Fountain in a Wood From Walden to Loch Lomond Saturday, May13, 2017, 4:00 pm Trinity Episcopal Church 81 Elm Street, Concord, MA concordwomenschorus.org Concord Women’s Chorus presents Fountain in a Wood From Walden to Loch Lomond Jane Ring Frank, Artistic Director Scott Nicholas, Pianist With special guest artists Jennifer Slowik, Oboe Johann Soults, Cello This program is generously supported in part by an Alfred Nash Patterson Grant from Choral Arts New England, and by grants from the Acton- Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, and Lincoln local cultural councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. President’s Letter Become a Sponsor We wish to thank the following individuals for their support of today’s Welcome, spring! It never gets old, the sense of freshness and promise concert and our long-term and season initiatives: imbued in warming, flowering surroundings and the glorious songs of Fund to Commission New Music birds – Emerson’s “sky-born music.” Each May we relish our chance Ted Danson to join the music by performing for you. As always, we thank you for Anne Hayden and Ivan Burns being an essential part of this lively dynamic. Music Library Fund Kimberly Fox and Robert Fink As the title of our program suggests, we are celebrating a poetic con- Guest Artist Sponsors Tom and Barbara Beal nection between New England and Scotland. Between these places we Walter and Susan Birge feel the consonance of rigor and natural beauty, of history and au- Susie Buttrick thenticity, of a pond and a loch. At the end of June, we will trace the Philip and Barbara Carvey Judy Marriner connection even further as we embark on a performance tour to the Corporate Sponsors Lake District of England and to Scotland. The Village Bank Kimberly Napier LLC – Elevate Your Extraordinary™ This spring, something truly new has come to life for Concord Wom- Please consider supporting a specific program or project of the en’s Chorus, and we are thrilled to share it with you today. A special Concord Women’s Chorus. Your help will enable us to: commission – The Tree House, by Beth Denisch – is ours to experience • Commission new music composed for women’s voices together for the first time. Inspired by the poetry of Kathleen Jamie, • Expand CWC staff by establishing an intern/mentoring program this work brings an original, rich, robust spirit to the repertoire of mu- • Record a professional CD sic written for women’s voices, a mission prized by our chorus. In this For further information about becoming a sponsor, please contact spirit, with great warmth and affection, we dedicate The Tree House to Patsy Eickelberg (978-369-6341). Thank you for helping us enrich our programming, expand our repertoire, and reach out to the broader Jane Ring Frank, who this fall begins her 25th season as artistic direc- community. tor. It never gets old, singing for you! We are grateful for your presence Our Special Thanks To: and wish you the liveliest of springs. Paul Anagnostopoulos, printing Rick Krug, printing Stoney Ballard, graphics and audio recording Sincerely, The Reverend Sarah A. Conner, Interim Priest, and Robert Barney, Director of Music, Trinity Episcopal Church Patrons who generously supported us in Walk for the Arts Concert Program LOCH LOMOND WALDEN POND Skye Boat Song Scottish Folk Song/arr. Greg Gilpin, 2003 Address to the Moon [2011] Music by John Purifoy Words by Sir Harold Boulton (1859-1935) Words by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) Stone Circles [2008] Words & Music by Anne Lister Birds of Passage [2016] Music by Tara Traxler (b. 1993) Edited by Joseph Ohrt, 2016 Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82) Chant for a Long Day [1999] Alway Something Sings [2015] Music by Dan Forrest (b. 1978) Words & Music by Stephen Hatfield (b. 1956) From “Music” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) Waly, Waly traditional Scots ballad Arranged by Joan Szymko, 2001 On Children [1981] Music by Ysaye M. Barnwell (b. 1946) Words by Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) Wanting Memories [1992] Words & Music by Barnwell The Tree House [world premiere] Music by Beth Denisch (b. 1958) Breaths [1980] Music by Barnwell Words by Kathleen Jamie (b. 1962) Words by Birago Diop (1906-89) “Landfall” “The Orchard” “Alder” Please join us in the Parish Hall following the concert INTERMISSION for refreshments and conversation. Choose the lambs too weak for the winter, Program Texts Choose your lambs true believer. Spin the thread for ever and ever. Words by Sir Harold Boulton (1859 – 1935) Skye Boat Song Out of death and out of birth, Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing, Out of fire and out of water Onward, the sailors cry. daughter of an ancient earth. Carry the lad that’s born to be king Over the sea to Skye. Once we washed our souls in the river, I am the mermaid, I am the siren, Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar, sowed the corn and prayed for the harvest, Thunderclouds rend the air; I am the queen who sings in the tower, Baffled, our foes stand on the shore, Follow they will not dare. killed the lambs too weak for the winter, I am the moon shining in winter, Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep, I am the rose that lasts an hour. Ocean’s a royal bed. Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep Tell me what my work is worth, Watch by your weary head. and tell us what we should have taught her, daughter of an ancient earth. Stone Circles Words by Anne Lister Stars hang in a barren tree, Nobody is an island; sickle moon to reap the harvest. there’s no way you can cut free. Daughter of a world to be. Nobody is an island; there’s no way you can be cut off by sea. Still we give our lives to the river, Still we give our lives to the harvest, And ev’rything I do touches you, Still we give our lives to the winter. and ev’rything I am you hold in your hand. And it seems to me that we are standing stones; I’m the mermaid, I am the siren, there’s no way that we can ever be on our own. I’m the queen who sings in the tower, And even if at times it seems that we are all alone, I’m the moon that shines in the winter, we’re in stone circles marking time of standing stones. I’m the rose that lasts an hour. Nobody’s an outsider, Tell me when my work is done. there’s no way you can cut loose Tell us when a life is over. Nobody’s an outsider, Daughter of a world to come. there’s always some way to pay your dues. The circle stands for ever, Waly, Waly Traditional Scots ballad there’s no angle there to chip or break. The circle stands for ever, The water is wide, I cannot get o’er, there’s no straight line to show a slight mistake. and neither have I wings to fly. Give me a boat that will carry two, The wind blows from the hillside, but we stand firm and we do not bend. and both shall row, my true love and I. The wind blows from the hillside, There is a ship and she sails the sea, a circle is a pattern with no end. She’s loaded deep as deep can be, You mustn’t break the circle; But not as deep as the love I’m in. there’s no easy way to be released. I care not if I sink or swim. We mustn’t break the circle; I put my hand into some soft bush, and if we stand together we’ll find peace. thinking the sweetest flow’r to find. Chant for a Long Day Words by Stephen Hatfield (b. 1956) I pricked my finger to the bone, And left the sweetest flow’r behind. Hóró hùg o hùg Here we wash our souls in the river, Oh love is handsome and love is kind, wash your soul true believer. and love is sweet when it is new. Sow the corn and pray for the harvest, But love grows old and waxes cold, sow your corn true believer. And fades away like morning dew. The Tree House Words by Kathleen Jamie (b. 1962) Address to the Moon Words by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 – 64) “Landfall” How sweet the silver Moon’s pale ray, Falls trembling on the distant bay, When we walk at the coast O’er which the breezes sigh no more, and notice, above the sea, Nor billows lash the sounding shore. a single ragged swallow Say, do the eyes of those I love, veering towards the earth – Behold thee as thou soar’st above, and blossom-scented breeze, Lonely, majestic and serene, can we allow ourselves to fail The calm and placid evening’s Queen? “The Orchard” Say, if upon thy peaceful breast, Departed spirits find their rest, Here is the late half-land For who would wish a fairer home, where the underworld, Than in that bright, refulgent dome? the moon-shadow of an apple tree is a darkness, like the earth Birds of Passage Words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 82) we’re called from – Black shadows fall silent but for a hush From the lindens tall, That lift aloft their massive wall like heavy skirts; Against the southern sky; women, perhaps, passing And from the realms on the far side of a wall Of the shadowy elms whom we may call A tide-like darkness overwhelms our history; or a vole, The fields that ‘round us lie.