As I selected the repertoire for this program, I wanted to present a narrative of themes that are personal and at the same time universal. For many, summer provides a change of routine, vacation time, and opportunities for travel and perhaps solitude. Given time to reflect, a change of scenery, and presented with the natural beauty that surrounds us in the summer months, I felt this program emerge: Longing– Songs of Nature, Love and Devotion.
A walk through the woods or a hike up a mountainside trail; an early morning run on the beach or a sunset stroll by the lake; a fragrant garden or a rushing river. Our senses are filled with the sights, sounds, and smells of creation. We almost can’t help meditating on the meaning of life, what it means to be human, and what is means to love and to be loved.
This afternoon’s choral selections, presented in this lovely acoustic, draw us together in this longing, and we desire to be closer to God and closer to our families and loved ones, and to know ourselves more clearly.
Yet more than only nostalgic and personal, the choral repertoire presented today also explores the universal. Beginning with early style periods and simpler textures, it progresses through many stages of music history, eventually embracing contemporary styles and more complex uses of rhythm, melody, dynamics, and greater diversity of vocal lines.
The concert is divided into three uninterrupted sets.
The opening set of sacred music includes two pairings of chants with other pieces, to highlight the theme of longing and devotion. The first chant, Adoro te devote (“I devoutly adore you”), is a communion hymn. An interesting image in the third verse is that of the Pie pelicane (“Holy Pelican”). The reference is to the mother pelican, who in times of famine will pierce her own chest to nurture and sustain her young with her own blood. This chant is paired with Sicut Cervus, Palestrina’s setting of Psalm 42 (“As the deer longs for running water”).
The chant pairing that follows later in the set begins with Salvete Flores Martyrum (“All hail, ye infant Martyr flowers”), a text about the Slaughter of the Innocents, when Herod ordered all of the children under two years of age killed in an effort to kill Jesus before he could escape Herod’s jurisdiction. Especially in these times of conflict and war and crimes against children, this poignant text about the loss of innocent lives provides a dramatic prelude to the pure and innocent strains of Jesus Christ the Apple Tree.
The second set of music deals with romantic love and love of family. Sometimes playful, as in the dance-like Walking on the Green Grass, and sometimes passionate, as in My Spirit Sang All Day, romantic love often thrives in summer.
The French and German songs provide a little more serious reflection on romance: the anguish of unreturned affection in Contre qui, Rose; love for family (the sentimental connection between mother and child in So weich und warm), and the fear of losing a loved one (Du bist wie eine Blume).
The final four songs are accompanied by piano (and one with an added violin). A Summer Night, and You, and Paradise is a setting of portions of a poem by Garrison Keillor called “Here on a Summer Night.” The Keillor poem was first presented a year ago in Salt Lake City, UT, on the Prairie Home Companion’s “Summer Romance Tour.” This choral setting, by Ben Kornelis (Director of Choral Activities at my Alma Mater, Dordt College), has not yet been performed for a live audience; tonight’s performance is the premiere.
You Were the Wind, by David N. Childs, was commissioned by Griffin Choral Arts in Season 5 and premiered in May, 2012. The piece juxtaposes two separate poems of Sara Teasdale, creating a complex and heart-rending emotion while also depicting the heights of love “living in light.”
GCA audiences will remember composer Kevin Memley, whose works were featured last season in October (Autumn) and December (Gloria in excelsis for organ brass, and percussion). Moonlight and Rain was composed for his wife for their eleventh wedding anniversary.
Sting’s Fields of Gold closes the concert. This pop song from 1993 sounds like it could be a Celtic folk song. The ballad-like lyrics create a storybook image of lovers courting and eventually enjoying the sight of children playing in the fields at sunset.
–Steve Mulder
Special Thanks to Rev. Nancy Shepherd and St. George’s Episocpal Church for hosting this concert. Thanks also to Cherry Searcy, Alice Blake and the GCA Board, Earl and Patti Morrow, Reid Lukat, Griffin FUMC, Emma Jones, Elaine Krugman, and Chuck Cook.
Texts and Translations
Adoro te Devote
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas,
Quæ sub his figuris vere latitas;
Tibi se cor meum totum subjicit,
Quia te contemplans totum deficit.
I devoutly adore you, O hidden Deity,
Truly hidden beneath these appearances.
My whole heart submits to you,
And in contemplating you,
It surrenders itself completely.
Visus, tactus, gustus in te fallitur,
Sed auditu solo tuto creditur.
Credo quidquid dixit Dei Filius;
Nil hoc verbo veritátis verius.
Sight, touch, taste are all deceived
In their judgment of you,
But hearing suffices firmly to believe.
I believe all that the Son of God has spoken;
There is nothing truer than this word of truth.
Pie Pelicane, Jesu Domine,
Me immundum munda tuo sanguine:
Cujus una stilla salvum facere
Totum mundum quit ab omni scelere.
Lord Jesus, Good Pelican,
wash me clean with your blood,
One drop of which can free
the entire world of all its sins
Jesu, quem velatum nunc aspicio,
Oro, fiat illud quod tam sitio:
Ut te revelata cernens facie,
Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ. Amen
Jesus, whom now I see hidden,
I ask you to fulfill what I so desire:
That the sight of your face being unveiled
I may have the happiness of seeing your glory. Amen.
Sicut Cervus
Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum,ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.
As the deer longs for running water, so longs my soul for you, O God.
If Ye Love Me
If ye love me, keep my commandments,
and I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another comforter,
that he may bide with you forever,
e’en the spirit of truth.
Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy’s Sake
Lord, for thy tender mercy’s sake lay not our sins to our charge, but forgive that is past, and give us grace to amend our sinful lives: to decline from sin and incline to virtue, that we may walk in a perfect heart before thee now and evermore. Amen.
Salvete Flores Martyrum
Salvete flores martyrum,
quos lucis ipso in limine
Christi insecutor sustulit
ceu turbo nascentes rosas.
Hail, martyr blossoms,
Whom on the very threshold of light (life)
Christ’s persecutor destroyed,
As a whirlwind destroys budding roses,
Vos prima Christi victima,
grex immolatorum tener,
aram sub ipsam simplices
palma et coronis luditis.
You the first to be victims for Christ,
A tender flock of sacrificial lambs,
Innocently you play before the very altar
With the palm and crowns of martyrdom.
Jesu, tibi sit gloria,
qui natus es de Virgine,
cum Patre et almo Spiritu,
in sempiterna saecula. Amen.
O Jesu! born of Virgin bright,
Immortal glory be to Thee;
Praise to the Father infinite,
And Holy Ghost eternally. Amen.
Jesus Christ the Apple Tree
The tree of life my soul hath seen,
Laden with fruit, and always green,
The trees of nature fruitless be,
Compared with Christ the apple tree.
His beauty doth all things excel,
By faith I know, but ne’er can tell,
The glory which I now can see,
In Jesus Christ the apple tree.
For happiness I long have sought,
And pleasure dearly I have bought;
I missed of all but now I see
‘Tis found in Christ the apple tree.
I’m weary with my former toil,
Here I will sit and rest awhile;
Under the shadow I will be
Of Jesus Christ the apple tree.
This fruit doth make my soul to thrive,
It keeps my dying faith alive;
Which makes my soul in haste to be
With Jesus Christ the apple tree.
O Lord, Increase My Faith
O Lord, increase my faith, strengthen me, and confirm me in thy true faith; endue me with wisdom, charity, and patience. In all my adversity, teach me to say “Amen.”
Walking on the Green Grass
Walking on the green grass, walking side by side, walking with a handsome beau, I shall be his bride.
Now we form a round ring, the men are by our sides, dancing with a handsome beau, I shall be his bride.
Now the king upon the green shall choose a girl to be his queen (la, la, la, la, la, la, la),
lead her out his bride to be,
and kiss her-one, two, three.
Now take him by the hand, your king,
And let him swing you ‘round the green.
Oh, now we’ll go around the ring, and every one will swing.
Contre Qui, Rose
Contre Qui, Rose, avezvous adopté ces épines?
Against whom, rose, have you assumed these thorns?
Votre joie trop fine vous atelle forcée de devenir cette chose armée?
Is it your too fragile joy that forced you to become this armed thing?
Mais de qui vous protège cette arme exagérée?
But from whom does it protect you, this exaggerated defense.
Combien d’ennemis vous aije enlevés qui ne la craignaient point?
How many enemies have I lifted from you who did not fear it at all?
Au contraire, d’été en automne, vous blessez les soins qu’on vous donne.
On the contrary, from summer to autumn you wound the affection that is given you.
So weich und warm
So weich und warm hegt dich kein Arm
Als die Mutter dich umfängt,
Kein Trost so traut dich übertaut,
Als wenn ihr Aug’ an deinem hängt.
No arm embraces you more gently and warmly than when your mother cuddles you.
No comfort is as familiar to you as her eyes resting on you.
Drum sei gesinnt als gutes Kind, dass dich die Mutter sterbend segnet ein:
Sonnst ob auch Lieb und Freundschaft blieb. Bist dennoch mutterseelenallein.
Therefore try to behave like a good child, so that when she dies, she can bless you;
Otherwise, even if love and friendship should remain,you will yet be utterly alone without your mother’s soul.
Und wenn ergreist in treuem Geist du manch’ ein Jugendbild bewahrst,
Vor Allem hoch beglückt dich doch, Dass deiner Mutter Kind du warst.
And when you have become very old in faithful spirit, holding on to a memory from your youth,
Most of all, it will make you happy that you were your mother’s child.
Du bist wie eine Blume
Du bist wie eine Blume, so hold und schon und rein; ich schau dich an, und Wehmut schleicht mir ins Herz hinein.
O you are like a flower, so fair and pure and fine; I look at you and sorrow steals through this heart of mine.
Mir ist also ob ich die Hande aufs Haupt, dir legen sollt, betend, dass Gott dich erhalte (so hold und schon und rein).
I long to give you a blessing, my hands upon your head in prayer, praying that God may preserve you (so fine and pure and fair).
My Spirit Sang All Day
My spirit sang all day, O my joy.
Nothing my tongue could say, only My joy!
My heart an echo caught, O my joy,
And spake, Tell me thy thought,
Hide not thy joy.
My eyes gan peer around, O my joy,
What beauty hast thou found?
Shew us thy joy.
My jealous ears grew whist; O my joy
Music from heaven is’t, sent for our joy?
She also came and heard, O my joy,
What, said she, is this word? What is thy joy?
And I replied, O see, O my joy,
‘Tis thee, I cried, ‘tis thee:
Thou art my joy.
A Summer Night, and You, and Paradise
A summer night, and you, and paradise,
So lovely and so full of grace,
Above your head, the universe has hung its lights,
And I reach out my hand to touch your face.
I believe in impulse, in all that is green,
Believe in the foolish vision that comes true,
Believe that all that is essential is unseen,
And for this lifetime I believe in you.
All of the lovers and the love they made:
Nothing that was between them was a mistake.
All that we did for love’s sake,
Is not wasted and will never fade.
Oh love that shines in every star
And love reflected in the silver moon.
It is not here, but it’s not far.
Not yet, but it will be here soon.
You Were the Wind
A little while when I am gone
My life will live in music after me,
As spun foam lifted and borne on
After the wave is lost in the full sea.
You were the wind and I the sea —
There is no splendor any more.
I have grown listless (as the pool)
By the shore.
A while these nights and days will burn
In song with the bright frailty of foam,
Living in light (before they turn)
Back to the nothingness that is their home.
Moonlight and Rain
The moonlight gleams to Earth
and my love draws near to you.
The rain falls gently down
and my soul is poured in you.
Let the very air I breathe
be the blanket of your skin,
and the music in my depths
be the song in your heart.
For I am moonlight, and I am rain,
and my love will travel to the end of ends.
For I am moonlight, and I am rain…
And you, my dear, are my love.
