The Zamir Chorale of Boston presents honoring Robert Snyder Joshua Jacobson, Artistic Director June 14, 2017 Temple Emanuel Newton, Mass. 1320 Centre Street, Suite 306 Newton, MA 02459 www.zamir.org • [email protected] Robert Snyder Robert Snyder graduated from Bowdoin College in 1963, where he majored in music. While pursuing a ca- reer at Sinco Inc, marketing North American, European and Asian food and non-food products on behalf of retail and foodservice clients, he has continued cultivating his musical interests with the composition of numer- ous settings for the Jewish liturgy. For over twenty-five years he has produced the David Snyder Memorial Concert in memory of his brother. His activity in the greater Boston Jewish community with his wife, Myra, has included founding two synagogues and a Jewish day school. He believes in the healing power of music and gives full support to the Zamir Chorale of Boston in fulfilling its artistic, educational and entertainment goals. He and Myra are blessed with three children and five exceptional grandchildren. Program Shir Lama’alot Essa Eynai (Psalm 121) Syrian Jewish Chant Hallel Shir V’Or Jeremiah Klarman (b. 1993) Louise Treitman and Anne Levy, soloists 1. Adonai Ori (Psalm 27) 2. Halleluyah (Psalm 150) Shir Lama’alot Essa Eynai (Psalm 121) Salamone Rossi (ca. 1570-1630) Gail Terman, soloist Jeremiah Klarman, guest pianist Lift Thine Eyes (based on Psalm 121) (from Elijah) Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) Intermission Psalm 90 Charles Ives (1874-1954) He Watching over Israel (based on Psalm 121) (from Elijah) Felix Mendelssohn Jacob Harris and Melanie Blatt, soloists Andrew Mattfeld, Assistant Conductor (1809-1847) Halleluhu (Psalm 150) Benjie Ellen Schiller (b. 1958) Chichester Psalms Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) Louise Treitman, soloist 1. Urah Ha-Nevel (Psalms 108, 100) Vera Broekhuysen, Sharon Goldstein, Steven Ebstein, Kyler Taustin, soloists Louez le Seigneur (Psalm 150) Claude Debussy (1862-1918) 2. Adonai Roi (Psalms 23, 2) Luke van Riejendam, guest soloist (Sam Higgins, understudy) Hallel 2000 Simon Sargon (b. 1938) 3. Adonai Lo Gavah Libi (Psalms 131, 133) 1. In My Distress (Psalms 116 and 118) Naomi Gurt Lind, Sharon Goldstein, Kyler Taustin, soloists Melanie Blatt, soloist 2. This Is the Day (Psalm 118) Tehillim (Psalm 150) Karl Jenkins (b. 1944) Happy Is the Man (Psalm 1) Robert Snyder (b. 1941) Thank you for turning off all cell phones Vera Broekhuysen, soloist and pagers. Photography and recording of Premiere performance this performance is prohibited. Robert Snyder, guest pianist praise Him with harp and lyre. Praise Him with drum and dance; Notes from the Artistic Director praise Him with lute and pipe. What book has ever been set to music more often than the book of Psalms? Praise Him with resounding cymbals; Jews and Christians have been interpreting these 150 songs (and they were praise Him with loud-clashing cymbals. originally songs, not poems) for thousands of years—as Gregorian chant, Let all that breathes praise the LORD. synagogue Psalmody, catchy Hallel tunes, stately hymns, and musical masterworks. Hallelujah. The English word “Psalm” is derived from the Latin Psalmus, derived in turn from —Psalm 150 the Greek ψαλμός (psalmós), a translation of the Hebrew mizmor, which originally meant “song to the accompaniment of a stringed instrument.” In fact, the name of Simon Sargon, a native of Winthrop, Massachusetts, composed his Hallel in the our choir, “Zamir,” is derived from the same root as mizmor. year 2000 for the 125th anniversary of Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, Texas. We perform tonight the last two movements of this four-movement work. This evening Zamir continues its exploration of the beauty and variety of musical In distress I called on the LORD; settings of the biblical Psalms. Our concert includes music that is meditative the Lord answered me and brought me relief. and music that is exciting; compositions by Jews and by Christians; music from The LORD is on my side, Syria, Italy, France, Wales, Germany and America; music that is old and music I have no fear; what can man do to me? that is new, including a new work composed just for this concert by our honoree, —Psalm 118:5-6 Robert Snyder. Our program begins with Psalm 121, “I raise my eyes to the hills. Where is the I love the LORD source of my help?” First we hear the Psalm, as chanted antiphonally in an for He hears my voice, my pleas; ancient cantillation from the Jews of Syria. Then in a setting by Salamone Rossi for He turns His ear to me whenever I call. in the style of the early Italian Baroque. The same text is treated by nineteenth- The bonds of death encompassed me; century composer Felix Mendelssohn in two excerpts from his oratorio Elijah. the torments of Sheol overtook me. I came upon trouble and sorrow A Psalm on the steps. and I invoked the name of the LORD, I raise my eyes to the hills. Where is the source of my help? “O LORD, save my life!” My help comes from the LORD, maker of heaven and earth. The LORD is gracious and beneficent; He will not let your foot give way; your guardian will not slumber; our God is compassionate. See, the guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps! The LORD protects the simple; The LORD is your guardian, the LORD is your protection at your right hand. I was brought low and He saved me. By day the sun will not strike you, nor the moon by night. —Psalm 116:1-6 The LORD will guard you from all harm; He will guard your life. The LORD will guard your going and coming now and forever. Praise the LORD, for He is good, —Psalm 121 His steadfast love is eternal. Then we turn to Psalm 150, in which all living things are heard in joyous praise All nations have beset me; of God. The first setting, by Zamir alumna, Cantor Benjie Ellen Schiller, features by the name of the LORD I will surely cut them down. rhythms and modes inspired by the soundscape of the Middle East. The second They beset me, they surround me; is the jubilant ending of the oratorio, The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian, by the by the name of the LORD I will surely cut them down. great French impressionist composer, Claude Debussy. They have beset me like bees; they shall be extinguished like burning thorns; Hallelujah. by the name of the LORD I will surely cut them down. Praise God in His sanctuary; This is the day that the LORD has made— praise Him in the sky, His stronghold. let us exult and rejoice on it. Praise Him for His mighty acts; You are my God and I will praise You; praise Him for His exceeding greatness. You are my God and I will extol You. Praise Him with blasts of the horn; —Psalm 118:1, 10-12, 24, 28 Robert Snyder’s love for American jazz comes through in his brilliant setting of thing!”) resonated with Ives, who believed that a composer must not be afraid words from the first Psalm (in the composer’s own translation). The ebullient “of trying to express that which he feels is far above his powers to express.” rhythms and bold harmonies portray the joy of the faith personified in the text. Of all the music that Ives composed, there was only one work with which he Happy is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, was completely satisfied. It was this setting of Psalm 90, a work that he wrote in or taken the path of sinners, 1894, at the age of 20, and then revised some thirty years later. Ives delves into or joined the company of the insolent; the meaning of each verse of the Psalm, and portrays the lyrics with bold musical rather, the teaching of the LORD is his delight, strokes. He uses colossal complex chords, but also simple unison melodies and and he studies that teaching day and night. devotional hymn tunes. On the one hand, Ives was an avant-garde musician, He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, ahead of his time, whose music was incomprehensible to his contemporaries. which yields its fruit in season, And yet, there is a beautiful naiveté to his expression, a desire to hold onto the whose foliage never fades, simple life, the culture of the village green he remembered from his childhood in and whatever it produces thrives. Danbury, Connecticut. Not so the wicked; rather, they are like chaff that wind blows away. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, Before the mountains were brought forth, nor will sinners, in the assembly of the righteous. or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, For the LORD cherishes the way of the righteous, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. but the way of the wicked is doomed. Thou turnest man to destruction; —Psalm 1 and sayest, Return, ye children of men. For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, At the age of 24, Jeremiah Klarman has already amassed an impressive array and as a watch in the night. of musical awards. His compositions have been performed by the Boston Pops Thou carriest them away as with a flood; Orchestra, The Boston Modern Orchestra Project, The Landmark Symphony, The they are as a sleep: Longwood Symphony, and the New England Conservatory Youth Orchestra. Zamir in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.