©1998-2008
The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

With Special Guest Artists
Phyllis Elmer, Piano
Catherine Bull, Flute
Norman Bernal, Violin
David Ramirez, Cello

In conjunction with Arts & Ideas at Oglethorpe University

Saturday, February 17, 2001
Emerson Student Center
Oglethorpe University
Atlanta, Georgia

Flower of Beauty (1960) by John Clements, words by Sydney Bell

Liebeslieder Walzer (1869) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), text from Polydora by Georg Friederich Daumer (1800-1875)
Soloist - Betsy Gabriel, Soprano
Phyllis Elmer and Leanne Elmer Herrmann, piano

The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), edited by Mark Deller
Performed by The Chamber Singers

Can't Buy Me Love (1964) by John Lennon (1940-1980) and Paul McCartney (b. 1942), arr. by Keith Abbs (1992)
Performed by The Chamber Singers

Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies, American Folksong, arranged by Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947)

O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose (1998) by René Clausen (b. 1953), words (1794) by Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye, Irish Folk Song arranged by Alice Parker (b. 1925)

In the Night We Shall Go In (1997) by Imant Raminsh (b. 1943), words by Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), translated by Donald D. Walsh

The Cabaret
You are invited to stay and linger as Guild members gather around the piano to serenade you with songs from the theatre and popular music. In between songs, we will draw the winners of our raffle prizes. And, you are invited to enjoy second helpings of your favorite dessert from the evening.

Performers include Peggy Emery, Betsy Gabriel, Faye Goolrick Paula Keinert, Cliff Norris, Chris Sharp, Judy Thompson, and Al Yates

Program Notes by Michaelene Gorney

Without the aid of a court position or a public appointment, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) made a place for himself in the musical life of Hamburg, Germany, as a pianist, as a diligent, inspired, composer, and as the founder and conductor of a women's choir. Though not overwhelmingly accepted by the public of his time (despite Robert Schumann's welcoming him as "a new musical force"), neither was he a stranger to recognition, particularly after the Requiem, Liebeslieder Walzer, and Rhapsody appeared in close succession during his thirties. Acclaimed for modesty as well as talent, Brahms, now considered the epitome of Romanticism, once declined an honorary degree from Cambridge, and throughout his life continued to favor informal dress, simple restaurants, and, says Nicolas Slonimsky, "a great deal of beer."

The texts of the Liebeslieder ("Love Songs") are taken from Polydora, ein weltpoetisches Liederbuch, 1855, by the German poet and philosopher Georg Friederich Daumer (1800-1875). This collection of translations and imitations of folk poetry, primarily Russian, Polish, and Magyar (Hungarian), has as its predominant sentiments the many facets of love - longing, reluctance, denial, sadness, obsession, joy, rapture, and more. These eighteen waltz settings, "romantic" in every sense of the word, pay tribute to "Waltz King" Johann Strauss, for whom Brahms expressed great admiration. Performed originally by solo vocal quartet with four-hand piano, they were written "for piano duet with voices ad libitum," implying that the songs could be performed without voices. But the vocal parts, though often duplicated by the piano, have an integrity of their own. Seldom are the Liebeslieder performed without voices. How else could one so immediately relate to the poetry which inspired them?

Composer and arranger Gwyneth Walker, a graduate of Brown University and the Hartt School of Music, previously taught at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, but resigned from the academic world to be a full-time composer. She now lives on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont. Walker has produced an eclectic body of compositions, ranging from "serious" symphonic and choral works to "Match Point," in which tennis balls are used to play the timpani and the conductor waves a tennis racket instead of a baton.

"Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies" is the second in a set of "dramatized and semi-staged presentations of familiar American folksongs" titled American Ballads. Says Walker, "These tunes, favorites from my childhood, are rich in color, personality, and humor. They beckon for the stage! Thus, in my musical arrangements for chorus and flute, I have endeavored to create musical-theatrical portraits of these delightful ballads."

René Clausen is the conductor of The Concordia Choir, Concordia College, Minnesota, and artistic director of the Concordia College Christmas Concerts broadcast on public television and radio. Well-known as a composer and clinician, he has written over 45 commissioned works; has conducted choral/orchestral performances, festivals, and workshops in over 35 states; and was honored with a Carnegie Hall concert of his compositions in 1996. "O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose" is a lyrical arrangement of the oft-quoted poem by the beloved Scottish poet and writer Robert Burns (1759-1796). Clausen composed the piece for his wife, Frankie.

Alice Parker is an American composer and conduc-tor, born in Boston and now living in New York. A superb arranger in her own right, she also collabo-rated with the late Robert Shaw on arrangements that are now standards in choral literature. Her works include operas, cantatas, song cycles, works for chorus and orchestra (two of which were commissioned by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), chamber music, and settings of sacred and secular melodies. As a conductor and teacher, she travels extensively, performing her own works and those of other composers with choruses around the country.

"Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" is an arrangement of a text and tune found in many a list of "traditional" Irish melodies. Immediately apparent is its strong resemblance to the Civil War tune, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," a joyous description of a hero's welcome attributed to Union Army bandmaster Patrick S. Gilmore. That resemblance may be no accident, since the Irish version heard tonight speaks most emphatically to the ravages of war and was one of the best-known anti-war songs of the 19th century. The criticism of war heard in "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" might easily have been a response to the patriotic fervor of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," but no one really knows which set of words came first.

"Flower of Beauty" by John Clements is a simple setting of heartfelt verse by Sydney Bell. With harmonic cadences punctuated by seductive suspensions and a melody to do an Irish soprano proud - what better occasion to look into your Juliet's eyes as we woo her with song!

Imant Raminsh, born in Latvia in 1943, came to Canada in 1948, where he received diplomas in music from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the University of Toronto. In 1968, he established the music department at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, British Columbia, and was the founding conductor of the New Caledonia Chamber Orchestra. Raminsh is currently principal second violinist of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he is the Music Director and conductor of the Aura Chamber Choir and the Nova Children's choir. His choral works are sung around the world and he has received several commissions from Canadian choral groups and the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

"In the Night We Shall Go In" is a setting of a poem by the Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda, translated by Donald D. Walsh. Though committed to political activism and socialist causes in his life and in his writing, Neruda also explored loneliness, depression, the details of daily life, and, as exemplified by tonight's selection, tenderness, sensuousness, and passion. In this setting of Neruda's poetry, Raminsh opens with the cello's "singing" of the opening words, even before their eloquent expression by the altos and sopranos. This opening melody heralds the last verse as well, a beautiful re-affirmation of the spring that is to follow the winter's darkness.

The following sources were consulted in the preparation of these notes:
www.jaymar.com
www.nobel.se
gwynethwalker.com
Encarta.msn.com
"Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies," published by E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Inc., 1994
"O My Luve's Like a Red, Red Rose," published by Fostco Music Press, 1998.