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The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
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The Peaceable Kingdom

Mary Evelyn Root, Director
Toni Jove, Associate Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

In conjunction with Arts & Ideas at Oglethorpe University and
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Randall Thompson's birth

Saturday, November 6, 1999
Lupton Auditorium
Oglethorpe University
Atlanta, Georgia

This is My Song by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)

Four pieces by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
   Tu es Petrus
      Al Yates, baritone
   Ave Verum
   Tantum Ergo
      Peggy Emrey, soprano
   Cantique de Jean Racine

The Peaceable Kingdom by Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
   I. Say ye to the righteous
   II. Woe unto them
   III. The noise of a multitude
   IV. Howl ye
   V. The paper reeds by the brooks
   VI. But these are they that forsake the Lord
   VII. Have ye not known?
   VIII. Ye shall have a song
      Anne Lange, soprano
      Stephen Hall, tenor

Program Notes

by Michaelene Gorney

Gabriel Fauré studied in Paris at Louis Niedermeyer's School of Religious Music, later training in composition with Camille Saint-Saëns. He served in the light infantry during the Franco-Prussian War, then enjoyed a lengthy career as an organist and choirmaster. In 1896, he became professor of composition at the Paris Conservatory, its Director in 1905. Among his students were such 20th Century notables as Maurice Ravel, Georges Enesco, Florent Schmitt, and Nadia Boulanger. A gradual loss of hearing forced him to abandon teaching, but Fauré still served as Conservatory Director until 1920, wrote occasional music reviews, was elected a member of the Academie des Beaux Arts, was made a Commander of the Légion d'honneur, and enjoyed increasing fame during his "retirement."

Fauré's religious works Tu es Petrus, Tantum Ergo, and Ave Verum may be called motets in that they are choral compositions based on Latin sacred texts used in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. In its original form, Tu es Petrus is an antiphon sung at first Vespers on the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul; Tantum Ergo is a hymn composed by St. Thomas Aquinas and sung at the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament; Ave Verum is also a hymn sung in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. In these works, Fauré prefers his own original melodies with occasional references to medieval modes of the early Church; mild discords and tonal shifts are used as vehicles for colorful effects within a conservative tonal structure. The Cantique de Jean Racine was written for a composition contest at the Niedermeyer School. So enamored were the judges of this piece that it was awarded first prize in spite of an incomplete instrumental accompaniment.

Randall Thompson, eminent composer and pedagogue, is recognized as one of the finest composers of American choral music for major works, such as Americana, The Peaceable Kingdom, The Testament of Freedom (words by Thomas Jefferson), and Alleluia, a deeply religious work and a favorite among choral musicians. Thompson incorporated jazz, folk music, and American text into an eclectic body of music, which also included orchestra and piano works, operas, and chamber music. Nicolas Slonimsky writes that Thompson "preserved and cultivated the melodious poetry of American speech, set in crystalline tonal harmonies judiciously seasoned with euphonious discords, while keeping resolutely clear of modernistic abstractions."

The Peaceable Kingdom was commissioned in 1936 by the League of Composers for the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society, G. Wallace Woodworth, Director. It was inspired by a painting of the same name by the naturalist Edward Hicks (1780-1849), the "preaching Quaker of Pennsylvania." The painting depicts Isaiah, Chapter XI, verses 6-9, one of Hicks' favorite subjects in preaching and painting, which begins: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the wolf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them." In Thompson's work, the selected verses are declaimed by the chorus and their meaning sets the stage for a variety of choral techniques: opposing choruses expressing the contrast between blessings bestowed on the righteous and woes inflicted upon the wicked; discordant harmonies depicting harsh punishments; soprano and bass lines mirroring each other (one moves up in pitch as the other moves down and vice versa) as would reeds be mirrored by a brook; and double choruses whose fullness of parts embody overwhelming joy and gladness of heart. May this performance be a fitting tribute to Randall Thompson and his music on the 100th Anniversary of his birth.