The concert opens and closes with I Have Had Singing which paraphrases lines taken from Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield, a Portrait of an English Village. Blythe travelled around Suffolk interviewing famers, plowmen, blacksmiths – people whose stories dated back to the early 20th century. One gentleman, given the name Fred Mitchell, was an 85-year-old horseman who told his story of working a bleak, unfertile land in a life filled with little joy. In the middle of his story, he stopped and said,
‍ ‍“But there was always singing; the boys in the fields, the chapels were full of singing. I have had pleasure enough; I have had singing.

Steven Sametz’s version was written for the Berkshire Choral Festival and speaks to amateur and professional musicians alike about the simple love of singing and the lasting joy it can bring. There is a wonderful harmonic feel to this piece with a wide vocal range that offers many tonal surprises along the way with lots of room for rubato. Ron Jeffers’ version is much more straight forward although there are many similarities with Sametz’s. Jeffers has several sections that feature the tenors and the basses although overall the piece has all four voices singing together.

Saskatchewan composer David K. MacIntyre composed a choral suite entitled Love In Public which set to music eleven sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The last sonnet in the suite is #44, Beloved, Thou Hast Brought Me Many Flowers. For the most part the voices enter one after the other repeating the same vocal line, almost as if they were having a conversation with each other. The sopranos begin, followed by the altos, then the tenors, and finally the basses. There are only two sections in the piece where the voices all sing the same words at the same time.

All Things Bright and Beautiful is vintage John Rutter – a beautiful melody, popular words, and a flowing accompaniment. Individual sections present the catchy and rhythmic theme and then are joined by the other voices to create infectious harmonies. Exuberant throughout, the piece does end quietly.

In 1950, Benjamin Britten composed Five Flower Songs, Op. 47 to texts of English poets who had all written about flowers. To Daffodils is marked allegro impetuoso and is set to a Robert Herrick text which is a metaphor of life passing. Often Britten has the sopranos and basses singing the outer parts with the altos and tenors singing together within those boundaries. The second section has the three upper voices singing very softly while the basses keep repeating the phrase “fair daffodils” to the thematic phrase heard at the opening. The Evening Primrose (poet John Clare), on the other hand, is tranquil and reflective. The evening primrose only blooms in darkness and so Britten depicts a nightscape with the music turning to slumber.  The homophonic sections alternate with sections where the theme is introduced and then passed from voice to voice, often stretching the bounds of rhythm.

Mother is a very apropos piece for this concert. It was composed in 2022 by Canadian composer Stephanie Martin to a text written by her sister, Cori. It tells of the effect that mothers have on their children (in this case daughters) and how the mother’s body feeds them, provides them with teaching and how her blood flows through them like a river that eventually brought them to themselves. Martin often presents a theme which is then passed around to the other voices, much like a dialogue until all four voices come together. There is a flowing piano accompaniment throughout but the piece ends with seven bars sung a cappella.

In 1950, Benjamin Britten composed Five Flower Songs, Op. 47 to texts of English poets who had all written about flowers. To Daffodilsis marked allegro impetuoso and is set to a Robert Herrick text which is a metaphor of life passing. Often Britten has the sopranos and basses singing the outer parts with the altos and tenors singing together within those boundaries. The second section has the three upper voices singing very softly while the basses keep repeating the phrase “fair daffodils” to the thematic phrase heard at the opening. The Evening Primrose (poet John Clare), on the other hand, is tranquil and reflective. The evening primrose only blooms in darkness and so Britten depicts a nightscape with the music turning to slumber.  The homophonic sections alternate with sections where the theme is introduced and then passed from voice to voice, often stretching the bounds of rhythm.

Daffodils is another piece by a Canadian composer – E.K.R. Hammell. He has taken Wordsworth’s poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud as his text. It begins with a piano introduction followed by what I call “a good tune” sung by the sopranos and altos who are then joined by the rest of the choir. The second section is sung by the tenors and basses who are then joined by the other two voices. There is a lyrical piano accompaniment throughout. This composition is meant to capture the pure, innocent feeling of contentedness, wonder, and bliss when recalling a special moment in one’s life.

Gabriel Fauré was only nineteen when he composed Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11. Verbe égal au Très-Haut is a French paraphrase by Jean Racine of the Latin hymn from the breviary for matins Consors paterni luminis. The music is in D-flat major. The voices enter one after the other, beginning with the lowest, each presenting half a line of text, while the lower voices accompany in homophony. The second stanza is separated from the first by a short interlude similar to the introduction, while the third and fourth stanzas follow immediately in the way of a reprise. Zachary Gates notes in a paper that
“the long sweeping melodies and strong melodic and harmonic appoggiaturas are a testament to the Romantic side of the piece, but there is a definite contemporary tint to what he’s writing, hidden in every minute and well-justified atonal note choices in the harmonic structure and melody.” 

This piece foreshadows much of what will appear in his later Requiem.

Elaine Hagenberg has a special talent for composing lyrical pieces with sweeping melodies that so beautifully convey the text. O Love is no exception. The text is an old familiar hymn by George Mattheson, O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go. When Mattheson was blinded at age nineteen, his fiancé called off their engagement and his sister cared for him as he endured new challenges. Years later, on the eve of his sister’s wedding, he faced the painful reminder of his own heartache and loss as he penned the words to this hymn. Given a fresh melody, this setting for SATB choir, piano, and cello uses hopeful ascending lines representing renewed faith. Though lingering dissonances remind us of a past heartache, the beautiful promise remains--“morn shall tearless be.”

American composer David Dickau set to music four poems that he had long admired.  These poems deal with the diverse aspects of living and longing and form a set called Of Life and Love. We will perform two of the four. in time of daffodils is a poem by e e cummings which describes the natural way in which flowers go about being as they were intended. The poet challenges the listener to find that same genuine quality and thus “forgetting me, remember me.”  Each line of the poem contains a short “aha” moment at the end of each phrase. The music pivots to a new key at each of these places, emphasizing the new awareness depicted in the text, and is sung a cappella. The final piece in the set is set to Thomas Campion’s poem, Come, O Come, My Life’s Delight. This poem returns to the theme of anticipating the meeting of one’s beloved. The music juxtaposes major and minor keys to underscore the conflicting feelings of the poet as he awaits the reunion of his lover. There is a gentle feel of one to the bar throughout the piece.

American composer David Dickau set to music four poems that he had long admired.  These poems deal with the diverse aspects of living and longing and form a set called Of Life and Love. We will perform two of the four. in time of daffodils is a poem by e e cummings which describes the natural way in which flowers go about being as they were intended. The poet challenges the listener to find that same genuine quality and thus “forgetting me, remember me.”  Each line of the poem contains a short “aha” moment at the end of each phrase. The music pivots to a new key at each of these places, emphasizing the new awareness depicted in the text, and is sung a cappella. The final piece in the set is set to Thomas Campion’s poem, Come, O Come, My Life’s Delight. This poem returns to the theme of anticipating the meeting of one’s beloved. The music juxtaposes major and minor keys to underscore the conflicting feelings of the poet as he awaits the reunion of his lover. There is a gentle feel of one to the bar throughout the piece.

Larry Nickel is a prolific Canadian composer and arranger. In this concert we feature his arrangement of the Canadian folk song A la claire fontaine. This song may have appeared as early 1604 when the first French settlement was established in Quebec. A clear fountain, a rose, and heartbreak!  Nickel gives the pentatonic melody evocative harmonization with something different for each stanza, some accompanied and some a cappella. This piece was premiered at the United Nations in Geneva.

C. S. Lewis was a great philosopher and writer who challenged many with his beliefs. Although he is buried in Headington Quarry, England, a special service was held on November 22, 2013 in Westminster Abbey where, fifty years after his death, a memorial was dedicated to him in Poets’ Corner. Paul Mealor, a Welsh composer, was commissioned to set Lewis’ poem Love’s as Warm as Tears to music for the occasion. Lewis asks us to recall the love that never ends, despite the hardships and misfortunes that may befall us. Mealor’s composition is marked adagio molto rubato and moves along at a steady, solemn speed except for nine bars in the middle which go double speed. There are sections that require the full volume of the choir and then there are sections where a gentle pianissimo is required. The text is brilliant. The verses begin
“Love’s as warm as tears, love is tears”,
“Love’s as fierce as fire, love is fire”,
“Love’s as fresh as spring, Love is spring”,
“Love’s as hard as nail, Love is nails.”

Stanza three is for solo male voice sung over a very low drone from the basses on the syllable “ah.”

Jacob Narverud’s Sunflower is set to William Blake’s poem of the same name. It is composed for SATB choir and cello. The cello represents the sunflower and symbolizes humans bound to earth but pining for immortality. This setting “brims with text painting, delicious dissonances, and suspended harmonies.” The words “Sunflower, weary of time” are often repeated and each time it is as if a sigh is being released. There is dense harmonization throughout where the chorus is often singing in triplets and with chords of eight notes.

Ave Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea) is a vesper hymn to Mary, mother of mothers, to act as a guiding star for seafarers and to intercede as a protector for those who travel or seek their livelihoods on the sea. Edvard Grieg takes four verses of this 9th-century hymn and pairs them, so that the third and fourth verses are set to the same music as the first two. Grieg’s harmonizations are rich and homophonic. The tenors and basses have two bars to themselves, but for the rest of the piece all four voices sing together, ending with a final “amen.” Grieg’s dynamics range from pianissimo to fortissimo.

Night Shall Be Filled With Music is a Longfellow poem (reminiscent of a text from Ecclesiastes 3) set to music by Larry Nickel. The piece has a contemporary feel and makes use of vocalizations on the syllable “do.” It is a song for hope with long lines in “sweet spot vocal registers.” Nickel creates a piece of music that needs to be sung with a full warm sound. We are reminded that the cares of the day “fold their tents and silently steal away.”

The concert opens and closes with I Have Had Singing which paraphrases lines taken from Ronald Blythe’s Akenfield, a Portrait of an English Village. Blythe travelled around Suffolk interviewing famers, plowmen, blacksmiths – people whose stories dated back to the early 20th century. One gentleman, given the name Fred Mitchell, was an 85-year-old horseman who told his story of working a bleak, unfertile land in a life filled with little joy. In the middle of his story, he stopped and said,
‍ ‍“But there was always singing; the boys in the fields, the chapels were full of singing. I have had pleasure enough; I have had singing.

Steven Sametz’s version was written for the Berkshire Choral Festival and speaks to amateur and professional musicians alike about the simple love of singing and the lasting joy it can bring. There is a wonderful harmonic feel to this piece with a wide vocal range that offers many tonal surprises along the way with lots of room for rubato. Ron Jeffers’ version is much more straight forward although there are many similarities with Sametz’s. Jeffers has several sections that feature the tenors and the basses although overall the piece has all four voices singing together.