John Gouwens Oakland University, July 31, 2020
NOCTURNE, OP. 20 ...... John Gouwens (2005) (born 1957) Like many of the piano nocturnes (pieces creating a night-like atmosphere) of Chopin and John Field, this piece features a gentle repeating pattern (ostinato) accompanying a lovely, lyric theme. Such pieces are typically in ABA form, with a middle section that is more agitated in character, with the A section “imperfectly remembered” when it returns. The harmonies and dramatic key changes are fitted particularly for the unique qualities of carillon bells.
AIR WITH VARIATIONS, FOR HARPSICHORD ...... George Frideric Handel (Transcribed by Milford Myhre) (1685–1759) In addition to being a major composer of operas and oratorios, Handel made important contributions to the organ and harpsichord repertoire. Typical of the form, each variation involves faster and faster patterns of notes, with the original air returning at the end.
SUITE NO. 4 ...... John Courter (2009) Celebration (1941–2010) Chanson triste Toccata festiva John Courter was Organist and Carillonneur at Berea College, Berea, Kentucky. In addition to being a talented, sensitive player, he was a splendid composer for the carillon, with a long series of commissions. Suite No. 4 was in fact last work Courter completed for carillon; it was commissioned by Grand Valley State University, which has carillons on its campuses in Allendale and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The opening movement, Celebration, passes through many moods right from the start. A series of contrasting themes are presented and developed somewhat, suggestive of a sonata form but freer in structure. The second movement, Chanson triste (Sad Song – sounds a little better in the French), is a slowish, waltz-like piece, with the main theme, though somewhat songlike, being quite chromatic. The final section features a brilliant flourish that runs up to the higher ranges of the carillon and back. The final movement, Toccata festiva, is in a cheerful major sonority again. Both the melody and the accompanying figuration at the beginning section are predominantly pentatonic (the same scale one would arrive at by playing only on the black keys of a piano). The return of the opening section brings the movement, and the Suite overall, to an appropriately bright conclusion.
THAT’S AMORE ...... Harry Warren (1953) (Setting Improvised by the Performer)
PASSACAGLIA ...... Josef Lerinckx (1953) (1920–2000) Josef Lerinckx was a priest and music professor from Mechelen, Belgium. Later in his career, he also become a carillonneur. He composed many carillon pieces, but this piece, which won honors in a composition contest in 1953, is definitely his masterpiece. A Passacaglia is a set of variations built over an 8-measure theme played over and over, usually in the bass. Lerinckx took some liberties with the form, greatly embellishing the theme itself, presenting it in canon, often changing the tempo in the process. In this superb piece, Lerinckx took the tremolando, the reiteration of notes in a chord in the manner of a drum roll (used constantly in Flemish carillon music), and used it as a means to create some very expressive, impressionistic effects.
JESU, JOY OF MAN’S DESIRING ...... J. S. Bach (Transcribed by Albert Gerken) (1685–1750)
A SUMMER’S NIGHT ...... John Pozdro & John Gouwens (completed 2003) (1923–2009; born 1957) John Pozdro was for many years chairman of the Department of Music Theory and Composition at the University of Kansas. Working over the years with two of America’s finest carillonneurs, he was motivated to write several beautifully- crafted pieces for the instrument, perfectly fitting the character of the carillon. I approached him about commissioning a piece for my own use. He sent me several pages of sketched-out ideas, but then ran into some delays. With his permission, I undertook to draw from those ideas, add my own ideas, and finish the piece. We were both astonished with the results of that effort, and soon we were collaborating most congenially to put the finishing touches on the piece. Neither of us had ever done a collaborative composition like this before, but we were thrilled with the result! This remains my favorite composition in the entire carillon repertoire. During the course of the piece, the music represents gathering clouds, the first appearance of stars, a shooting star, a “Dance of Venus,” a brief thunderstorm, appearances of the moon, a meteor shower, and a comet shooting across the sky and disappearing with a flicker.
O SOLE MIO ...... Eduardo di Capua (Setting by John Gouwens) (1865–1917)
Program notes by John Gouwens
ABOUT THE PERFORMER
John Gouwens served for 39 years as Organist and Carillonneur of the Culver Academies, Culver, Indiana, also serving as choir director during many of those years. A former student of Albert Gerken, he studied carillon at Indiana University, The University of Michigan, and The University of Kansas, and holds music degrees from the latter two schools. He has played recitals on many important carillons throughout the United States and Canada, including performances at fourteen congresses of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America (GCNA) and at a congress of the World Carillon Federation. He has made seven European concert tours, playing recitals in Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Belgium, and The Netherlands. His playing has been broadcast in several programs of Pipedreams, on Public Radio International. Gouwens’s organ teachers included Richard Carlson, Clyde Holloway, Robert Clark, and Robert Glasgow. He also studied carillon with Albert Gerken. He served several terms as dean of chapters of The American Guild of Organists. He has been involved for many years playing and at times teaching on the carillons of Ball State University and Indiana University. He now serves as organist and carillonneur of The Presbyterian Church and organist-choirmaster of Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church, both in La Porte, Indiana. He also teaches campanology (the historical and technological aspects of bells) for the North American Carillon School, which is headquartered in Springfield, Illinois. In addition, he is active as a consultant on carillon installations, working with a variety of bellfounders. Mr. Gouwens is a Carillonneur Member of the GCNA (Guild of Carillonneurs in North America), where for twenty- eight years he chaired a committee that organized composition competitions and commissioned new works for the carillon. He twice hosted congresses of the GCNA at Culver, and has won two composition competitions himself, notably the “Jef Denÿn” Prize in the 1992 competition sponsored by the Royal Carillon School of Mechelen. He also served in the past as a judge on the Student Examinations Committee of the guild. He continues to serve as a member of the Music Publications Committee of the GCNA, charged with selecting compositions for publication by the guild. Many of his carillon compositions have been published by the GCNA and by American Carillon Music Editions, Inc. He has produced four CD recordings of the organ and carillon of Culver, which are available for sale. In 2003, he wrote the first American carillon teaching book, Playing the Carillon: An Introductory Method, published by The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America, now in its fifth edition; in 2013, he wrote a textbook, Campanology: A Study of Bells, with an Emphasis on the Carillon.