Program Notes Introduction To everything there is a song, A song for every purpose under heaven. A song to compare our soul to a thirsty deer. A song for the crucified and buried Jesus to sing to his mother. A modern canticle for singing the Kyrie Eleison in Latin. A song to put sacred words to the famous Adagio for Strings. Three songs to set music to unsung words of Emily Dickinson. A song to sing the English version of a poem written by a Spanish Nobel Laureate. A chorus for (happy!) Norwegian sailors to sing to open the tragic 3 rd act of a Wagner opera. A chorus for wistful Norwegian girls to sing about their sailor boys from the same opera. A chorus sung in a Verdi opera by exiled Israelites in Babylon which became the national anthem of modern Italy during its long fight for independence from Austria. A song to make Gene Kelly even more famous in 1952. A song for young Judy Garland to sing in 1939. And a song that literally millions have sung (and will sing) during The 7 th Inning Stretch! Sicut Cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum: ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. As a deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. ~ Psalm 42:1 Don t ask me anything about the music I don t know the difference between harmony and polyphony. I do know, however, that it s amazing for the Chamber Chorale (and many other choirs) to continue to sing this song which is well over 400 years old.
It can t be the words of Psalm 42:1 that have carried this motet from the past to the present and into the future. It has to be the music. But the Biblical words inspired Palestrina s musical setting. So the words are important. They form a short poem with symmetrical balance between the opening clause with its as, (sicut) and the concluding clause with its so (ita). What could be simpler? What could be more direct? What could be more poetic than a thirsting soul? And then, what could be more musical than to take three minutes to sing a sentence that would take some twelve seconds to speak? (Well, it might take longer for non-native speakers of Latin!) To Everything There Is a Season by René Clausen (b. 1953) To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven; A time to be born and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to reap; A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time for war, and a time for peace; To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 Those of us who grew up in the mid 60s had the Biblical words of this song ingrained in our musical memories. First there was Pete Seeger s original rendition. And then there was the top 40 version by The Byrds I have a distant memory of seeing them sing it on TV.
The words form the opening verses of chapter three of the rather pessimistic and sometimes cynical Book of Ecclesiastes. The famous beginning of this book of wisdom attributed to Solomon contains the original source of the proverb: Vanity, vanity, all is vanity. The list of contrasting and reciprocal human activities is impressive. But it s not all-encompassing. It leaves out more than a few vital times such as a time to read and a time to write. Being Biblical, it also omits any examples of humorous times such as the one expressed in the Italian proverb that goes, There are times when you get to eat filet mignon, and there are times when all you have are bologna sandwiches. It even leaves out the most important time for us right now: A Time To Sing! This version of To Everything There is a Season was composed by René Clausen in 2001. It was commissioned by the South Dakota American Choral Directors Association and dedicated To the memory of Donald Peterson. Do Not Lament Me, O Mother by Alexandre Gretchaninoff (1864-1956) Do not lament Me, O Mother, Seeing Me in the tomb, The Son conceived in the womb without seed; For I shall arise, and be glorified; And, as God, I shall unceasingly exalt all Who extol Thee in faith and in love. This one-verse hymn comes from the Russian Orthodox tradition. The music is other-worldly Russian. I don t know of any Western hymn which is magnanimous enough to portray Jesus speaking from the tomb on the date the whole earth was silent, that is, on Holy Saturday, the day He descended into hell. It is a powerful, human moment this extension of Jesus words from the cross to his mother. Yet the author of the hymn decided to include some theology in the midst of this mystical communication between Jesus and Mary.
It s a theological, not emotional, point for Jesus to remind his mother that he was conceived without seed. Or perhaps there is emotion here with Jesus indirectly explaining why he s not mystically speaking to Joseph as well. Miserere by Rudi Tas (b. 1957) Miserere nobis. Deus noster, Miserere nobis. Exaudi nos, Misereatur nostri. Deus noster exaudi! Have mercy on us. Our God, Have mercy on us. Hear us, Have mercy on us. Our God, hear us! To enjoy this piece you don t have to know that Miserere nobis is the Latin equivalent of Kyrie eleison the only portion of the Latin Mass preserved in the original Greek. The phrase Have mercy on us, or Have mercy on me, occurs frequently in the Bible, especially in the Psalms. It s an ancient expression and current reminder of our human frailty, our creatureliness. It says, Let s admit it and then let s sing about it. We all need God s help, God s pity, God s mercy. My guess is that people sang these and similar words, in and out of church, much more frequently in the past. Rudi Tas is a modern Belgian choir director, concert organist and composer. He wrote this work in 1999 for the Flemish vocal group Musa Horti (which roughly translates to Garden Song in Latin). This ensemble, based in the city of Leuven, is probably a lot like our La Crosse Chamber Chorale. Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber (1910-1981) Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
Adagio is the Italian word used by musicians to indicate that a tempo should be slow and graceful. Barber s very well-known Adagio was originally the second movement of his 1936 String Quartet. But it soon took on a life independent of this piece, whose first movement is marked molto allegro e appassionato, with the third also designated molto allegro. The Adagio transcended its original inspiration, which derived from the composer spending the summer of 1936 in Italy where he read Virgil s celebration of pastoral life, The Georgics. A contemporary English music critic simplified all these classic influences by writing, Barber envisioned a small Alpine stream that grows into a river. It was in a 1938 radio broadcast that the world first heard the orchestral version. The conductor was Arturo Toscanini. That same year it was released as a recording. And then, in 1967, after all those years, Barber transcribed his Adagio for the eight-part choral setting of the Agnus Dei which we are hearing today. Music, at least in some forms, is like a myth like a story whose nature includes the capacity to be changed, retold, molded anew. Ask Walt Disney. Or, to go further back into time and to music itself, look at what Bach did with some of the favorite hymn tunes of his day. The story or the music, however, has to possess what can only be called universality. Almost everyone here will have their own memories their own mythical associations of the haunting melodies of Barber s universal Adagio. Buzzings by Lee R. Kesselman (b. 1951) I. To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.
II. A bee his burnished Carriage Drove boldly to a Rose Combinedly alighting Himself his Carriage was The Rose received his visit With frank tranquility Withholding not a Crescent To his Cupidity Their Moment consummated Remained for him to flee Remained for her of rapture But the humility. III. Bee! I m expecting you! Was saying Yesterday To Somebody you know That you were due The Frogs got Home last Week Are settled, and at work Birds, mostly back The Clover warm and thick You ll get my Letter by The seventeenth; Reply Or better, be with me Yours, Fly. In the bicentennial year of 1976, Lee Kesselman composed his settings of three Emily Dickinson poems specifically for his friend Paul Rusterholz. And the young DMA candidate Rusterholz premiered the work the next year as part of his doctoral work at the University of Southern California. Music is universal but it also means choice and limitation. The famous Spinster of Amherst, Emily Dickinson, wrote almost 2,000
poems, in hundreds of which the ubiquitous honey bee of her New England landscape is present. So 35 years ago, the duo of Kesselman and Rusterholz chose three of Dickinson s memorable, short lyrics which were already almost 100 years old. (The poet lived from 1830 to 1886.) As I often feel like saying in my notes, Stop reading my words and go back and read the poems again and again. They are delightful. The second one is a little risqué. But the third is my favorite. It s in the form of a letter one that rhymes and so calls out to be set to music and sung! In the Night We Shall Go In by Imant Raminsh (b. 1943) In the night we shall go in to steal a flowering branch. We shall climb over the wall in the darkness of the alien garden, two shadows in the shadow. Winter is not yet gone, and the apple tree appears suddenly changed into a cascade of fragment stars. In the night we shall go in, up to its trembling firmament, and your hands, your little hands and mine will steal the stars. And silently to our house in the night and the shadow, with your steps will enter perfume s silent step, and with starry feet the clear body of spring. ~ poem by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973) translated by Donald Walsh The Spanish original of this love poem is entitled The Stolen Branch (La Rama Robada). Here again we have the privilege and the pleasure to be present at a moment of transformation: a poem by the Chilean
Nobel Prize Laureate, Pablo Neruda, translated into English by Donald Walsh and then set to music by the Latvian-Canadian composer, Imant Raminsh. We all know how musicians especially the Chamber Chorale usually choose to sing songs in their original languages. But you can t do that here until some other composer goes back and sets La Rama Robada to music! Neruda won the Noble Prize for literature in 1971. He died in 1973, but dead poets do not really become famous until they appear in a movie. The 1995 Italian film, Il Postino ( The Mailman ), is a love story centered around the fact that Neruda lived in Italy as an exile from his native Chile. Whether in English or Spanish, this poem is both earthy and light. It is a classic in a very crowded field: the field of love poems that take place in the spring. Choruses from The Flying Dutchman by Richard Wagner (1813-1883) Sailors Chorus Steersman, leave your watch! Steersman, come to us! Ho! He! Je! Ha! Time to hoist the sails! Anchor fast! Steersman, come! Fearing neither storm nor rocky strand, On this day let s have a jolly time! Each has his girl on the shore, Good tobacco, and the best of brandywine! Hussasshe! Reefs and storms bah! Jollohohe! That s to laugh, ha! Hussassahe! Furl the sails! Anchor fast! Reefs and storms,
They re a laugh! Steersman, leave your watch! Steersman, come and drink with us! Spinning Chorus Hum and thrum, my faithful spinning wheel, Turning, turning round and round! Spin, spin, spin your thread and fill the reel, Whirring with your merry sound! My love he sails the stormy sea, He thinks of home so longingly; My little wheel, turn merrily Till he comes safely back to me! Spin, spin, spin, Busy maiden! Hum, thrum, ever laden! Spin, busy maiden! Toil ever laden! Tra-la-ra, tra-la-ra! My love he sails the stormy sea, Fine gold he ll win and rich he ll be; Ah! little wheel, turn merrily! To her who spins, he ll give it free! Repeat chorus Elizabeth and I got to see Wagner s early (and hence more lyrical and understandable!) opera, The Flying Dutchman in Vienna in 1988. A huge amount could be written about these two choruses. They are happy ones from Wagner s opera about the ancient mariner who is doomed to roam the seas forever unless the spell is broken by his having a pure young maiden fall in love and marry him. It might be of added interest here in our Coulee Region to learn that the action of the opera takes place in, or right along the coast of, Norway! So
the sailors of the first chorus and the maidens of the second are both Norwegian. The sailors are happy because they ve just returned to their home port after a violent storm. In their joy they persistently call out to a fellow sailor to do what no sailor would ever do: leave his watch at the helm. They are also excited as les girls are just about to come out to join them in their revelries and dancing. These are the same women who are patiently sitting at their spinning wheels singing about how their boys are soon to be back in port. They too are happy: My little wheel turn merrily Till he comes safely back to me. These are the joyful parts of Wagner s opera. Just off-stage, or on the edge of the scene, are Senta, the beautiful daughter of the Norwegian Captain Daland and, of course, the Hollander himself. Senta rejects Eric, her hometown sweetheart who s a hunter, not a sailor because she wants to free the Dutchman from his curse. But the doomed Dutchman, misunderstanding Senta s farewell to Eric, sails off in his bewitched ship. Senta then climbs to the top of a cliff overhanging the sea. After singing out the final words of the opera: Praise to your angel and his decree! Here I stand faithful to death! Senta throws herself into the sea and drowns. The Flying Dutchman s ship then sinks in a whirlpool. But as is possible and expected in 19 th century opera, there is an apotheosis at the end in which the forms of Senta and the Dutchman are seen rising up to heaven. Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves by Giuseppi Verdi (1813-1901) Va, pensiero, sull ali dorate; Va, ti posa sui clivi, sui colli, Ove olezzano tepide e molli L aure dolci del suolo natal! Del Giordano le rive salute, Di Sïonne le torri atterrate Fly, thought, on wings of gold, go settle upon the slopes and the hills where the sweet airs of our native soil smell soft and mild! Greet the banks of the river Jordan and Zion s tumbled towers.
Oh mia patria sì bella e perduta! Oh membranza sì cara e fatal! Arpa d or dei fatidici vati, Perché muta dal salice pendi? Le memorie nel petto raccendi, Ci favella del tempo che fu! O simile di Solima ai fati Traggi un suono di crudo lamento, O t ispiri il Signore un concento Che ne infonda al patire virtù! Oh, my country, so lovely and lost! Oh remembrance so dear yet unhappy! Golden harp of the prophetic wise men, why hang so silently from the willows? Rekindle the memories in our hearts, tell us about the times gone by! Remembering the fate of Jerusalem play us a sad lament or else be inspired by the Lord to fortify us to endure our suffering! You can see the whole grand opera Nabucco on a DVD, and it s done regularly outdoors at the stadium in Verona, Italy. You can more easily download the libretto by Temistocle Solera from googlebooks.com (but you have to search for it under its original name, Nabucodonosor that is, Nebuchadnezzar.) You can even try to find the original source of Verdi s 1842 Nabucco, which is an 1836 French play. Or you can go all the way back to the Biblical accounts of Nabucco in the Books of Daniel and Jeremiah. But the best gloss on Verdi s famous Va, Pensiero is Psalm 137. Pick up a hymnal from a pew holder and read that. Its opening verse is not found in the actual chorus, but it is there in the stage directions: Act III, scene 4: On the banks of the Euphrates. The chorus transcends Psalm 137 by clearly answering the question, How can we sing the Lord s song in a foreign land? And then, to sum up a breadth of Italian history in a short space: Milan and much of northeastern Italy were under Austrian rule from 1815 to 1860. Verdi s 1842 opera, and most especially this chorus, helped fuel the long period of Italian resurgence, the Risorgimento, that led to the creation of modern Italy. And so true lovers of Italy always cheer this chorus often cheering so loudly it is given an encore even in the anti-encore hall of the New York Metropolitan Opera!
Singing In the Rain by Nacio Herb Brown, arranged by Anita Kerr Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen, arranged by Guy Turner, words by Yip Harburg Take Me Out to the Ball Game by Albert von Tilzer, words by Jack Norworth, additional words and arrangement by Jay Althouse To everything there is a song and here at the end of the final concert of the 25 th season of the La Crosse Chamber Chorale after the 796 songs they ve sung since 1986 (and I have actually counted them!), we confront the mysterious double way that songs work. They come to birth both privately and publicly and then, for a few lucky ones out of the uncounted millions of them, they go on being re-born, re-sung. Almost all of us here have in our mind s eye and ear a picture of Gene Kelly dancing down a street in Hollywood as he sings Singing in the Rain. And we have Judy Garland s image, looking pensive and tender with the infinite longing of adolescent love, as she sings, Somewhere over the Rainbow. We know so well exactly where these songs were publicly born and then we take them out of their original context and we sing them in our own contexts, our own lives. It s both amazing and perfectly natural. And will the Chamber Chorale really let us, the fans seated in the stands, I mean the pews, all sing along when we get to Take Me Out to the Ball Game? The answer is, Yes for the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true. Program Notes by Rev. Donald H. Fox, Staff Chaplain at Franciscan Skemp Healthcare and Pastor of Lower Coon Valley Lutheran Church