We are grateful to the following organizations for their generous support of our choir:

Transcription

1 We are grateful to the following organizations for their generous support of our choir:

2 Our Guest Artist Artistic Director Accompanist Debbie McLeod Steven Webb SOPRANOS Joyce Burns, Stephanie Craciun, Brianne Curtis, Mary DeGrow, Sydney Earpwiebe, Jennifer Enns, Baden Gaeke Franz, Sara Gossen, Pam Holunga, Tara Hull, Sarah LaRue, Morgan Mackenzie, Marguerite Massicote, Kim Mitchell, Helen Peters, Layla Teichroeb, Sheryl White, Taryn Wichenko, Lucinda Williams ALTOS Breanna Barker, Susan Cowtan, Barb Enders, Maria Enright, Steph Klassen, Sara Kos-Whicher, Vera Kostyshyn, Andrea Kroeker, Krista Malyk, Emily Nicholson, Emily Penner, Tasha Prychitko, Nicole Sterne, Ashleigh Uhrich, Jessica Wilson TENORS Richard Bevan, Aaron McLeod, Rob McMahon, Rob Rawluk BASSES David Bergen, Mitchell Greene, Andrew Enns, Jordan Laidlaw, Andy Malyk, Gordon McLeod, Manuel Ortega, Jonas Pagé, Henry Peters, Harrison Schwartz, Lachlan Williams Christina Thanisch-Smith, 18, is the soprano Choral Scholar at Westworth United Church. Since she began studying voice with Phyllis Thompson at the age of 9, she has been awarded trophies from the Winnipeg Music Festival as the most outstanding singer in every possible age class. She has been awarded medals for receiving the highest mark in Manitoba on her last three Royal Conservatory of Music Voice Exams. In 2013, she was the recipient of the S.C. Eckhardt- Grammatté Scholarship, and in 2014 she received the Mary Campbell Memorial Bursary. This year, she was selected to perform a solo at the New Music Festival, and was also the recipient of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra s Rising Stars award. As a result, she will be performing Verdi s Ave Maria with the Winnipeg Symphony. Christina is thrilled to be performing as a guest artist this evening. We are proud to introduce her to a new audience, and predict that she has a great performance career ahead of her! Do you have a voice that is waiting to be heard? Vocal Ascent has openings for new singers. For information about joining our choir, attending concerts, or volunteering, contact us at vocalascent@gmail.com Check us out and like us on Facebook at Web page

3 Swing Low/Lonesome Valley ~Two Spirituals~ Spiritual, arr. Douglas E. Wagner If a slave heard Swing Low being sung, it was sometimes a message to prepare to escape. The Underground Railroad (sweet chariot) was coming south (swing low) with a band of angels (helpers) over Jordan (the Ohio River) to carry him home (to freedom). Today, Lonesome Valley is strongly associated with the Christian season of Lent. Originally, it was a term used to describe intense penitential preparation before baptism, where slaves reflected on their sin and attempted to draw close to God. In the context of the American revival movement, it was the passage from the Wilderness into the Promised Land, from death to life, from alienation into the family of God. Slaves did not change clothes or wash until the day of their baptism, the culmination of the conversion process. The fact that these two spirituals can be sung simultaneously shows that spirituals often followed the same style or format, which made them easier to learn by ear. This predictability was important because very few slaves were allowed to learn how to read or write words or music. Walk in Jerusalem Spiritual, arr. Rollo Dilworth The idea of readiness in this lively spiritual has the hidden message of slaves making preparations to escape to freedom. Jerusalem was one of several code words for Canada. However, it is important to remember that the meaning of this and of all spirituals was not merely a secular political message couched in religious metaphor and code. The message was both worldly and other-worldly, and all of it was religious. Thank you for attending our concert. You are warmly invited to join us for refreshments at a post-concert reception. Fire, Fire ~Earth and Fire~ Thomas Morley (c ) Morley, an English Renaissance composer, organist, and theorist, was the first of the great English madrigalists. He held a number of church musical appointments throughout his life, the most notable being at St. Paul s Cathedral in London. Morley s compositions are written in two distinct styles that may be chronologically separated. As a young pupil of William Byrd, Morley first composed sacred music in the current English style of broad and strong polyphony. Morley s later works, which were written after he travelled to Europe and came under other influences, exhibit his mastery of the secular Italian madrigal style. Morley s madrigals are characterized as quick, clear, light, cheerful and singable. I Will Be Earth Poem by May Swenson ( ), music by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947) May Swenson was one of the most important and original poets of the 20th century. Her questioning and creative spirit made her childhood difficult; writing became an escape from the rigidity of her Mormon upbringing. As a young adult, Swenson moved to New York City and had a prolific and highly successful career, which included stays at several American universities as the Writer-in-Residence. She received numerous literary awards and nominations for her poetry. Four months before her death, Swenson wrote: The best poetry has its roots in the subconscious to a great degree. Youth, naivety, reliance on instinct more than learning and method, a sense of freedom and play, even trust in randomness, is necessary to the making of a poem. Gwyneth Walker was born in New York City, but has been a lifelong resident of rural Vermont. Her earliest memories are of creating and composing music to be performed by her childhood friends. After receiving her doctorate in composition, she took a university teaching position, but gave it up two years later to become a full-time composer. Walker's catalog includes over 300 commissioned works for orchestra, band, chorus and chamber ensembles. Her music is beloved by performers and audiences alike for its energy, beauty, reverence, drama, and humor. In her own words: Writing music that communicates to other people is my approach...i am a joyous and sensitive person with plenty to say. These qualities come through in the music. I try to write a piece of music that is well structured and to the point--a work that holds together well and says something. I aim to be a good craftsman.

4 ~4 Love Songs in 4 Languages~ Ouvre tes yeux bleus Poem by Paul Robiquet ( ), music by Jules Massenet ( ) Massenet was a leading composer of French opera. His music was admired by many of his contemporaries for its lyricism and sensuality. His 24 operas are characterized by a graceful, thoroughly French melodic style. The sweet sentimentality of much of his music fell out of favour as public taste changed over the years. However, as a worldrenowned teacher of composition at the Paris Conservatoire, the influence of Massenet is felt in French composition to the present day. LUI - Ouvre tes yeux bleus, ma mignonne: Voici le jour! Déjà la fauvette fredonne un chant d'amour. L'aurore épanuit la rose: Viens avec moi Cueillir la marguerite éclose. Réveille-toi! Réveille-toi! Ouvre tes yeux bleus, ma mignonne: Voici le jour! ELLE - A quoi bon contempler la terre Et sa beauté? L'amour est un plus doux mystère Qu'un jour d'été C'est un moi que l'oiseau module Un chant vainqueur, Et le grand soleil qui nous brûle Est dans mon cœur! Amarilli, mia bella Giulio Caccini (c ) HE SAID: Open your blue eyes, my darling: The day has come! Already the warbler sings a song of love. The dawn brings forth the rose: Come with me To pick the blooming daisy. Wake up! Wake up! Open your blue eyes, my darling: The day has come! SHE SAID What good is it to contemplate the earth And its beauty? Love is a sweeter mystery Than a summer day; It is in myself that the bird is singing His triumphant song, And the great sun that burns us Is in my heart! Caccini was a singer and composer whose songs helped to establish the new monodic music introduced in Italy about This music was in direct contrast to the traditional polyphonic style with its complex interweaving of several melodic lines. Caccini s collection of madrigals showed the new style most clearly. The melody was an elegant and pliable vocal line that followed the inflections of the words and was heightened by embellishments. The harmonies were evocative but not intrusive, with a subdued chordal accompaniment in diatonic harmony improvised from the newly invented basso continuo. Amarilli, mia bella Non credo. O del mio cor dolce desio, D'esser tu l'amor mio? Credilo pur, e se timor t'assale, Prendi questo mio strale, Aprimi il petto e vedrai scritto in core: Amarilli, Amarilli, Amarailli è il mio amore. Amarilli, lovely Amarilli Donʼt you believe, oh my heart's sweet desire That you are my love? Believe, itʼs true: and if fear assails you Doubt not its truth Rip my bosom open, and see written on my heart: Amarilli, Amarilli, Amaraili is my beloved. ~SongS of Great Britain~ Gaiete and Orior Music by Michael Head ( ) This song is a marriage of music and text created about 800 years apart from each other. Although the text, based on a French ballad, is ancient, its story is the all-too-familiar one of a man causing problems between two women. Two sisters (Gaiete and Orioir) are inseparable until a knight (Gerard) comes along and seduces Gaiete. Gaiete chooses Gerard over Orioir, telling her sister to leave so that she can be alone with her lover. Composer Michael Head toured all over the British Empire as a concert recital singer. His English Art Song compositions are second to none, and are considered standard repertoire for voice students. The Loom Welsh Folk Song, arr. Grace Williams Wales is referred to as The Land of Song. From at least the 12 th century until the present day, Welsh bards and musicians have participated in poetic, theatrical and musical contests called eisteddfodau. Welsh folk music was strictly suppressed during the Act of the Union (1701). Designed to promote the English language, it was coupled with the Methodist revival movement in Wales. Traditional music became associated with drunkenness and immorality, and puritanical reforms nearly obliterated Welsh folk song. Many secular songs were lost altogether. Revival of this music began in the 1860 s, with the formation of Welsh societies throughout England. The songs that survived reflect the old traditions, and have been embraced and revitalized by arrangers ever since. Who ll Buy My Lavender? Sir Edward German ( ) Street cries, the short lyrical calls of merchants hawking their products on city streets, were very common in England in the 1800 s. A familiar example is Hot Cross Buns. Many street cries were cataloged by musicologists in large collections and even incorporated by composers into larger musical works, preserving them from oblivion. Some English composers, including Edward German, were inspired to compose entire songs in a similar vein. Who ll Buy my Lavender? is one of many Victorian/Edwardian compositions with a street-song style of text. Edward German was best remembered for his extensive output of incidental music for the English stage, and as a successor to Arthur Sullivan in the field of English comic opera.

5 Beau Soir (continued) Lorsque au soleil couchant, les rivières sont roses, Et quʼun tiede frisson court sur les champs de blè, Un conseil de goûter le charme Dʼêtre au monde, Cependant quʼon est jeune Et que le soir est beau. Car nous nous en allons. Comme sʼen vacette onde Elle à la mer Nous au tombeau. When at sunset, the rivers glow pink, A shivery breeze runs over the fields of wheat, Advising us to savour the charm Of our earthly existence, While we are young and while the sky is beautiful. For we all are travelling Like an undulating wave The wave is pulled back to the sea, We are pulled to the tomb. Vergebliches Standchen Johannes Brahms ( ) Considered a giant among composers, Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, voice and chorus. His love and reverence for the simple folk song is evident in much of his work, described in German as "volksthumlich", or "artistically idealizing the folk song style." He wrote, "Songs today have gone so far astray that one cannot cling too closely to one's ideal, and that ideal is the folk song. Sea Fever ~Wind and Water~ Poem by John Masefield ( ), music by David Brunner John Masefield was a self-made and largely self-educated man who rose from humble origins as an apprentice sailor to become a wealthy man, an accomplished writer of poetry and prose, a sought-after touring lecturer, the recipient of many awards and honorary doctorates, and the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1930 until his death in Although Masefield always loved to read and write, he credited the beginning of his journey to become a writer to a single poem he read in a New York newspaper at the age of 17. Ten years later, he wrote a letter thanking Duncan Campbell Scott for being his muse and inspiration! "I had never (till that time) cared very much for poetry, but your poem impressed me deeply, and set me on fire. Since then poetry has been the one deep influence in my life, and to my love of poetry I owe all my friends, and the position I now hold." The Blue Bird Poem by Mary E. Coleridge ( ), music by Charles Stanford( ) Charles Stanford was born in Ireland to a well-off family. He received a musical education at the University of Cambridge, then in Leipzig and Berlin. At 29, he became one of the founding professors of the Royal College of Music, where he taught composition for the rest of his life. At 35, he also became a Professor of Music at Cambridge. As a teacher, he was steeped in old Brahmsian traditions, skeptical about modernism, and highly critical of any signs of modernism shown in the work of his pupils -- many of whom were rising composers whose fame went on to surpass his own. Stanford s best-remembered pieces are his choral works in the Anglican tradition and his secular choral work The Blue Bird, whose text is from a poem by Mary Coleridge. Stanford was acquainted with Coleridge through her family connections to the Royal College of Music. ER: Guten Abend, mein Schatz, guten Abend, mein Kind! Ich komm' aus Lieb' zu dir, Ach, mach' mir auf die Tür, mach' mir auf die Tür! SIE: Meine Tür ist verschlossen, Ich laß dich nicht ein. Mutter, die rät' mir klug, Wär'st du herein mit Fug, Wär's mit mir vorbei! ER: So kalt ist die Nacht, so eisig der Wind, Daß mir das Herz erfriert, Mein' Lieb' erlöschen wird. Öffne mir, mein Kind! SIE: Löschet dein' Lieb'; lass' sie löschen nur! Löschet sie immerzu, Geh' heim zu Bett, zur Ruh'! Gute Nacht, mein Knab'! Til There Was You, HE SAID: Good evening my darling, good evening my girl I come out of love for you, Ah, open the door, open the door to me! SHE SAID: My door is locked, And I wonʼt open it. Mother warned me well That if you were to come in It would be all over for me! HE SAID: The night is so cold, the wind is so icy That my heart will freeze, my love will expire. Open for me, my girl. SHE SAID: You say your love is dying; let your love die. Youʼre always saying that. (I donʼt believe you.) Go home to bed, and rest! Good night, my boy! from The Music Man by Meredith Wilson ( ) Meredith Wilson was best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical, The Music Man, which first appeared on Broadway in He wrote three other hit musicals, composed symphonies and popular songs, and his film scores were twice nominated for Academy Awards. ~Utter Nonsense~ Jabberwocky Poem from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll ( ), music by Sam Pottle Jabberwocky, considered one of the greatest nonsense poems written in the English language, is described as the ultimate satire of heroic narrative poetry in English literature. It was designed as verse showing how not to write verse. The supreme irony is that the poem itself became the subject of pedestrian scholarship, and was incorporated into classroom learning.

6 Jabberwocky (continued) Though the poem contains many nonsensical words, there is a clear narrative, because English syntax and poetic forms are observed, such as the quatrain verses, the general ABAB rhyme scheme and the iambic meter. Though the reader cannot know the precise meaning of the poem, the imagination is left free to run wild. American composer Sam Pottle s musical setting is as much a satire of the western choral tradition as the poem is of the western literary tradition. Adding to the satire is the fact that the piece is to be sung with the seriousness and vocal technique of a piece on par with any of the greatest choral works ever composed. Just as nonsense words are used, Tuttle uses nonsense instrumental and vocal sound effects. Listen for the following nonsense words, in the order in which they appear..brillig, slithy, toves, gyre, gimble, wabe, mimsy, borogoves, mome, raths, outgrabe, Jubju, frumious, Bandersnatch, vorpal, manxome, Tumtum, uffish, whiffling, tulgey, burbled, vorpal, snicker-snack, galumphing, snicker-snack, galumphing, beamish, frabjous, Caloo, Callay, and chortled!! The Duck The Panther Poem by Ogden Nash ( ), music by Christine Donkin Poem by Ogden Nash ( ), music by Christine Donkin Composer Christine Donkin was born into a musically active Canadian family, and exposed to many musical styles. The diversity of her compositions reflects this. She is active in the field of music as a teacher, adjudicator, clinician and arranger, and has composed for piano, voice, and wind, reed, string and brass instruments. She has won awards both nationally and internationally for her compositions, and seven companies publish her music. Ogden Nash, born in New York, loved working and playing with language ever since he was a boy. His first publication of poetry and all that followed were extremely well-received. Playful quotes like Progress might have been all right once, but it has gone on too long" and "People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up endeared Nash to everyday readers and critics alike. His best-selling collection of animal poetry is still popular today. ~French Poetry and Song~ Charmant Papillon Poem by Antoine Danchet, music by André Campra ( ) Campra, like many composers of his time, was employed by the Catholic Church, which enabled him to earn a living. At 44, he received his most prestigious church appointment, as the director of music at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. However, it was as a composer of secular music that Campra was most well known. He was a leading composer of French opera, and was credited with creating a new genre, the opéra-ballet. There are records of his being reprimanded by superiors at various churches, as some of his secular music was considered profane at the time. At times, he even composed under his brother s name to avoid criticism or censure. Fortunately for us, he persevered, and wrote some beautiful songs which are still enjoyed today. Text by Antoine Danchet Charmant papillon dont lʼaile dʼor Passe dans lʼespace comme une fleur! Que ne puis-je, Sur ta trace, mʼenvoler avec toi comme une soeur! Charmant papillon dont lʼaile dʼor Passe dans lʼespace comme une fleur! Je voudrais voler avec toi comme une soeur! Cʼest à peine si tu te poses, Sur la feuille tendre des roses, Dans lʼespace que tu parcours, Ah! Que tes bons jours sont courts! Charmant papillon dont lʼaile dʼor Passe dans lʼespace Comme une fleur! Je voudrais voler avec toi comme une soeur!. Translation by Faith J. Cormier Charming butterfly, whose golden wing Fills space like a flower! Why canʼt I Fly away behind you like a sister? Charming butterfly, whose golden wing Traverses space like a flower! I would like to fly with you like a sister! You barely alight On the tender rose leaf In the space you flit through Oh, How brief your good days! Charming butterfly, whose golden wing Fills space like a flower! I want to fly with you like a sister! Beau Soir Poem by Paul Bourget ( ), music by Claude-Achille Debussy ( ) Debussy s life was full of controversy and scandal. Perhaps for this reason, he did not spawn a single disciple or protégé. But his influence on composers who followed was enormous. An indispensable link in the evolutionary chain of music, he was the most prominent figure associated with the birth and rise of Impressionist music, and was a pivotal figure between the music of the late Romantic and the 20 th century eras. Debussy resented the words Impressionist and nebulous being applied to his music, as it implied his music was not carefully structured and crafted. To the contrary, he created a purposeful and unique syntax of sounds including: a highly developed rhythmical sense, the whole-tone scale, medieval modes, parallel motion of 4ths and 5ths, and chords built from the harmonics and overtones of instruments. The English translation to Paul Bourget s beautiful poem is not word for word ; it is enhanced to show the subtle undercurrents of the French text which otherwise would be lost in translation.