The observance of “landmark” events is an enduring hallmark of society. Significant occasions, whether private or public, are celebrated in a variety of ways that generally define the moment: raucous festivities, solemn ceremonies, or simple memorials.

Moments in Time is a concert that highlights both the occasion of musical performance and purposeful celebration. Three of the concert’s featured composers, Verdi, Wagner, and Britten, have centennial birthdays in 2013: Verdi and Wagner – 200 years, and Britten – 100 years, while a fourth composer, Edvard Grieg, falls between at 170. These “Birthday Boys” have varying significant and historical characteristics attributed to them. Verdi (Italian) and Wagner (German) are arguably the greatest musical representatives of their respective European cultures. Britten is credited with awakening English choral music and opera from its long sleep (The last great proponent was Henry Purcell, who died in 1695.). Britten, like his predecessor Purcell, is credited with a uniquely and distinctly “English” style of composition that is unaffected or influenced by other European styles. Grieg is remembered as the foremost Norwegian composer who defined and enhanced music’s ‘nationalistic’ movement.

It is hardly a coincidence that the last pieces written by this concert’s featured composers – Verdi, Wagner, Britten and Grieg – were vocal works, although all of them were equally well-versed in writing instrumental music. What makes vocal music unique is the added component of text. When true musical masters combine these elements, the result is something celebratory and memorable.”

One of my hopes for this concert, Moments in Time, is to demonstrate both the momentary, fleeting experience of performance (for musician and audience alike) and the timelessness of choral compositions that have endured, in some instances, for more than 400 years. By enlisting the musical genius of Joe, Dick, Ben and Ed, ARS invites you to celebrate these Moments in Time.

3:00p, Sunday, December 9th and
7:30p, Sunday, December 9th
Benedictine Monastery
800 N. Country Club

7:30p, Friday, December 14th
Benedictine Monastery
800 N. Country Club

3:00p, Sunday, December 16th
Fountain of Life Lutheran Church
710 S. Kolb Road

Program Notes | Conductor’s Corner ]]> http://www.arsingers.org/december-2012-concert-season/feed/ 0 http://www.arsingers.org/experiencing-music-history-from-the-ancient-to-the-modern/ http://www.arsingers.org/experiencing-music-history-from-the-ancient-to-the-modern/#comments Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:07:16 +0000 admin http://www.arsingers.org/?p=233 Continue reading →]]> by Dr. Jeffry A. Jahn

Sing and Rejoice is a diverse mix of Christmas choral music from both the “long” past, the “near” present and the “very” future.

The first half of the program includes pieces from, arguably, the 16^th century’s two greatest choral composers, Palestrina and Victoria, and one of the 20^th century’s greatest and most enduring composers, Benjamin Britten.

Palestrina is credited with “saving” choral music for the church after composing his Mass in honor of Pope Marcellus. In a very real way, this composition put into practice the new edicts from the monumental Council of Trent – the Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church. The Council declared that vocal music for the church had become too elaborate, with little attention given to the text and too much attention focusing on florid passages and counterpoint that obscured a piece’s melodic content (all compositions for the church contained some portion of a chant tune). Victoria’s entire oeuvre consists of sacred music and he is known as one of the supreme contrapuntists of his age.

Britten’s Ceremony of Carols shows Britten at his finest: compact and masterful, he demonstrates both his attention to text nuance and his propensity of mixing the “old” with the “new” – simple melodies, that when sung in canon, contain quite a few daring harmonies. Britten employs a variety of texts that are meant to remind the listener about the profound and mystical time of Christmas.

The second half of Sing and Rejoice intermixes the traditional with the modern: selections from the Alfred Burt Carols, a visit to the Russia and Eastern Europe (including a premiere arrangement of a Russian folk song by ARS Baritone, Ray Braswell), and fresh, updated settings of the familiar carols In dulci jubilo and Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head. 

The concert also features the premiere of a choral composition by U of A Sophomore Music Composition major Grant Jahn (oldest son of ARS Music Director, Dr. Jeffry Jahn). In keeping with the concert theme of combining the “ancient” with the “modern,” this piece uses the familiar text from the ancient responsorial chant of Matins for Christmas in a setting that shows definite influence from contemporary choral composer phenomenon, Eric Whitacre, and harmonic master, Morten Lauridsen.

Sing and Rejoice is part of a great tradition – the Arizona Repertory Singers’ annual “gift” to Tucson. The purpose and goal of our December concerts has always been to celebrate the joy of the season and the ever-present hope of lasting peace for all. This year’s concert is no exception. It represents both the traditional and the modern while underscoring how the past, present and future are inexorably and mystically connected.

Rejoice and Sing

December 2012

Interval

Program Notes
 - by Cathy Wolfson

Sing We Now of Christmas
The arranger, James Clemens (b. 1966), grew up in Goshen, Indiana. In addition to being a composer, arranger, and music engraver, he accompanies choral groups and soloists, and belongs to the Hymn Society in both the United States and Canada. This lively, lilting carol is based upon a traditional French Provençal melody and is a perfect way to create a festive mood for the rest of our concert!

Canite Tuba
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 – 1594) was born in Palestrina, near Rome, and is best known as an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music. His masterful works are considered to be the culmination of Renaissance polyphony. His first published compositions – a compilation of masses – was the first such collection written by a native Italian. He had extensive experience as a chorister, organist and maestro di cappella of the papal choir at St. Peter’s. Palestrina’s prolific body of work include 104 masses, more than 300 motets, madrigals and magnificats. Canite Tuba, part I of the Tenth Motet, is a joyful hymn in 5-part polyphony.

O magnum mysterium
Tomàs Luis de Victoria (ca. 1540 – 1611), born in Avila, Spain, was considered a premier Spanish composer and one of the most important composers of the Counter-Reformation: the Roman Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation sweeping Europe at the time. Victoria spent part of his life in Italy where he was influenced by the Italian style of composition, and may have studied with Palestrina during this time. His career encompasses cantor, choirmaster, organist and maestro of the Roman Seminary where he became an ordained priest in 1574. Victoria was revered and often consulted for his musical knowledge. O magnum mysterium, one of Victoria’s more frequently performed choral works, demonstrates his abilities in both polyphonic and homophonic composition. The harmonies are clear and sparse and highlight the ‘Great Mystery.’

A Ceremony of Carols
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (1913-76), a native of Suffolk, England, was an outstanding pianist, conductor and a prolific composer of hymns, song cycles, choral works, orchestral pieces and operas – including the well-known Peter Grimes. He is considered a giant of 20^th century British classical music. Britten was influenced by British composer Ralph Vaughn Williams, and was a close friend of Aaron Copland and Dmitri Shostakovich. He wrote many pieces for his musical collaborator and lifelong partner, tenor Peter Pears. A Ceremony of Carols, composed in 1942 during a sea voyage from the United States to England, contains text from a Middle English work entitled An English Galaxy of Shorter Poems by Gerald Bullett. Although Britten originally wrote the pieces as a series of unrelated songs, he later framed them as one work with unifying motifs played by solo harp and other motifs from “Wolcum Yule.” The hauntingly beautiful lullaby “Balulalow,” the driving rhythms of “This Little Babe” and the choral harp-like canon of “Deo Gracias” create a series of carols – each of which is a musical masterpiece.

Alfred Burt Carols
This American composer (1920-1954) was primarily a jazz trumpeter and arranger who is best known for composing a series of Christmas carols between 1942 and 1954. He studied at the University of Michigan, and served in World War II as officer in the Army Air Force Band. During this time he continued the tradition begun by his father of first “publishing” his original carols on the backs of Christmas cards to relatives and friends. His carols contain spiritual themes, which was somewhat unusual for his time. Caroling, Caroling, (which is the most familiar), O Hearken Ye and The Star Carol all share an uplifting joy about the Christmas season. Although they are 20^th Century compositions, they ‘hearken’ back (so to speak!) to an earlier era when families gathered around a crackling fire on a cold evening, sharing hot chocolate or cider, and singing together.

Heavenly Light
The composer, Aleksandr Kopylow (1854-1911), was born in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Russia. He was a violinist and chorister who studied with the famous composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and wrote primarily choral compositions and string quartets, as well as the Symphony in C Minor. Arranger Peter Wilhousky (1902-1978) was born in New Jersey to Ukrainian parents, and is most famous for his arrangements of Carol of the Bells and The Battle Hymn of the Republic. This version of Heavenly Light is heavily influenced by the chants of the Russian Orthodox Church; its richly textured harmonies underlie a soaring melody celebrating Jesus being sent down from heaven to each of us.

The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree
Ray Braswell, a bass-baritone who joined ARS in 2008, has arranged this song for ARS. Ray holds a doctorate degree from Virginia Tech, a Master’s in Music from Appalachian State University, has sung with several choral ensembles through the years and was the music director for his church choir in Asheboro, North Carolina. The Forest Raised a Christmas Tree is based upon a Russian folk tune, and tells the story of a magical Christmas tree that shelters a rabbit from a passing wolf. It uses a lilting melody and harmonies to celebrate the delight of children seeing the beautiful Christmas tree, hewed from the woods by a forester.

On the Mountain Top Blows the Wind Mild
The arranger of this piece, René Clausen (b. 1953), was raised in California. After holding various positions in the field of music, he became conductor of the Concordia Choir of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he also founded the René Clausen Choral School. He is a prolific composer who writes in many styles of choral music, and is widely performed by high school, college, and professional choirs. This piece is a lovely lullaby based upon a folk tune from Silesia, a former Prussian province now located in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic.

Rock Him in the Manger
Kirby Shaw, a composer/arranger with nearly 3,000 choral compositions/arrangements to his name, received his doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Washington and is currently a faculty member at the College of the Siskiyous in California, where he founded the COS Vocal and Jazz Ensemble. He is an eclectic composer, in classical and jazz styles, and has done scat singing with such notables as Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau. Rock Him in the Manger is a syncopated, light-hearted celebration of Jesus’ birth. Toe-tapping is a requirement for enjoying this piece!

Love Came Down at Christmas
The composer, Nancy Grundahl (b. 1946), is a graduate of St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota. She is a soprano soloist, conductor of three choirs in Minneapolis, and a composer of several solo and choral works. This piece is a lyrical arrangement of a traditional Irish carol based upon a poem by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) who was born in London to Italian parents. Rossetti was considered to be the successor of the famous poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

O Magnum Mysterium
Grant Jahn (b. 1992) is currently a music composition major at the University of Arizona School of Music. In this piece, Jahn uses tone clusters, shimmering harmonies and alternating polyphony and homophony in the style of contemporary choral composers Eric Whitacre and Morton Lauridsen to invoke the great mystery of Jesus’ birth. (See our Concert Program for more information about Grant Jahn.)

Away in a Manger
Matthew Culloton (b. 1976) founded and directs the Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, and is Choirmaster at the House of Good Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. He was honored with the American Choral Director’s Association /Vocal Essence Creative Programming Award, and has been commissioned to compose works for many choral groups, including the Dale Warland Singers. His arrangement of this favorite carol ‘floats’ the melody, sung by the women, over supporting harmonies sung by the men that are mostly traditional (but not always!).

In Dulci Jubilo
Matthew Culloton sets this traditional melody in both the soprano and tenor lines, backed up by interesting harmonies in the other three parts. The alternating English and Latin text, or alternating words from two different languages, is a technique called “macaronic text.” The syncopated rhythms add to the upbeat, celebratory mood of this piece.

Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head
Leo Nestor (b. 1948) has musical degrees from California State University and the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Washington, D.C. where he is the founder and director of the professional group, The American Repertory Singers, which specializes in contemporary choral music. His lovely, joyful setting of this traditional Appalachian carol alternates a solo mezzo soprano line supported by a choral arrangement of four-part harmonies. The phrase “all the evil folk on earth sleep in feathers at their birth” contrasts the fact that while some people are born into luxury (feather beds), the Savior of Mankind was born in a lowly manger.

All My Heart Again Rejoices
David Cherwien (b. 1957) is a church organist, conductor, and composer with degrees in organ performance, theory, and composition from the University of Minnesota. He is currently the Director of Music at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, studied with Alice Parker (Robert Shaw Chorale arranger) and has composed a number of pieces for choir and organ. He often plays an entire liturgical service without referring to printed scores, improvising on the spot as the spirit moves him. This piece, arranged for harp and choir, is a joyful paean to Christ’s birth, using syncopated rhythms and quartile and quintile chords in dense harmonies, accentuated by fast-paced passages and trills in the harp accompaniment.

Ave Maria (Angelus Domini)
Franz Biebl was born in 1906 in Pursruck, Germany. His was a large family; he was the 11th child. He held various choral conducting positions in Germany and Austria, and, interestingly enough, spent a few years as a prisoner of war in the United States, during and after World War II, where he was allowed to compose and conduct. Ave Maria, his best-known composition, is a tender and exultant setting of the well-known prayer, with lush, beautiful harmonies.

Holiday Concerts

Sunday, December 9th, 3:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Benedictine Monastery, 800 N. Country Club

Friday, December 14th, 7:30 p.m.
Benedictine Monastery, 800 N. Country Club

Sunday, December 16th, 3:00 p.m.
Fountain of Life Lutheran Church, 710 S. Kolb Road

Spring Concerts

Sunday, April 14th, 2:00 p.m.
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, 5150 N. Valley View Road

Sunday, April 21st, 3:00 p.m.
Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams Street

Sunday, April 28th, 3:00 p.m.
Christ Church United Methodist, 655 N. Craycroft

Selections also include arrangements of well-known favorites, Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter and The Music of the Night from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera to commemorate this emotional odyssey.

3 p.m. Sunday, April 15
Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
2331 E. Adams Street

2 p.m. Sunday, April 22
St. Thomas the Apostle Parish
5150 N. Valley View Road
New venue with great acoustics!!

3 p.m. Sunday, April 29
Christ Church United Methodist
655 N. Craycroft Road

A musical mosaic, by definition, will contain music that readily underscores and enhances both similarities and differences between the spiritual and secular realm of our lives.

Music affects every aspect of our daily existence. We are surrounded by it because of our constant access to various media. As a result, we are alternately moved and even annoyed by it.

A special focus in this ‘Musical Mosaic’ is an entire section devoted to the sensual side of ARS. It includes works from Musical Theatre and popular music of the golden past. Choral arrangements of emotional gems such as Autumn Leaves, Begin the Beguine, With One Look from Sunset Boulevard, and especially Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera, are perfect examples of melodies coupled with highly expressive texts that are unforgettable, and represent the musical and choral diversity that is an ARS trademark.

The most obvious difference between instrumental and choral music is that of text. There will always be a persistent argument about what is more important – the text or the music. For centuries, composers have grappled with the real origin of their inspiration: the words or the music.

When a concert contains such a diverse range of composers as J. S. Bach and Cole Porter, one instantly realizes the awesome responsibility that both the performer and the listener must undertake: the performer must be versed in the historic and musical similarities, or differences, their pieces may share. The listener is charged with the awesome responsibility of being able to recognize these similarities and differences – primarily through hearing.

When musicians perform a concert that consists of either several compositions written by one composer or a single masterwork by one composer (while containing inherent difficulties) they can rely solely on the reputation, historical background and musical record of that composer. However, when a choral ensemble performs multiple choral pieces by different composers in a mixed sequence that are, in and of themselves, just microcosms of a composer’s style, one immediately recognizes the challenge and the difficulty presented to both performer and listener. In this case, the ensemble serves as the conductor’s conduit enabling the music to be translated into a recognizable language that will be understood by the audience.

Eric Whitacre’s Five Hebrew Love Songs is unique in several ways, including a variety of voice combinations, auxiliary instruments (violin, piano & tambourine) used for accompaniment and text. Hebrew is a language that, for all intents and purposes, gives little consideration to vowels. Since vocal production is based primarily on pure vowel sounds, this work presents unique challenges for the singer and the listener. Five Hebrew Lovesongs also provides insight into the composer’s personal life and is especially significant because his wife Hila wrote the text.

Der 2 Psalm by Mendelssohn shows him at his “church” best. Written for his church choir, the Berlin Domchor, this piece sheds light on Mendelssohn’s spiritual side, one that is noticeably different than the more familiar secular side demonstrated in his orchestral works.