San Francisco Girls Chorus

I composed Program Notes for a San Francisco Girls Chorus concert in April, 2016. The are printed below or can be downloaded as a PDF here. To purchase tickets or for more information, visit www.sfgirlschorus.org

*Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to these notes. All rights of my work for San Francisco Girls Chorus belong to the San Francisco Girls Chorus Organization exclusively. Sharing my work for said organization here follows fair use of copyrighted material.*

About the theme of our concert, the “Canon”:  

This evening’s concert focuses on the development of the musical form, or procedure rather, known as the canon. Although archaic in its origins, the canon has managed to make frequent and prominent appearances throughout all periods of Western music. Many of the masters admired the canon—its strict yet manipulative nature, complex sound yet simple design. It works by first presenting a melodic line. Before the line finishes however, another voice enters mimicking it. The resulting texture is overlapping lines of the same music. This pattern can continue by strictly employing the formula. But, as you’ll hear, composers usually leave their mark with subtle changes and clever ideas. 
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Veni Mater Gracie—Dou Way Robin                                                  Anonymous

English medieval motet intended for Advent. A simple pattern is set up as the basis, making this humble song quite captivating.

Ma fin est mon commencement - Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377),  arr. Alexander Blachly

One of the first significant composers, Machaut was a French medieval composer and poet. His work was important to the development of choral forms and text setting. He wrote the text for most of his works, this one included. The title translates to “My end is my beginning”, which is a clever comment on the musical structure. 

Gloria ad modum tubae - Guillaume Du Fay (c. 1397–1474), arr. Alexander Blachly

Guillaume Du Fay is among the earliest composers of the Renaissance Era. A Franco-Flemish composer born in modern-day Belgium, Du Fay was integral to the development of polyphony (a musical texture with multiple melodic lines, like a canon) and is a member of the Burgundian school of composers.

About the arranger of these two works: Alexander Blachly is a musicologist and choral director at the University of Notre Dame. Blachly’s research is in the area of Early Music and he is an active arranger of music from the Medieval and Renaissance periods. 

Selection of canons from The Ten Commandments of the Arts and other secular canons                                                                                                                       Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) 

Joseph Haydn grew quite fond of the canon later on in his career. He composed fifty-seven of them, some of which he admired enough to have framed and hung-up around his studio. “The Ten Commandments” are the most famous from this collection, each being a setting of all ten commandments in German. In 1792, Haydn sent the first canon in this collection to Oxford University as a thank you for the doctorate of music they bestowed upon him. 

In Meeres Mitten                                                           Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

“In Meeres Mitten” is a canon for six-part women’s chorus. The last piece from a book of 6 Romances, this was the only one that Schumann set in canonic form, providing no piano accompaniment. 

Panis Angelicus                                                                     Cesar Franck (1822–1890)

One of Franck’s most famous works, “Panis Angelicus” has appeared on classical and pop concerts alike. The text is apart of a larger Feast Hymn, but Franck extracted this section for a Mass he wrote in 1860.

Zwei Gesänge Op. 91, #2—Geistliches Wiegenlied       Johannes Brahms  (1833–1897)

Brahms chose unique instrumentation for the original setting of this song. The gentle warmth of the music is cradled by the cello while the female voices sustain the soft weightlessness. Brahms incorporated a German lullaby into this song, "Josef lieber, Josef mein."

13 Canons, Op. 113, #13                                                    Johannes Brahms (1833–1897) 

One of the first positions Johannes Brahms held was the director of a women’s chorus. At the age of twenty-two, it was during these years that he really sharpened his craft as a composer. The young Brahms engaged in rigorous study and produced disciplined works, some of which he wrote for his chorus; this collection of thirteen canons is a product of those critical years. The thirteenth and last canon is the centerpiece of the work; it is a double canon over a pedal, or drone, that in and of itself is also a canon. A haunting and beautiful gem. 

Geographical Fugue                                                        Ernst Toch (1887–1964)

The “Geographical Fugue” is certainly the most unique piece on our program. Written in 1930, this piece became a popular work utilizing “spoken chorus”, a new practice at the time. The fugue is similar to the canon, as it is imitative in nature. The “geographical” part to this piece comes from the text; each voice part speaks the names of different countries and states—in musical rhythm!

Snow                                                             Alan Vincent

Alan Vincent is a choral composer, conductor, and music educator. He is based in London, and most of his life’s work is devoted to youth early on in their musical careers. Although the unfamiliar word “Snow” presents a foreign weather pattern to all of us here in San Francisco, Maestro Vincent’s piece grants us a little bit of that experience.