It’s one of several plays for which Copland wrote incidental music (including Orson Welles’ “The Five Kings,” adapted from Shakespeare), the best-known of which – thanks to Copland’s concert arrangement – is Irwin Shaw’s “Quiet City,” a play that never even opened.

There should be plenty of material for an interesting concert and potentially concept album for anyone who cares to pursue it. You could even throw Copland’s World’s Fair puppet-play music, “From Sorcery to Science,” into the bargain. Just be sure to comp me in or send me a promotional copy, please!