Program Notes, Texts, and Translations

Our Spring 2024 program embraces the power of music to foster joy, hope, and healing. We invite you to explore with us music of different genres, styles, cultures, and historical eras, which highlights this common thematic thread. As composer Marques L.A. Garrett emboldens us: “Let joy come from deep within, from the assurance that who you are is enough. Because of that, you can sing your song of joy.”

Locus iste, WAB 23, Anton Bruckner

Anton Bruckner, a prolific organist, singer, teacher, choral director, and composer of the 19th century, wrote his motet Locus iste in 1869. Today, the motet is among some of his most oft-performed a cappella concert selections. Bruckner was a composer involved in the Cecilianism movement, which represented a revival of interest in Palestrina and other music of 16th century Renaissance polyphonic composers. The motet begins with a simple, calming C major chord, after which the choir’s spacing grows and the harmony becomes increasingly chromatic. At the center of the motet, the texture thins as the voices quietly declare, “irreprehensibilis est” (“it is without reproach”). The final section of the motet returns to the original C major as the choir repeats, “locus iste a Deo factus est” (“this place was made by God”).

Sing Out, My Soul, Marques L.A. Garrett

Conductor, educator, composer, vocalist, and clinician Marques L.A. Garrett wrote his energetic and moving piece, Sing Out, My Soul, in 2020. A native of Virginia, Dr. Garrett is now based in Texas, where he serves as Associate Professor of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas. The jubilant, exclamatory setting of the text “Sing out, my soul, your songs of joy” in the A section pairs meaningfully with the slightly slower, more contemplative, minor-mode setting of the B section text, “Think not of death… Strive not for gold…” About his piece, he writes:
“The opening line of the poem by William Henry Davies calls out to our souls to sing. While there are many things about which we can be happy, these days of heavy social media involvement and constant comparisons to other people require that we remind ourselves that it is not about the outside that matters. The inside—our hearts, minds, and soul—is who we are. Let joy come from deep within, from the assurance that who you are is enough. Because of that, you can sing your song of joy.”

A Little Jazz Mass, Bob Chilcott

Having served as a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King’s College, Cambridge, and as a member of the King’s Singers, British composer and conductor Bob Chilcott has been deeply involved in choral music for much of his life. Originally written in 2004 for the Crescent City Choral Festival in New Orleans, A Little Jazz Mass is one of Chilcott’s most often performed works today. Chilcott is no stranger to jazz, having performed with artists including George Shearing, Richard Rodney Bennett, John Dankworth, Art Farmer, and the WDR Big Band. He sets the traditional Latin Missa brevis (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, but no Credo) for choir, piano, bass, and drums, the piano, bass, and drums evoking the ambiance of a jazz trio. John Bawden writes:

“A relaxed, easy tempo Kyrie is followed by a Gloria with driving, upbeat outer section enclosing a lyrical central section. The music of the Sanctus could be described as a ‘jazz lullaby’; the Benedictus ups the tempo a little, building to a strong forte for the ‘Hosanna’. Clearly inspired by the blues, the Agnus Dei reaches a powerful climax at ‘Dona Nobis pacem’ (‘grant us peace’) before arriving at a peaceful conclusion.”

Special thanks to John Bawden (MMus) for his permission to quote his program note on the Mass.

Samaia, Traditional Georgian folk song

Samaia is a traditional folk song from Kartli-Kakheti, an eastern region of the Republic of Georgia. Georgia has one of the oldest traditions of polyphonic singing in the world. This piece exhibits the most common form of Georgian song, both folk and sacred: a three-part unaccompanied texture. Traditionally, folk songs like Samaia were performed at celebrations and supra feasts (at intervals between wine-drinking, toasting, and eating delicious food), sung by families or other small groups. The upper two voice parts would be performed by soloists while the bass part could be performed by either one person or a larger group. Samaia is about three sisters, or maias, who sing and hope for boys to come and connect with them.

Cantique de Jean Racine, Op. 11, Gabriel Fauré

In 1865, at the age of just 19, French composer and organist Gabriel Fauré wrote his Cantique de Jean Racine. The piece, written for a composition competition at his school, the École Niedermeyer, was awarded first prize. The Cantique sets a text by 17th-century French poet Jean Racine, “Verbe égal au Très-Haut,” which serves as a translation of the Latin Ambrosian hymn, “Consors paterni luminis” (“O Light of Light”). With its balanced, symmetrical structure and long, luscious melodies, the work both recalls the simplicity of Classical forms and demonstrates the expansive expressivity of the Romantic era. Due to its stylistic similarities with Fauré’s Requiem, the two pieces are often performed together.

Songs for the People, Melissa Dunphy

Philadelphia-based composer Melissa Dunphy specializes in vocal, political, and theatrical music and teaches composition nearby at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts. Dr. Dunphy wrote Songs for the People in 2022, a piece that sets to music a poem by Francis Ellen Watkins Harper, a Black writer, abolitionist, suffragist, and progressive activist from the 19th-century. The piece echoes the styles of 19th-century hymns and with its shifting tonalities and gripping moments of harmonic tension and resolution, takes the listener on an emotional journey through Harper’s words. Dr. Dunphy writes: 

“[This piece] is a hymn to the power of music to energize, heal, and bring communities together; I could not resist adding music to these words, which are just as relevant today as we face our modern struggles as they were during the turmoil of Reconstruction and the inequalities of the Gilded Age."

This semester, Philomusica had the privilege of connecting on Zoom with Dr. Dunphy and hearing about her passion for creating political music and opportunities to encourage empathy and healing through music.

I Believe, Mark A. Miller

Composer, performer, and professor Mark A. Miller is passionate about music’s ability to inspire and to change the world. He wrote his beloved piece I Believe in 2012 for choir and piano. The piece sets to music words that were scratched on the wall of a cellar in Cologne, Germany by a Jew hiding there during World War II. The words symbolize strength and hope in the face of the most horrifying of circumstances.

Lovely Day, Words and Music by Bill Withers and Skip Scarborough, arr. Robert T. Gibson

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist, and producer Bill Withers has made his mark as one of America’s most esteemed creators of R&B and soul music. Some of his most popular hits include “Ain’t No Sunshine,” “Lean on Me,” “Just the Two of Us,” and the song we are performing this weekend, Lovely Day. Much of his music has been sampled by other artists including Kendrick Lamar, Tupac, and Jennifer Lopez. Lovely Day was written by Withers and Skip Scarborough and was first released as a single in December 1977. With its soulful verses and celebratory refrains, the song exudes love and optimism. Philomusica has particularly enjoyed performing this arrangement of the piece created by Robert T. Gibson with our guest artists on piano, electric bass, and drums.