Central City Chorus Is a Nonsectarian Amateur and the New England Biolabs Foundation
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entral city chorus Central Presbyterian Church 593 Park Avenue, New York City Sunday, May 16, 1999, 7 pm Cor mei cordis Patricia Van Ness In the clearing Kenneth Fuchs b. 1951 b. 1956 1. Fleo 1. Hannibal 2. Tu e s m e a i n f a n s 2. Devotion 3. Cor mei cordis 3. Stars 4. Una nos ambulabimus in silva 4. Fireflies in the garden 5. Tu e s m e a i n f a n s 5. Nothing gold can stay Amen Interval Requiem in d: Faces of aids David Friddle b. 1960 1. Introit & Passacaglia 2. Damon—1984 portrayed by Christopher Erickson, Rolando Garcia & Corey Stoll Psalm 22 3. Solomon—1986 portrayed by Joey Landwehr Solomon’s Song 4. Christine—1988 portrayed by Candice Rankin & Victoria Ward O vos omnes 5. David—1989 portrayed by Arthur French Sanctus & Benedictus 6. Vicki—1990 Agnus Dei-Pie Jesu-Into paradise Gale Limansky, soprano All proceeds from this concert will be donated to the aids Susan Lewis Phyllis Jo Kubey People With Health Group, a treatment educa- soprano mezzo-soprano tion organization, to advance its work with families David Vanderwal Jeffrey Morrissey and children. tenor baritone Wa r re n D a v i s , lighting designer William-Kevin Young, director This concert is generously underwritten by Central David Friddle, conductor Presbyterian Church. ly for unaccompanied choir as a kind of test; these self-imposed lim- Notes on the Program its also helped me manage this large project, which took more than three years to complete. or mei cordis was written in 1994 as a compositional exercise The Introit is redolent of plainsong, alternating between a using chant as the basis for harmonic structure. For chant melody sung by the men and a type of musical treatment Cinstance, a portion of the second movement chant is the har- common in 15th-century France called fauxbourdon. In modern monic basis for the fourth movement polyphony. I was drawn to terms it generally denotes harmonic progressions based on parallel chant-based methods of composing after hearing and analyzing a sixth chords, although I have taken great liberty with this defini- piece of music, Libera nos, salva nos, by John Sheppard (1515-1559). tion. The two styles merge at the movement’s end and lead into the This work, written for seven voices, uses augmented chant in the Kyrie, which is designated Passacaglia. bass and is to my ears an exquisite example of chant-based polypho- Because the Kyrie eleison is a repeated prayer, mantra-like, I ny. chose to set the prayer for mercy to a form that inherently repeats. The text of Cor mei cordis was written as part of my ongoing The Spanish term Passacaglia literally means “alley walking” and exploration into my concepts of the nature of God. In particular, derives from 17th-century Spain. Strolling minstrels would walk the text is meant to affirm that illness, pain and suffering do not the alleyways with their guitars and improvise variations to a repeat- come from God and are in fact lamented by God, and that, regard- ed bass figure, known in later music as a “ground.” Hence, the less of the good or evil that befalls us, we are beloved. melodic figure for the Kyrie is sung and resung by the voices, while —Patricia Van Ness the lower men’s parts sing a kind of drone/rhythmic pulse. The soprano solo in the Christe, set atop a similar drone, is indicated to obert Frost’s evocative and gentle poems provide the per- be sung in the “style of a Gypsy;” that is, freely and with great musical fect sensibility for musical setting. The selection of poems abandon. I also introduce a kind of sprechstimme, speaking words in a Rfor In the clearing are, on one level, about nature and a walk loud whisper-like tone for percussive effect. The movement closes through the seasons, fall to spring. On another level, they are about with an integration of figures from the soprano solo with the reca- the impermanence of the world around us and, perhaps, the uncer- pitulated Kyrie. tainty we often feel in our relationships to other people and the Following the Anglican tradition, the Psalm is set to a newly things we cherish. In the clearing was premiered by Coro Allegro of composed chant. I chose this compositional method to accentuate Boston in May 1995. the natural rhythms of the Psalm. Solomon’s Song is a study in con- —Kenneth Fuchs trapuntal writing—whereby the voices imitate one another, varying the intervals somewhat to allow the piece to move and uring the 1980s I saw a number of my classmates, profes- grow. The middle section, “I must arise now…” is more fugal in sional colleagues and friends felled by the modern nature; having seven beats per measure allows the text’s own rhyth- aids Dscourge called . Not until the early 1990s were any mic dominance. There is a brief reprise of the opening section with compostions created to honor and mourn those who had perished a surprise ending, designed to leave this poignant text with an from this disease. The genesis of my own memorial, Requiem in d: equally poignant musical conclusion. aids Faces of , came in 1991. Oddly, the monologues came before the The Sanctus and Benedictus are built harmonically on an aug- music; indeed, these poetically inspired texts influenced the selec- mented triad, which provides both the tonal foundation for the tion of texts and the overall structure of the work until its movements and the basis for the fugal “Pleni sunt cæli.” I set the completion. Benedictus for a solo quartet and once again used the sprechstimme in The characters represent various facets of the HIV communi- the final “Hosanna.” I chose to combine the Agnus Dei, Pie Jesu and ty: Damon is a composite of any number of gay men in the Into Paradise so that I could bring together all of the separate choral mid-1980s who endured circumstances equally tragic during the ensembles used previously in the work’s final movement: chorus, Reagan administration; Solomon, as a married straight man pines quartet and soloist. The alternation of the Agnus Dei and Pie Jesu for the lost love of his life just as many husbands and wives pine in seemed perfectly natural, and led easily into the Into Paradise, which later years of this epidemic; Christine speaks for two classes of given the nature of Vicki’s monologue, is set as a simple lullaby. women: the affluent and beautiful who are nothing more than sexu- Because I was fascinated with how both the word “Requiem” and al objects to men, and the downtrodden, riddled with addiction and “Jerusalem” end with the same sound, the work ends as it began, at the mercy of indifferent strangers for mere survival. The tradition- with the chant-like Requiem melody. al Old Testament story of King David and his son Absalom recasts Michelangelo’s famous Pietá—the Virgin Mary holding her dead —David Friddle son—into a Pietó, the father holding his lifeless child, lamenting the words he wished he had spoken while the boy lived. Finally, Vicki is redolent of the myriad children brought into the world infected with hiv and the particular tragedy we survivors experience at their demise. Musically speaking, the structure of the individual movements varies considerably, as do the styles. I purposely chose to write strict- 2 Texts & Translations COR MEI CORDIS HEART OF MY HEART Fleo I weep Fleo, mei lacrimant oculi; I weep, my eyes weep; Lacrimæ cadentes deorsum Tears fall from my eyes Et ab oculis meis profundunt. And flow down. Sursum verto vultum meum ad plumbei cæli formam I turn my face upward to the beauty of the leaden sky Ubi pluvia gracilis incidit Where fine rain falls Ad meas mille lacrimas. Upon my thousand tears. Tu es mea infans You are my child Tu e s m e a i n f a n s , Yo u a re my c h i l d , Proles meus animæ, The creation of my soul, Cantus purissimi auri A song of purest gold Volitans in crepusculo. Floating in the twilight. Fleo te et dolorem tuum, I weep for you and for your sorrow, Fleo formam vitæ tuæ, fleo vires tuas, For the beauty of your life, for your strength, Fleo timorem oculos implentem. For the fear that fills your eyes. Cor mei cordis Heart of my heart Cor mei cordis, Heart of my heart, Tu habes cor animumque tuum. You have your own heart and soul. Sed si tu ad me venis But if you come to me Fovebo te curaboque te, I will cosset you and care for you, Lavabo in aqua te rosacea I will bathe you in rosewater Involvamque te in pannis suaviter redolentibus And wrap you in sweet-smelling clothes Atque ad labra tua mel adducam And bring honey to your lips Et panem calidum ac lactem frigidulum levemque. And warm bread, and milk, smooth and cool. Nam te cognovi For I have known you Atque nomen tuum insparavi And have breathed your name, Mi carissimi My dearest one, Infans mei cordis. The child of my heart. Una nos ambulabimus in silve We will walk together in the forest Cantus purissimi auri. A song of purest gold. Una nos ambulabimus in silva We will walk together in the forest Apud arbores cornos suspensas Among the suspended dogwood trees Ubi flores in vespertino volitant Where blossoms float in the dusk Aequæ luminosis gemmis.