11-01-2009

  Nov. 1, 2009  4:00 pm “The Sweet Hereafter”

  Featuring Dr. Maria Corley & MU faculty

  St James' Episcopal Church

  www.stjameslanpa.org

  119 N Duke St
  Lancaster, PA 17602-2891
  (717) 397-4858

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROGRAM:

THE SWEET HEREAFTER

 

            Litany for All Soul’s Day                                    Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

                                                                                     arr. William Primrose (1903-82)

Cheryl Staherski, french horn

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

            Sonata 1.X.1905                                                Leos Janacek (1854-1928)

                        II The Death

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

            Vier ernste Gesange                                                Johannes Brahms (1833-97)           

                        I   Denn es gehet dem Menschen, wie dem Vieh

                       II   Ich wandre mich, und sahe

                      III   O Tod, wie bitter bist du

Tobin Sparfeld, baritone

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

            How Beautiful                                                            Barbara York (b. 1949)

Matt Brown, tuba

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

            Deep River                                                            Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949)

Kristin Sims, soprano

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

            Sonata for Tuba and Piano                                    Barbara York (b. 1949)

                        I

                       II

                      III

Matt Brown, tuba

Maria Thompson Corley piano

 

            At the River                                                            arr. Aaron Copland (1900-90)

Christy Banks, clarinet

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

            Rondo, from Cantata                                                 John Carter (b. 1930)

Kristin Sims, soprano

Maria Thompson Corley, piano

 

           

PROGRAM NOTES

All Saints Day is an occasion to remember the unseen “cloud of witnesses,” alluded to in the book of Hebrews, who surround us.  Included in their number are not just the famous names that have come down through history, but also our own loved ones.  “The Sweet Hereafter” is an attempt to depict, through music, both the heavenward journey taken by the departed soul and the path towards peace and acceptance taken by those left behind.

            Franz Schubert’s “Litany auf das Fest Allerseelen” (Litany for the Feast of All Saints) chronicles the variety of conditions of human existence that are cut short by death—young, old, happy, unhappy—and wishes that all rest in peace.  Originally an art song, the version in this program, while performed on the French horn, was originally arranged for the viola by William Primrose.

             The traditional Anglican hymn “I Sing a Song of the Saints of God” makes reference to a number of well-known figures, such as Joan of Arc, whose lives ended violently.  “The Death” is the second movement of Czech composer Leos Janacek’s Sonata 1.X.1905 (the first is “The Premonition”).  The piece was written to commemorate a workman who was bayoneted during a demonstration. 

            The next set of pieces convey a very human reaction to the inevitability of mortality.  Set to both Biblical and Apocryphal writings by King Solomon, Johannes Brahms wrote his Vier Ernste Gesange (Four Serious Songs) as a birthday present to himself.  They were completed on his final birthday--May 7, 1896—and begun after his dear friend Clara Schumann suffered a stroke, from which she never recovered, on March 26 of the same year.   The composer sang them as a memorial to Clara at a gathering of friends after her burial.  Later, they were sung as a memorial to Brahms himself. The three on this program are pessimistic, commenting on the futility of life and the bitterness of death, although death is seen, at the end of the third song, as welcome for those who have lost hope.  The final song, omitted here, draws from Paul’s famous thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, seemingly affirming that despite life’s challenges, love, in the end, makes the experience worthwhile. 

            At this point, our musical journey becomes more optimistic.  Barbara York composed “How Beautiful” in memory of Eli Reuben Brown, who passed from this world on May 19, 2008, the same day he was born.  The title is taken from Isaiah 52:7:  “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!”

            While “Deep River” was created by an anonymous slave who undoubtedly saw death as an escape from a life of misery (or who was singing in code about escaping from a plantation via the underground railroad), the vision of crossing the river Jordan and arriving in the Promised Land is a manifestation of the message of good news alluded to in the quote from Isaiah. Of the many arrangers of spirituals, Harry T. Burleigh, a native of Erie, PA, is one of the most well-known, and his arrangement of “Deep River” is one of his most beloved.

            Barbara York’s Sonata for Tuba and Piano (“Shamanic Journey”) also focuses on the soul’s voyage to paradise.  While York depicts the soul’s being roused by a horn call and then crossing over the River Styx, rather than Jordan, the destination portrayed in the third movement is clearly heavenly—except, perhaps, for the tuba soloist, who is asked to play notes somewhat more celestial (as in stratospheric) than usual, as a tribute to John Griffiths, the virtuoso tubist in whose memory the sonata was composed.

            With the departed soul safely home, we return to those left behind, who are invited to gather with the deceased saints in “At the River.”  In an innovation borrowed from James Campbell, the solo line in Aaron Copland’s setting of this familiar hymn is performed in this concert by a clarinet.

            John Carter’s Cantata is in five sections, each incorporating a Negro spiritual.  The piano accompaniment of “Rondo,” the second movement, imitates the joyous pealing of the bells rung by St. Peter as the residents of heaven communicate directly with those on Earth.