For the Sake Of Love

Sweet Day (1913) by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), words by George Herbert (1593-1633)

Lovers Love the Spring (1950) by Arthur Frackenpohl (b. 1924), words by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) from "As You Like It"

Lebenslust (1818) by Franz Schubert (1797-1828), words by Johann Karl Unger (1771-1836)

Never Seek to Tell Thy Love (1998) by Timothy Snyder, words by William Blake (1757-1827)

Love Lost (1969) by Paul Sjolund

1. One Perfect Rose - Dorothy Parker (1893-1967)
2. When You're Away - Samuel Hoffenstein (1890-1947)
3. Careless Talk - Mark Hollis
4. Your Little Hands - Samuel Hoffenstein

Ubi Caritas (1960) by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), Gregorian Chant     Stephen Hall, Cantor

For the Beauty of the Earth (1980) by John Rutter (b. 1945), words by F. S. Pierpoint (1835-1917)

The Ballad of the Garden arr. Audrey Snyder, Norwegian Folk Song

The Deaf Old Woman arr. Katherine K. Davis (1892-1980), Missouri Folk Song

Cindy arr. Dr. Mack Wilberg (b. 1955), American Folk Song
    Daniel Pyle and Leanne Herrmann, Piano

The Annual DCG Cabaret

Program Notes by Michaelene Gorney

"Sing We and Chant It" by Thomas Morley (1557? - 1602) is one of the most popular of Renaissance English madrigals. Its text is a variant on the theme "Carpe diem," or "Seize the day!" In this tune, the composer bids us to "spare no treasure to live in pleasure" - as fitting a theme as any to begin our musical celebration of the myriad forms of amorous inclination inspired by the month of February!

"Sweet Day," one of Three Elizabethan Part Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), is a setting of words by George Herbert (1593-1633), the English orator and (later) Anglican priest, whose devotional works inspired a 20th century revival of interest in metaphysical poetry. Vaughan Williams, considered an English nationalist, drew much of his inspiration from English poetry and folk song.

Arthur Frackenpohl, Professor Emeritus of the SUNY College at Potsdam Crane School of Music, treats us to a modal setting of "Lovers Love the Spring." This oft-quoted song from Shakespeare's As You Like It is sung in the play by two pages in the Forest of Arden.

The epitome of the Romantic partnership of music and poetry was the Lied, or song, and its foremost composer none other than Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Schubert was truly a starving artist: ill, destitute, and unknown. Yet in his short life, he wrote over 600 Lieder, 144 of them in the year before he died. To his melodic sensitivity, Schubert added bold, colorful harmonies often modulating far from a song's original tonality. The piano part, although designated an "accompaniment," is absolutely essential to the Lied and to tonight's offering, "Lebenslust," whose author, Johann Karl Unger (1771-1836), would surely be pleased with Schubert's exuberant enhancement of the text.

"Never Seek to Tell Thy Love" is a somber poem from Songs and Ballads by William Blake (1757-1827), the noted English Romantic poet, painter, and engraver, whose disillusionment with the potential for human perfection extended to the social and political conditions of his time. (David Erdman cites this title as "Never Pain to Tell Thy Love.") At the time this piece was written, composer Timothy Snyder was a student in choral music at Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, having already earned bachelor's and master's degrees in music from Colorado State University. He is the recipient of many commissions for university, church and public school choirs.

Love Lost, written in 1969 by Paul Sjolund for the Norman Luboff Choir, is a cycle of satirical poems on love. The first was written by Dorothy Parker (1893-1967), an American critic, satirical poet, and short-story writer also known for her malicious wit. The second and fourth are by Samuel Hoffenstein (1890-1947), a writer of light verse for Collier's magazine, referred to in The Blockhead Journal as "The thinking man's Ogden Nash." The third is by Mark Hollis, whose details are difficult to find. The texts are indeed satirical, punctuated with poignant doses of reality and practicality both amusing and painful. But such can be love, and we cannot be less than honest. According to Larry Marietta on the website of the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, Paul Sjolund is an American composer from the Midwest whose original works and arrangements are widely sung by choruses in the United States, as evidenced by the numerous lists of choral works which include his name.

At a very young age, Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) developed a love of Gregorian Chant, to the extent that its medieval modal harmonies became essential to his own music. Each of the Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens, Op. 10, including "Ubi Caritas," begins with, and is unified by, an original Chant melody, set with Duruflé's unique style of harmonization.

John Rutter (b. 1945), the founder of the Cambridge Singers, is well known as a choral conductor and as a masterful arranger of songs, anthems and carols. Rutter's compositions are almost exclusively choral, but he has also written orchestral works, opera, pop and light music, and music for BBC television. "For the Beauty of the Earth" was written by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917), a classic schoolmaster and a Tractarian, one of a group of academics and clerics who opposed what they saw as doctrinal and moral laxity within the Anglican Church. Pierpoint's hymn for Holy Communion was originally titled "The Sacrifice of Praise" and its eight verses were eventually reduced to five or six after those considered too "Catholic" for Anglican use were deleted. The text used by Rutter appears today in the New English Hymnal.

"The Ballad of the Garden" is a Norwegian folk song, arranged by composer Audrey Snyder with English words by Kathleen Black. It is a celebration of the purest true love, one that transcends all obstacles, nurtures, and protects. According to Velle Espelande, the Norwegian tradition of the vocal ballad extends back to the Middle Ages, with lyrics recounting tales of nobles, knights, and maidens. Though parallels to German tradition exist, they are also closely related to English and Scottish ballads. Mrs. Snyder is a graduate of the University of Oregon and is a renowned choral composer, arranger, editor, clinician and conductor. During her career as a public school teacher, she began composing choral works for her students, leading to her first published work in 1978.

"The Deaf Old Woman" is a humorous folk song from Missouri with a musical setting by Katherine K. Davis. (Proof of the power of love, did you say?) A graduate of Wellesley University, Mrs. Davis enjoyed an active life of teaching and musical composition. Her most famous work is the carol "The Little Drummer Boy", which she said came to her "... while trying to take a nap." She composed over 600 works, many to fill a need for music for women's choruses and choruses of untrained singers. Later in life, she said of her famous carol that it "... had been done to death on radio and TV."

"Cindy," another American folk song, arranged by Dr. Mack Wilberg, extols the virtues of a young woman so colorful and so full of life that she requires two pianists and two choirs to adequately portray her passion! An active pianist, composer, conductor and clinician, Dr. Wilberg works as an Associate Director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and conducts the Temple Square Chorale. He has also directed the Brigham Young University Men's Chorus and Concert Choir. Dr. Wilberg holds degrees from Brigham Young University and the University of Southern California.