We Dream a World – Program Notes
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Christ United Methodist Church
Piscataway, NJ
Complete Program including business supporters
CANTABILE CHAMBER CHORALE
Rebecca Scott, Artistic Director and Conductor
Lynne Stallworth, piano
Soprano I
Ruth Anderman
Kaitlin Dunn
Katherine Michaux Lainhart
Elizabeth Whitehead
Soprano II
Mitzi Lasky
Yeung-gyo Shin
Gail Tilsner *
Alto I
Poldi Binder
Nancy Engel*
Lynne Motto
Elizabeth Verderosa
Alto II
Anita Gould
Eileen Silverstein
Jean Thomas
Tenor I
Larry Cohen
Mickey Diener
Jerry Phillips
Tenor II
Ray Nolan*
Gerry Spelrem
Bass I
Jaimie Ross
William Whitehead
Bass II
Dan Sillitti*
Rick Snyder
* Section Leader
Program Notes
Who am I? Who Are You? Who Are We?
As the caterpillar, asked Alice in the Wonderland story, “Who are YOU?”, we ask, “Who are We?”
Through our program of songs and lyrics, we ask questions while we entertain: Who are we? What will become of us? Are we scorching the earth, destroying our fellow creatures, and poisoning ourselves?
As I search for music to educate, entertain and challenge Cantabile singers and myself, I know that we all are aware of the fractiousness of our society, the suffering of many, and the feeling that we have lost our way. And we do not know who we are as a community. In New Jersey, we hardly know where one community stops and another begins – towns run into cities, which run into towns, which run into townships, and before we know it, we are lost. It seems that every good thought is in competition to survive the onslaught of negative information. Who do we trust? Where is God when we need Him? What do we believe now?
Our songs support the creativity of our hearts and minds to be people of character – contributing love, support and beauty to our communities and to our earth. We offer the rich sounds of human voices supported by instrumental musicians to soothe our souls and encourage us to love. In the first half, we sing lyrics from ancient traditions and timeless prose and poetry, set in traditional harmonies. In the second half, we use challenging and contemporary harmonies and rhythms with some quixotic nonsense and symbolist lyrics and modern chords. We are looking for the best—for–hope, refreshment and the will to keep going. Tonight we introduce a professional dancer to add gesture to our words, melodies and harmonies. She moves to the sounds in the space, expressing more than words can express.
We hope that you, the audience, will leave refreshed but challenged, with questions in the mind about how to be more involved in community life and how to be supportive of others who may appear different. And, like Alice, to think — WHO AM I?
Chandos Anthems is the common name of a collection of eleven sacred choral compositions written by George Frederick Handel (1685-1759). The texts are psalms in English. Handel wrote the anthems in 1717 as composer in residence at Cannons, court of the First Duke of Chandos, for use in Anglican Church services. The scoring is intimate, in keeping with the possibilities there. It adjusts to the musicians available at the church, resulting in a three-part choir of soprano, tenor and bass (our version has an alto part) and an orchestra without violas, with oboes (we use flute), two violins (we use harp and guitar) and basso continuo – piano and cello. With this light texture, it has the character of chamber music, which heightens the meaning of the cheerful words: O praise the Lord with one consent and cheerful voices. (Psalms 117, 135, 148 (NVP)). Handel probably selected and compiled the texts himself, drawing from both the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) and from a metrical version of the psalms by Nahum Tate and Nicolas Brady published in 1696. We sing the fifth and final movement.
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Our new commission from Emma Lou Diemer is Psalm 121 in memory of Adele Anderman Hoiler (1914-2016). She is the mother of soprano Ruth Anderman and lived to be 101 years old! As she was a woman of faith, we chose this psalm to be set as a confirmation of the existence and protection of God. Psalm 121 reads, “I lift up my eyes to the mountains. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth….”. The piece is composed for four-part chorus, classical guitar, cello and piano. It was composed 14 years after her first commission for Cantabile, and according to her, “ it is a bit more aggressive, less ‘sweet’ because maybe our times call for more assertiveness, more assurance of protection?” It is structured on quartal harmony (harmony built on fourths instead of the traditional thirds) rather than tertian harmony, which creates a sense of austerity and strength. It features alternate passages of duet between the guitar and cello and syncopated piano figures under the chorus. Meanwhile, the choir intones in an almost chant-like manner, on an A, a confession of faith: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—my help comes from the Lord.”
Psalm 121
I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
He will keep your life.
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in
from this time on and forevermore.
(New Revised Standard Version)
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This Little Babe is a powerful one-minute piece from the popular and oft performed Ceremony of Carols for choir and harp by the famous English composer and intellect Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). It was written in 1942 while Britten was at sea, travelling from the United States to England. The text is by Robert Southwell, the Jesuit priest (1561-1595) and martyr of the Post Reformation period in England during the Protestant persecution. It depicts a battle between the baby Jesus and Satan (good and evil). Opening in unison to a “presto con fuoco” tempo (fast with fire), the melody flies to the second verse where counterpoint begins to separate the voices into a two, then three part canon and then joining voices in a powerful double forte at the words “My soul with Christ, join thou in fight,” finally ending with an intense key change, “ con slancio” (with enthusiasm in a burst or leap!) and a change of rhythmic accent (polyrhythm) to a heroic ending: “If thou wilt foil they foes with joy, Then flit not from this heavenly Boy!” A great piece from the 20th century!
This Little Babe by Robert Southwell
This little Babe so few days old
is come to rifle Satan’s fold;
all hell doth at his presence quake
though he himself for cold do shake;
for in this weak unarmèd wise
the gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field,
his naked breast stands for a shield;
his battering shot are babish cries,
his arrows looks of weeping eyes,
his martial ensigns Cold and Need
and feeble Flesh his warrior’s steed.
His camp is pitchèd in a stall,
his bulwark but a broken wall;
the crib his trench, haystacks his stakes;
of shepherds he his muster makes;
and thus, as sure his foe to wound,
the angels’ trump alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight,
stick to the tents that he hath pight.
Within his crib is surest ward,
this little Babe will be thy guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
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Karl Jenkins’ Benedictus from The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, composed in 2000, has been performed over 1,000 times by choirs and orchestras. The opening solo cello part is calming and prayerful, creating a long introduction to the choir part: “Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini” leads to rejoicing, but after the explosive “Hosanna in excelsis” the mood of prayer returns.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Christian Mass text
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In One of the Stars was composed by well-known American composer Emma Lou Diemer for four part chorus, classical guitar, cello and piano. This piece was commissioned by Cantabile Chamber Chorale in 2005 in memory of our alto, Leila Eutermarks, who died at age 48 of cancer. The text is from The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) by Saint-Exupéry, which she and her husband loved. We love the setting and have performed it many times. It expresses both exuberant joy and deep sadness. The music flows in compound time (6/8 and 9/8) like the Milky Way, full of sweet and lovely melodies. One particular melody is achingly sad, but surely this is the way to confront grief and heal. Pay attention to these words: “And when your sorrow is comforted – you will be content that you have known me” and notice the clashing interval between the tenor and soprano parts on the word “sorrow.” It feels like a stab in the heart. Life lives on and on and on: “In one of the stars, I shall be living.”
In One of the Stars
In one of the stars I shall be living.
In one of them I shall be laughing.
And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing,
When you look at the sky at night.
You, only you, will have stars that can laugh!
And when your sorrow is comforted
(time soothes all sorrows)
You will be content that you have known me.
You will always be my friend.
You will want to laugh with me.
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Paul Rardin teaches and conducts at Temple University in Philadelphia. Through his work with young people, Dr. Rardin has learned the importance of self-investigation. He asks, “How do I define myself? What beliefs, allegiances, biologies, and physical attributes make up the person I am? These questions follow us through life, but seemed to me to be especially urgent when I was in junior high and high school, where the temptation to see myself as others saw me was always present.” He drew the text for Identities from poems by Chelsea Anthony, Natalee Erceg, Nessie Quiambao, and Abu Haraira Shaikh, four young people from around the world whose words are found on narratio.org, a website dedicated to youth empowerment through artistic expression. He selected lines from these poets that spoke to the questions of identity, adding a few of his own, and wove them into a series of assertions, “each a brush stroke in the tapestry of ‘all the I’s’ that contribute to a single person.”
This song gives energy to our inner voice that tells us who we really want to be and encourages us to be who we are regardless of outside pressures. The text defines our identities as many things and concludes with the idea that we are anything that is possible.
Identities, words by Chelsea Anthony, Nessie Quiambao, Abu Haraira Sheikh, Natalie Erceg, and Paul Rardin
I am a blank page
I am a scribble
I am hope the size of a thimble
that grows little by little
I am a clinched fist raised high in the air
I am the arms that open
I am the work of art that can’t be put in a case
I am the idealist
I am art, I am scribble,
I am fist, I am arms,
I am anything that’s possible
I am the echo of wonder
I am the echo of pain
I am a story that flows in between the lines
I am the sun
I light my own sky
I am the brush
that paints my reality
I am wonder, I am pain,
I am sun, I am sky,
I am every opportunity
Chorus
And we are all the “I’s,”
And all our eyes are open…
So it’s likely
What lightens the room
Is our eyes
The overused speakers
the slamming of dominoes
the broken guitar strings, still making rich sounds
a sister of culture
a series of truths
the daughter of an upbringing
I am something no one else can claim.
Chorus
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The songs from Three Choral Settings from Alice in Wonderland composed by Irving Fine (1914-1962) are little masterpieces of choral music from the middle of the 20th century. They are a beautiful and fun way for children (and the child in us) to ask ourselves who we really are, just as the Caterpillar asked Alice “Who are You?” Both songs are full of dancing rhythms and spirited energy. These were very popular with choruses in the last part of the 20th century and were recorded by the famous Gregg Smith Singers with Raymond Beegle, piano. They deserve to be sung and heard by new ears.
The Lobster Quadrille. During the time that Lewis Carroll (born Charles Lutwidge Dodgon 1832-1898) wrote his tale of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the quadrille was a type of fashionable and difficult square dance of five figures. According to Martin Gardner in The Annotated Alice, the title could be a play on “Lancers Quadrille,” a walking square dance for eight to sixteen couples that was popular in English ballrooms at that time. Each of the five figures was in a different meter. The rhythm as set by Fine is tricky and encourages singers to come in too early by bringing what sounds like a downbeat on the upbeat! Perhaps the Quadrille has that character. The text, sung in the story by the Mock Turtle, is a parody of Mary Howitt’s poem The Spider and the Fly: “Will you walk into my parlor?’ said the spider to the fly.” The word “shingle” is more common in England than in the US. It means that part of the seaside where the beach is covered with large rounded stones and pebbles. The reference to France could be the popularity of the Lancers Quadrille in France at the time. Throwing the lobsters out to sea could be the lances that were thrown during the dance. We all know how the French love to eat snails! “Turn not so pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.”
The Lobster Quadrille
“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to the snail,
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.”
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle – will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!”
But the snail replied “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance —
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
“What matters it how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France —
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.”
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
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Father William is so much fun to sing, but watch out for the tricky rhythm in the counterpoint. Women’s voices have an A Major section which sounds like the “na,na,na” teasing of children when they play. The piano has a difficult solo in the middle which sounds like a Czerny exercise to those who have practiced their piano lessons. The text, of course, is Lewis Carroll at his clever best.
Father William
“You are old, Father William,” the young man said,
“And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?”
“In my youth,” Father William replied to his son,
“I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I’m perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again.”
“You are old,” said the youth, “And your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?”
“In my youth,” said his father, “I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.”
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According to composer Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, My Name is Lamiya: Don’t Call Me ‘Refugee‘ is written to bring attention to one of the most significant and challenging issues in our world today, the global refugee crisis. Lamiya Safarova lost her home and her village to the Nagorno-Karabakh War in Azerbijian when she was only nine, eventually settling with her family in a cardboard shack on the shore of the Caspian Sea. She began writing poems to express her feelings. The loss of her home and her village had a profound impact on Lamiya. And so did being classified as a “refugee” by her classmates in school. Lamiya has a name, and her poem gives her a voice. We all want to be called by our names and not by our status in life. We want to be treated well regardless of our social standing, our financial position, our religion, our color or our age or gender and regardless of how we vote! This song comes from the Child Refugee Awareness Choral Project by the composer, and was commissioned by the Choirs and Individuals of the Child Refugee Awareness Consortium Commission. The foot stomping that the composer set into the song represents the footsteps of refugees as they travel looking for a home. The paper noise represents the sand, wind, and dirt that they encounter on their journey.
There are over 28 million child refugees in the world today.
This is one child’s song.
Don’t Call Me “Refugee” based on a poem by Lamiya Saforoya
My life, my destiny
Has been so painful, so don’t call me “refugee.
My heart aches, my eyes cry,
I beg of you, please don’t call me “refugee.”
It feels like I don’t even exist in the world,
As if, I’m a migrant bird far away from my land
Turning back to look at my village.
I beg of you, please don’t call me “refugee.”
Oh, the things I’ve seen during these painful years
The most beautiful days I’ve seen in my land,
I’ve dreamed only about our house.
I beg of you, please don’t call me “refugee.”
The reason why I write these sad things
Is that living a meaningless life is like hell.
What I really want to say is:
I beg of you, please don’t call me “refugee.”
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Langston Hughes’ famous text I Dream A World, has been set here by the young composer Connor J. Koppin (b. 1991) for SATB choir divisi with piano, viola, and cello. Commissioned by the Cedar Falls, Iowa, Community School District in memory of their elementary school vocal teacher, Benjamin Bartlett, whose children play these instruments. Tonight we perform it with piano, cello and guitar. The composer chose this text because he felt that it expressed the character of the teacher whom it honors: “He demonstrated kindness towards all those whose paths he crossed. He was compassionate, resourceful and, above all, inspired young people to sing with hearts and voices as one.”
I Dream a World
I dream a world where man
No other man will scorn,
Where love will bless the earth
And peace its paths adorn
I dream a world where all
Will know sweet freedom’s way
Where greed no longer saps the soul
Nor avarice blights our day.
A world I dream where black or white,
Whatever race you be,
Will share the bounties of the earth
And joy, like a pearl,
Attends the needs of all mankind-
Of such I dream, my world!
In the Bleak Midwinter by Gustav Holst. This lovely carol serves as a moment of reflection and rest.
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One Voice was composed by Ruth Moody and originally performed by The Wailin’ Jennys. This piece has the character of a Celtic folk song with one solo vocal line, then two, then three lines harmonizing in perfect union. It has attracted much attention and has been given many different versions by various choral groups, such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Our version tonight uses our musicians on harp, guitar and cello as accompaniment and our first sopranos for the solos. We invite you to sing with us on the repeat if your heart so desires! “This is the sound of all of us! Singing’ with love and the will to trust. Leave the rest behind, it’ll turn to dust. This is the sound of all of us!” And that sound is good!
One Voice
This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me singing with you
Helping each other to make it through
This is the sound of voices two
This is the sound of voices two
This is the sound of voices three
Singing together in harmony
Surrendering to the mystery
This is the sound of voices three
This is the sound of voices three
This is the sound of all of us
Singing with love and the will to trust
Leave the rest behind it will turn to dust
This is the sound of all of us
This is the sound of all of us
This is the sound of one voice
One people, one voice
A song for every one of us
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice