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The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

North of the Border

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

In conjunction with Arts & Ideas at Oglethorpe University

Saturday, November 4, 2000
Lupton Auditorium
Oglethorpe University
Atlanta, Georgia

Musick's Empire from Triptych by Lloyd Pfautsch (1969), words by Andrew Marvel (1621-1679)

Frostiana by Randall Thompson (1958), words by Robert Frost

1. The Road Not Taken
2. The Pasture
3. Come In
4. The Telephone
5. A Girl"s Garden
6. Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
7. Choose Something Like a Star

Ave Maris Stella by Trond Kverno (1976), text from Latin Mass

There'll Be Something in Heaven by Karl-Erik Svedlund (1998) from a German folk song setting, translation by Bruce A. Bengtson

A Maiden is in a Ring (Och jungfrun hon går i ringen) by Hugo Alfvén (1941), Swedish folk song, translation by Gunilla Marcus

O Prairie Land by Stephen Chatman (1995), traditional Manitoba folk song
    Jack Sartain, tenor

An Old Man He Courted Me by Stephen Chatman (1996), traditional Ontario folk song
    Paula Keinert, soprano; Judy Thompson, alto

She's Like the Swallow by Stephen Chatman (1996), traditional Newfoundland folk song

The Grand Hotel by Stephen Chatman (1992), traditional British Columbia folk song, collected by Philip J. Thomas

J'entends le Moulin (I Hear the Millwheel) arr. Donald Patriquin (1993), French Canadian folk song

Program Notes by Michaelene Gorney

"Musick's Empire," Part one of a work called Triptych by Lloyd Pfautsch, was commissioned by the State College of Arkansas for the dedication of its Fine Arts Center in 1968. The text is by Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), a metaphysical poet of the 17th Century whose poetry introduced the second edition of Paradise Lost by his friend John Milton. Dr. Pfautsch is an active composer and arranger, published by 15 music publishers, with his own choral series through Lawton-Gould Music. Dr. Pfautsch "retired" in 1992 as Professor of Sacred Music and Director of Choral Activities from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, where he conducted several University choruses. In addition, he organized and conducted the Dallas Civic Chorus for 25 years. A native of Missouri, he has received an ASCAP award each year since 1961.

Randall Thompson (1899-1984), eminent American composer and pedagogue, remains very much alive in performances of his many choral, orchestral, chamber and piano works. Choristers in particular are likely to perform several of Thompson's works in the course of their careers, such as The Peaceable Kingdom, inspired by a painting of that name by Edward Hicks, the Testament of Freedom, to words of Thomas Jefferson, and the exquisite Frostiana, to words of Robert Frost (1874-1963). Frostiana: Seven Country Songs was commissioned for the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, and was first performed as part of that town"s Bicentennial Commemoration in 1959 with the composer conducting and the poet in attendance.

Robert Frost, born in San Francisco and named after the Confederate General Robert E. Lee, moved to New England at the age of eleven and was thereafter associated with that area. By the time he died, Frost was recognized in academic and popular circles as the unofficial poet laureate of the United States, his supremacy in letters confirmed with the recitation of his poetry at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961. Not one to follow the poetic movements of his time, Frost adhered to language as it is actually spoken, offering searching, sometimes dark, meditations on universal themes - love, yearning, uncertainty, emotional conflict - laced with ambiguity and irony. Listen…

Ave Maris Stella, a "hymn with versicle," was written for double chorus of mixed voices by Trond Kverno. Kverno, born in Oslo, Norway, in 1945, holds degrees in church music and is an ordained deacon of music. He regards his career primarily in terms of church music accomplishments and regards "absolute music" as a rare occurrence, believing that most works are set in an ideological or aesthetic context. Says Kverno of church music: "The goal is the congregation's prayer, rather than aesthetic pleasure. The essential point is that the music hears us and interprets us before the throne of God, not that we hear the music…I would liken my work to that of the painter of icons, where each icon is a window to a reality other than that which surrounds us."

There'll Be Something in Heaven is a setting of a gammal (old) Norwegian folksong by Karl-Erik Svedlund.

A Maiden Is in a Ring is by Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960), with English text translated from the Swedish by Gunilla Marcus. Alfvén, one of Sweden's most well-known and best-loved composers, was also an orchestral and choral conductor and violinist. His works include virtuoso orchestral music, romantic solo songs, and choral music in the Swedish folk idiom, such as tonight's selection, which have gained him a lasting reputation among Swedish choruses. Alfvén rated his folk song settings as one of his greatest contributions to music.

"O Prairie Land," "An Old Man He Courted Me" and "She's Like the Swallow" are three of Five Canadian Folk Songs by Stephen Chatman (b. 1950), whose "The Grand Hotel" was commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Vancouver Choir. All are traditional folk songs, some tender and passionate, some highly irreverent, all reflective of the pioneer spirit. "O Prairie Land" is from Manitoba, "An Old Man He Courted Me" from Ontario, "She's Like the Swallow" from Newfoundland, and "The Grand Hotel" hails from British Columbia where (it seems) a good time was had by all!

Stephen Chatman, Professor of Composition at the University of British Columbia School of Music in Vancouver, was born near Minneapolis-St. Paul and grew up in Madison, Wisconsin. His music varies stylistically, depending upon the nature of the material with which he works. His writings include works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, choir, band and keyboard. Says Chatman, "One has to write music that one loves to write - that's the first concern. The second is to try to communicate with an audience, for there has got to be an element of appeal. But above all, a composer must be true to himself."

"J'entends le Moulin" ("I Hear the Millwheel") is the first of Trois chansons folkloriques (Three Folk Songs) by Donald Patriquin (b. 1938). This tune, originally known in France as "Mon père a fait batir maison" ("My father is having a house built"), is said by Ernest Gagnon to have been well known in the French provinces of Saintonge and L'Aunis. The text is at times nonsensical due to its "game of rhymes" in which the final syllable of ever;y line must rhyme with the "-tends" in "J'entends." Donald Patriquin, born in Quebec, is well known among Canadian composers, with both concert and film music to his credit.