Click here to load reader
Upload
ngokhanh
View
214
Download
2
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Program One
MIM 2014 ‐ ‐ May 24 – Spring Chorus Concert
THE RENAISSANCE period in music [1430‐1650, according to the
Harvard Dictionary of Music] began in England with composer John
Dunstable. But what about the other Renaissance ??? You know, the
one that started in the early 20th Century and saw the rebirth of English
composition? It was the one that started with Sir Edward Elgar, Gustav
Holst and his good pal Ralph Vaughn Williams and included Walton,
Tippett and Britten ‐ ‐ and perhaps a bit of Andrew Lloyd Weber ???. As
for RVW [1872‐1958] – he had a good start, being descended from the
famous English Wedgwood and Darwin families. He entered the Royal
College of Music in 1890 where he met Holst. Cambridge Trinity
College came next where he received degrees in both music and
history. He returned to the Royal College where he studied with Sir
Charles Stanford ‐ ‐ it was during this time that his interest in English
Folk Music began to develop ‐ ‐ an interest that was to be with him for
the rest of his life. In 1897 he married and began composing and
lecturing.
In 1915 German bombs fell on England and by the time WWI ended
over 8 million would perish. RVW volunteered and served in the
Ambulance Corps for a period. This experience sensitized him to the
horrors of war and firmed his belief that music was a means to preserve
civilization. This conviction was among many that served as a basis for
his cantata, DONA NOBIS PACEM first performed in 1936 ‐ ‐ an
empathetic cry to a world faced with yet another catastrophic crisis.
DONA NOBIS PACEM ‐ ‐ Grant us Peace
The cantata is comprised of the following sections ‐ ‐
Agnus Dei [Lamb of God} A soprano solo is joined by a choral
plea for peace‐ drums echo fortelling war.
Beat! Beat! Beat! This portion is from a Walt Whitman
poem based upon his service in the U.S. Civil War and
conveys the violence and futility of war.
Reconciliation – this section continues the Whitman poem and offers
the hope that time will bury the negativity of war.
Dirge for two Veterans ‐ a mother watches over the
funeral procession for her husband and son, killed
together in war.
The final two sections are taken from “The Angel of Death”, a
lamentation on war deaths and the conclusion based on biblical sayings
urging peace and the Glory to God. The Soprano’s echoing plea of
Dona Nobis Pacem is a warning to mankind to avoid warfare.
Ralph Vaughn William made his statement on the futility of war when
he wrote Dona Nobis Pacem in 1936. Benjamin Britten reinforced this
position just 26 years later when he composed his monumental War
Requiem. To bad the world wasn’t listening.
And so it goes……………….
Jack Roberts