Alan Rowe, Musical Director

Carmina Burana is characterized by its rhythmic energy and has been popular with audiences since its first performance in 1936. The text is from a large collection of secular poems of the 12th and 13th centuries, preserved at the Bavarian monastery of Benediktbeuren. They are mostly in Latin, though some are in old French or Middle High German, and come from a variety of sources. While they include some poems that are morally uplifting, most are bawdy student songs celebrating such un-monklike earthly delights as drinking, gambling, dancing and lovemaking.

Christmas 2004

featuring

Photo by George Mitchell

Spring 2004

Friday, April 30 at Littleton Congregational Church
Saturday, May 1 at Wells River Congregational Church
Sunday, May 2 at Peacham Congregational Church

Alan Rowe, Musical Director

Fans of the 1984 film Amadeus will find many of the Requiem’s themes familiar. Count Walsegg commissioned the Requiem in mid-July 1791 to honor the memory of his late wife. Mozart was preoccupied by completing and conducting two operas and a clarinet concerto until October, when he began work on the Requiem. His health had been failing since late August, and by November 20 he was confined to bed. His work on the Requiem continued until his death from rheumatic fever on December 5. Mozart’s wife Costanze oversaw the completion of the Requiem. While details remain controversial, it is generally agreed that the composition was completed by Franz Süssmayr, a pupil of Mozart.

Johannes Brahms’ Nänie, composed in 1881, laments the inevitable transience of beauty and perfection. It is a choral setting of an ode by the German poet Friedrich Schiller, author of Ode to Joy, and draws its inspiration from classical Greek mythology.

Christmas 2003

Sunday, December 7, 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm
The St Johnsbury School
Featuring Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest by Conrad Susa and
Amahl and the Night Visitors, an operetta by Gian-Carlo Menotti

Conrad Susa composed Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest as a companion piece for Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. It was commissioned and premiered in 1992 by Philip Brunnelle, director of the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota. Inspired by a collection of traditional Spanish carols sung in the Southwest, Susa's carols honor the riches of the spirit in the face of poverty by telling the story of the nativity as seen through the eyes of peasants. The piece evokes family life and appeals to the child within each of us. Susa's choice of instrumentation sprang from his "overriding image of a Southwestern piñata party for the new baby." Accompaniment was provided by harpist Elia Nelson, guitarist Peter Matthews, and Andrew Mallon on marimba.

In 1951 NBC commissioned the 40 year old composer Gian-Carlo Menotti to write a Christmas opera for the new medium of television. After struggling to find an appropriate subject, Menotti found inspiration in a famous painting of “The Adoration of the Magi,” which he happened upon while visiting New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In less than two months Menotti finished the score of Amahl and the Night Visitors. As a young boy Menotti had become lame, a condition which confounded his doctors, and was cured miraculously after a visit to a holy shrine. The event not only changed his life, but provided him with the character of Amahl. He included in the opera some of the magical sounds of the Christmas season he remembered from his youth in his native Italy.

The beautiful score and poignant story, sung in English, appeals to all ages and musical backgrounds. Its message of how faith, love and charity can work miracles is inspiring to all. Young minds relate easily to the boy with a head full of dreams. Seventh grader Luke Meierdiercks played the title role of Amahl. Julie Drown Proia, a longtime favorite of NCC audiences, played his mother. The Page and Magi were portrayed by Yorke Peeler, Matthew Hawkins, Ralph Aldrich, and Roger Daum. The Dancer was Rebecca Hulme. Oboist Jeff Gold and flutist Ellen Gold joined Jean Anderson, piano, in accompanying the performance.

Spring 2003
celebrating the life and works of Mary W. Rowe

The program featured harp, brass, organ and piano accompaniment, as well as soprano Julie Drown Proia, a favorite of North Country audiences, and other soloists.

Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) began work on A Ceremony of Carols in 1942 “to alleviate the boredom” while returning to England from America on a Swedish cargo ship. His inspiration for the 10 carols came from the ancient texts he discovered in The English Galaxy of Shorter Poems. Originally composed for treble voices with harp accompaniment, its popularity led the publisher to commission Julius Harrison to create the mixed voice arrangement that the Chorus performed, accompanied by harpist Heidi Soones.

"Mary Had a Baby" was composed by William L Dawson (1898 – 1990), founder and longtime director of the renowned Tuskegee Institute Choir. Dawson was a recognized authority on African-American spirituals and one of the first composers to arrange them for concert performance. Howard Helvey’s arrangement of "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day," a traditional English carol from 1833, was accompanied by piano duo Jean Anderson and Mary Holley.

Felix Mendelssohn (1809 –1847) and his sister Fanny were recognized in early childhood as gifted musicians in their native Berlin. "Behold a star from Jacob shining" was one of the few choruses he managed to complete for his oratorio Christus before his short life ended at age 38.

The text of Magnificat, by Gerald Finzi (1901 – 1956), is based on Mary’s response upon learning from the angel Gabriel that she was to bear the Son of God. It was commissioned by Smith College Choir in 1952. Finzi’s setting is a bit of a departure from the majority of his songs and choral compositions which were inspired by his passions for English literature and the English countryside in which he lived. Accompaniment was provided by organist Mary Holley.

A brass ensemble accompanied Christmas Cantata by Daniel Pinkham (b. 1923). A prolific American composer, Pinkham teaches at the New England Conservatory of Music and was Music Director of historic King's Chapel in Boston for 42 years.