Program Notes
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Today’s program is centered around the idea of peace: from a contemporary inter-cultural perspective, an 18th century Roman Catholic perspective, a 19th century Lutheran perspective, and an early 20th century perspective informed by the horrors of World War I.
American composer Kirke Mechem, who was born in Kansas in 1925, served in World War II as a young man. After studying at Stanford and Harvard, he taught briefly at Stanford, but for most of his career he has made a living exclusively through composition. Las Américas Unidas was commissioned by the Beyond War Foundation for the Beyond War Spacebridge of the Americas on December 14, 1986. Each year between 1983 and 1990, the Beyond War Foundation granted a Beyond War Award to a person or group that made strides to create a world beyond war. In 1986, that award was given to the Contadora Group, an initiative launched by foreign ministers in Colombia, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela to deal with military conflicts throughout Central America. The Spacebridge of the Americas was an international satellite television broadcast organized to commemorate the award and the Contadora Group. Mechem’s piece was premiered on the broadcast. The piece, which contains both Spanish and English texts echoing each other, has a soaring soprano solo, adult and children’s choruses, and a sparkling piano and glockenspiel accompaniment. It is a sweeping tribute to cross-cultural understanding and cooperation.
Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria RV 589, is the most well-known of two “Gloria’s" that he wrote in the mid-1710’s. He is known to have written at least one more that has not survived. They may have been written for the girls and young women at the Ospedale della Pietá in Venice, an orphanage/music school where he served as a teacher for about 15 years. There is some controversy about whether the women of the Ospedale would have sung Vivaldi’s choral works in the soprano-alto-tenor-bass octaves as written in the score or whether vocal parts were transposed to fit higher voices. The possibility also exists that the choral works were written for other groups outside the Ospedale. Within the South Hadley Chorale, we have women as well as men in both the tenor and bass sections.
The Gloria RV 589 was forgotten in a pile of Vivaldi’s manuscripts until the late 1920’s and was not performed until 1939. Even then, it was performed in an “elaborated” edition by the composer Alfredo Casella. The now-familiar, more “original” version which we perform today was not performed until the First Festival of Baroque Choral Music at Brooklyn College. Its second movement is a solemn plea for peace on Earth, the overarching theme of today’s program.
Felix Mendelssohn wrote Verleih' uns Frieden in 1831 after a visit to the Vatican. It was on this same visit to Italy that he was inspired to write his Symphony No. 4, Italian. The text is the traditional Latin hymn Dona nobis pacem, as translated into German by Martin Luther. By 1831, Mendelssohn had been studying the music of J.S. Bach for several years and had led a famous revival of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829. Verleih' uns Frieden is heavily influenced by the music of Bach. After an instrumental introduction featuring split cellos, the bass section of the chorus sings a simple, chorale-like melody. The altos then take up that melody while the basses sing a countermelody. The final, culminating section is a 4-part choral harmonization of the initial theme with full orchestral accompaniment. It is a graceful and romantic prayer for peace.
Dona Nobis Pacem, by Ralph Vaughan Williams, was first started in 1914 before the composer served in France during World War I. He wrote the fourth movement, a setting of Walt Whitman’s Civil War poem Dirge for Two Veterans, as part of a friendly competition with his friend and fellow composer Gustav Holst. Over 20 years later, at the age of 64, he assembled Dona Nobis Pacem for the 100th anniversary of the Huddersfield Choral Society. In six continuous movements, it sets three Whitman poems along with prophetic Biblical excerpts, portions of the Latin Mass, and a speech given by British Member of Parliament and Quaker John Bright in 1855 warning against British involvement in the Crimean War.
The first movement is a desperate plea for peace. The second is a violent depiction of the way that war overwhelms and destroys everything in its path. The third movement then takes the form of a desolate lullaby for those lost in war and a recognition of the common humanity of soldiers on all sides. The fourth movement is a march of grief and anger at the death of a father and son which concludes very sweetly in an expression of solidarity with the departed soldiers. The fifth movement opens with the baritone soloist singing John Bright's warning against war and is followed by the chorus and orchestra desperately wondering if war will ever end. The final movement is an optimistic and reassuring conclusion looking forward to a world without war.