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Piccolo Spoleto Festival

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

Saturday, June 11, 2005
St. Philip's Episcopal Church
Charleston, South Carolina

Buccinate in neomenia tuba by Giovanni Croce (c. 1560-1609)
From Prompuarii sacros harmonicos sive motettos, Strasbourg, 1612.
Text: Psalm 81:3.

Parce Domine [Spare Us, Lord] (1998) by Felix Nowowieski (1877-1953)
Text by Arno Herolaska Edited by William Bausano

Laudate Jehovam (1758) by Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Psalm 117 – "O Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations"
Christine Thomas and Brooke Simon, violinists

Selections from A Celebration Mass (2005) by Dr. Sharon J. Willis
Commissioned by the DeKalb Choral Guild in tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Gloria in Excelsis: Glory to God in the Highest; Since I laid my burdens down
Dona Nobis Pacem: Give Us Peace; For those who died for justice
Polly Nelms Hickman, mezzo soprano

Sigalagala [Let There be Ululation!] (1996) arranged by S.A. Otieno
Traditional Luo (Kenyan) Spiritual
Bob Amar and Terese Rabbitt, soloists; Rick Simon, percussion

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

Songs of Innocence (1956) by Earl George (1924-1994)
Poems (1789) by William Blake (1757-1827)

1. Introduction (Piping Down the Valleys Wild)
2. The Shepherd
3. Infant Joy
4. The Lamb
5. Laughing Song

If Music Be the Food of Love (2003) by Donald McCullough
Text by Colonel Henry Heveningham, commissioned by the DeKalb Choral Guild in honor of its 25th anniversary

John the Revelator (2001) arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory
Traditional Gospel Blues

Program Notes

by Michaelene Gorney

As President of the DeKalb Choral Guild, I can think of no better way to end our 27th Anniversary Season than with this concert at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival of Churches 2005. For this concert, Director Bryan F. Black has once again selected a program true to the Guild's mission, one which promotes appreciation of the beauty and breadth of choral music. From the glory of the Renaissance and the exuberance of the Baroque to the eclecticism of the Twentieth Century, the Guild embraces them all: masterful works by Croce, Telemann, Nowowieski, George, and Raminsh; newly commissioned works by Donald McCullough and Sharon Willis; tributes to the African folk tradition and to the all-American gospel blues. At home, in Charleston, and abroad, the DeKalb Choral Guild strives to be a choral world apart from all others, presenting music in the diversity of styles that is our hallmark, and presenting it well. Welcome!

"Buccinate in neomenia tuba" by Giovanni da Croce (c. 1557-1609) represents the polychoral style as performed in Venice at the Cathedral of Saint Mark, a bastion of high church tradition in the 16th century. The list of choirmasters at Saint Mark's was a virtual "Who's Who" of renowned conductors and singers, all of them composers as well. Among them were: the Gabrielis, Andrea and Giovanni; Gioseffo Zarlino, a theorist and the first to give documented prominence to the "major"-sounding Ionian mode; and Croce, one of Zarlino's students, who became choirmaster at Saint Mark's in 1603. Characteristics of the Venetian style to be heard in Buccinate are the cori spezzati (divided choir), antiphonal singing, and the joining of choirs for a massed ending.

The memory of Feliks Nowowieski (1877-1946), Polish composer, conductor and organist, is well-respected in his native country, as evidenced by the institutions that bear this name, among them the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz, the State Philharmonic Orchestra in Olsztyn, and the Museum in Barczewo. Known as the "Chopin of the organ," Nowowieski wrote nine organ symphonies. Although these are considered to be his magnum opus, this student of Max Bruch, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Ottorino Respighi also composed for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, opera, ballet, and voice.

"Parce Domine," for a cappella chorus, is taken from Nowowieski's oratorio Kreuzauffindung (The Finding of the Cross), Op. 35. According to notes accompanying the music, this 1905 oratorio "tells of the decline and ruin of Jerusalem and its people who pursue earthly delights and vain hopes. Parce Domine, sung by a group of pilgrims, begs God for his forgiveness." Based on a penitential Latin hymn sung during Advent, the piece begins as the sopranos sing the original chant melody within the context of a measured 4/4 rhythm. The composer then abandons the original Dorian mode, and later the hymn tune itself, transforming them into a Romanticized plea for forgiveness and mercy.

The parents of Baroque composer Georg Philip Telemann (1681-1767) intended him to be a lawyer; and, toward that end, provided him a very thorough education, including music. By age ten, Telemann played several instruments; by age 11 he was composing opera. As a law student at Leipzig University, he organized a collegium musicum and was appointed director of the Leipzig Opera. Soon after, he became organist at the Neue Kirche, was appointed Kapellmeister to the court of Count Erdmann II, and then Konzertmeister and Kapellmeister in Eisenach, where he probably met J. S. Bach (he was godfather to C. P. E. Bach). Subsequent positions included director of music in Frankfurt, Kapellmeister at the Barffüsserkirche and at Gotha, Kantor of the Johanneum in Hamburg, director of Hamburg's churches, and music director of the Hamburg Opera. Telemann wrote profusely for the students and ensembles under his direction - cantatas, passions, operas, chamber music, instrumental music, and oratorios. Until his death, both he and his music were well-known, celebrated, and respected throughout Europe.

"Laudate, Jehovam" ("Praise the Lord, All Ye Nations"), Psalm 117, was set by Telemann in 1758, and therefore represents the mature Baroque as well as a transition to the Classical period. The keyboard part was written in figured bass, a Baroque practice in which numbers above or below a bass line indicated chords to be played by a continuo (a keyboard or plucked string instrument), with reinforcement of bass notes often provided by a sustaining string or wind instrument. The realization of Telemann's figured bass heard in today's concert is by Fritz Oberdoerffer (1895-1979), classical music editor, faculty member and Professor Emeritus of music at the University of Texas at Austin, who was born in Hamburg and studied at Leipzig Conservatory and the University of Berlin.

The Guild undertook a commissioning project this year with the goal of creating a work of music that would celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The Guild engaged composer Dr. Sharon J. Willis (b. 1949) and presented the world premiere of her work A Celebration Mass on the anniversary of Dr. King's birth on January 15. Today the Guild presents the Gloria and Dona Nobis Pacem movements of this remarkable work.

Dr. Willis, a composer and conductor who holds a master's degree in Music Theory and a doctorate in Vocal Performance, studied at Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University), Georgia State University, Scarritt Graduate School in Nashville, and The University of Georgia in Athens. She is a member of Ensemble Jubalaté, in which she performs with her husband, tenor Oliver R. Sueing; a member The American Composers Forum; Associate Professor of Music and Liberal Arts Chair at Morris Brown College; and Director of Music Ministry at Riverdale First United Methodist Church. Willis is the Founding Director of the Americolor Opera Alliance, established to meet the performing needs of African-American and other Atlanta area singers whose talents are underutilized by previously established opera companies. She is also active as a lecturer, poet and African-American program specialist and, as a soprano soloist, has performed leading roles with the Georgia Opera Company and the Pheonix Opera Company. Her compositions include arrangements of spirituals, cantatas, an orchestral tone poem, and "We Shall Overcome," a four-movement organ suite published by Vivace Press, and she has been commissioned by The American Guild of Organists to write an organ suite for the AGO's Chicago Conference in 2006. "We Shall Overcome," a set of vignettes from the Civil Rights Movement, has been performed extensively by organist Calvert Johnson and recorded by Trey Clegg, who also performed the work at Martin Luther's home church in Wittenberg, Germany. Dr. Willis, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, is recognized in the exhibit of Georgia Classical Composers at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon.

Since 2000, Willis has written five operas, both libretti and music. Her first, The Opera Singer, focuses on casting obstacles facing African-American singers in the field of opera. LaRoche tells the tale of Joseph Phillipe LeMercier LaRoche, the only black person known to be aboard the Titanic and whose forced move from first- to second-class quarters ensured his death. The Herndons: The Opera, is an operatic biography of Atlanta's first African-American millionaire businessman. Willis' "petite opera," The Candlers of Callan, to be premiered later this month at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center, follows three generations of Candlers from Callan Castle in Ireland to Callanwolde, the family home in Atlanta. The composer's fifth opera, The Great Divide, will be premiered November, 2005, at Trinity United Methodist Church. Based on the Lewis and Clark expedition, it features York, the Black slave who accompanied them, and Sacagawea, the Shoshone Native American who served as interpreter.

And amidst the operas was written A Celebration Mass in honor of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Not a requiem, the traditional Mass for the Dead, but a celebration "for those who died for justice"; for those who were not perfect, but who knew what was right; who knew upon waking that they were going to march; and who knew that, in marching, they were going to die. Though written within the space of two weeks, the Mass is truly a synthesis of the composer's lifetime of experience, representing deepened convictions drawn together in retrospect through a lens of maturity to acknowledge the historic significance of events taken for granted by this child of those times – events such as English Avenue Elementary School, booby-trapped with a bomb only ninety minutes before she was to arrive; the service at Washington High School dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated during her senior year; and conversations with Ralph David Abernathy, Sr., whom she met and befriended.

It is hard to imagine a more honorable tribute to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., than A Celebration Mass, embodying as it does an appreciation of, and respect for, history; an affinity for the flow of words, whether spoken or sung; skillful and effective vocal and choral writing; an appropriate sense of drama; fluency in musical styles; and keen musicianship. What might be simply a juxtaposition of varied and different ideas becomes instead a unified whole, a purposeful combination texts and styles that do not contradict, but rather complement and balance each other. In retrospect, it is hard to imagine anyone other than Sharon J. Willis having fulfilled this commission for the DeKalb Choral Guild.

Sigalagala, arranged by S. A. Otieno, is a spiritual sung in Luo, a language of the Nyanza Province of Kenya that is also spoken in Tanzania. Featured in the last stanza of Sigalagala is the vocal practice of ululation, described by Albert Alan Owen as "a kind of vocal howling and wailing, used to simulate and stimulate great emotion," in this case, joy and jubilation at the coming of Jesus. Owen notes that this characteristic of African music, in the form of non-specific pitches, is essential to 20th century blues, as are the call-and-response patterns, repetition, and the layering of voices and rhythm instruments. Arranger S. A. Otieno, who, according to Earthsongs music publisher, died a few years ago, was a member of the Muungano National Choir of Kenya formed in 1979 and directed by Boniface Mganga.

Imant Raminsh (b.1943) was born in Latvia and came to Canada in 1948, where he received diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music and the University of Toronto. In 1968, he established the music department at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, British Columbia, and is the founding conductor of the New Caledonia Chamber Orchestra. He is currently principal second violinist of the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra and the Music Director and conductor of the Aura Chamber Choir and the Nova Children's choir. Raminsh has received several commissions from Canadian choral groups and the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and the premier of his Credo was conducted by composer Krzystof Penderecki.

"In the Night We Shall Go In" is the first line of the poem, "The Stolen Branch,"6 by Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda (1904-1973), heard here in a translation by Donald D. Walsh. Walsh, who has translated many of Neruda's poems, is acknowledged by one reviewer Alejandra Vernon as capturing "the fluid rhythm, the emotion, and the fire" of the Chilean's poetry.7 Though committed to political activism and socialist causes in his life and writing, Neruda also explored loneliness, depression, the details of daily life, and, as exemplified by today's selection, tenderness, sensuousness, and passion. In this setting of Neruda's poetry, Raminsh opens with the French horn'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 follows the winter's darkness.

Earl George (1924-1994), pianist and composer, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and studied at the Eastman School of Music and at the Berkshire School of Music with Boluslav Martinů. From 1959, he taught at Syracuse University, where he founded the Syracuse University Singers. There he also he wrote music criticism for the Syracuse Herald-Journal, and conducted and performed with the Syracuse Symphony. George's music—two operas, orchestral works, works for strings and piano, choral works, and song cycles—won him many commissions and awards, and has been performed by major orchestras, including the Minneapolis Symphony and the New York Philharmonic.

The Songs of Innocence is a set of poems by London-born William Blake (1757-1827), non-conformist poet, painter and engraver who spoke of having visions from the age of four. At face value, the Songs of Innocence (1789) are just that: children's poems exhibiting a youthful naiveté and joie de vivre that are mockingly dispelled by the harsh darkness of the later Songs of Experience (1794). Blake's literary and visual works were manifestations of his belief that inner visions took precedence over observable reality, a belief that did not endear him to neoclassical conformists of 18th century England. Thus, Blake—an enormously talented and committed individual who taught himself Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian in order to read the classics; who openly opposed the social tyrannies of both church and state; who invented a machine for engraving both text and illustrations; and who would not sacrifice his visions to popularity—made only a meager living from his crafts and died in poverty, even as he envisioned "a new and higher kind of innocence, the human spirit triumphant over reason," the dark and worldly Songs of Experience reversed and dispelled by the Songs of Innocence.

On May 17, 2003, the Guild presented the world premiere of "If Music Be the Food of Love" by Donald McCullough, commissioned by the DeKalb Choral Guild on the occasion of its Twenty-Fifth Anniversary. The Guild became familiar with McCullough's work in April 2001, when performing his "We Remember Them" (1999) and Holocaust Cantata: Songs from the Camps (1998) at a concert commemorating Yam Ha'Shoah, the Day of Holocaust Remembrance.

McCullough, music director of the Master Chorale of Washington and the Master Chorale Chamber Singers, recently presented another world premiere with a performance of his Let My People Go!, a series of spiritual arrangements and dramatic readings. "If Music Be the Food of Love" takes as its text a 17th century poem by Colonel Henry Heveningham. While the first line of the poem may be Shakespeare's (from Twelfth Night), the rest is all Heveningham's, and now McCullough's, as the composer intuitively sets these impassioned words to music with striking effect. With this commissioned work, one which will certainly be performed many more times and by many different voices, the Dekalb Choral Guild extends the choral legacy beyond itself for years to come.

"John the Revelator" as traditional gospel blues was first recorded in 1930 by Blind Willie Johnson, Texas street-corner evangelist and self-taught slide guitarist, with his wife Angeline singing the responses. According to arrangers Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory, Johnson practiced a charismatic religion "that used music to lift worshipers into an ecstatic, trance-like state of mind. These periods of holy delirium allowed followers to gain brief glimpses into the world described by John…and offered respite and hope to an African-American population trapped in webs of physical and economic hardship." Good music, good words – a powerful combination!