The chorus had two concerts scheduled for the weekend before Christmas. The first went off without a hitch on Saturday, December 19. Though snow had been predicted to begin that evening, the concert organizers correctly guessed that the snow would not really begin to fall until after concert-goers were safely home. Though I had planned to attend, I was more intimidated by the impending snow and stayed home, thinking I would attend the afternoon concert on Sunday, December 20. The concert was not scheduled until 4 PM, and I figured that all the snowplows would have made their rounds by then.

It was not to be. The snow was deep and snarled a lot of holiday plans. I did not even get my own car dug out until the next day, Monday, late in the morning. The second Cantus Novus concert was canceled, and I was so disappointed. I was looking forward to hearing this new a cappella group, especially since I knew they were singing “Il Est Né, le Divin Enfant” one of my favorite Christmas carols, which I thought would be particularly fine sung by a chorus.

After their original decision not to reschedule because it would have to be after Christmas, Cantus Novus did reschedule, for yesterday afternoon, January 17, deciding that the local audience would still appreciate a Christmas concert almost a month after the holidays, that Christmas cheer would warm even a cold January night.

I was happy to attend. For me, and for many others, the month or so leading up to the Christmas holidays is a blur of activity. Though we complain, every year, about signs of the holiday season arriving earlier and earlier, with holiday displays even before Halloween in some stores, it always seems that there is not enough time for the things that matter: unhurried time with friends and family; personal celebrations, whether spiritual or secular; and enjoying the music of the season, sung or played properly and enjoyed without distraction, not just drifting overhead as we frantically shop.

Perhaps because I resist the early arrival of Christmas, it often seems to me that the season is actually too short. Christmas concerts begin in November and there are so many, it is simply impossible to attend them all. Most are over two weeks before Christmas, no doubt to give all the local amateur singers and musicians time off during the holidays. So, just when I am ready to celebrate the holidays, the concert season is over, and, all too soon, it is time to ring in the new year and go on with our normal, non-festive lives.

So, it was a pleasure to attend yesterday’s Christmas concert, to finally hear the carol that had been in my head for the last month, “Il Est Né,” even though we are well into the new year. The audience in the small and intimate St. Joseph’s Church in Woods Hole apparently agreed. Cantus Novus had eliminated the sing-along portion of the program (“Angels We Have Heard on High,” “Silent Night,” and “Deck the Hall”), thinking we, the audience, would not want to sing Christmas carols so long after the holiday. I was disappointed–all that beautiful singing does inspire one to vocalize–and several people in the audience complained, in a good-natured way, that they wanted to sing too.

It is a singing-kind-of-town! We are blessed with a multitude of fine amateur choral and instrumental music groups in Falmouth and the rest of the Cape. Cantus Novus is a wonderful addition to the mix; they will soon begin rehearsing for their spring concert, and I am pretty sure there will be a sing-along.

Mastersingers by the Sea, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, in Delightful Performance of “The Creation”

By MARILYN J. ROWLAND

Franz Josef “Papa” Haydn would have been proud to hear the performance of one of his masterpieces, “The Creation,” by the Mastersingers by the Sea and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra at St. Barnabas Church in Falmouth last week. It was a delightful performance, well orchestrated by David MacKenzie, who conducts both the Mastersingers and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra.

“The Creation” is the Biblical story of the first seven days of the world, beginning with chaos and ending with Adam and Eve optimistically setting forth.

It is an oratorio, which, like an opera, involves an orchestra, chorus, and soloists, but, unlike an opera, is presented as a concert, not as a theater piece. Oratorios have a basic story, but no acting, complicated plot, or scenery, and their subject matter is often, as in this work, religious.

Dr. MacKenzie, in his lively pre-concert talk, conveyed Haydn’s religious beliefs and his feelings about the significance of this piece well, and he seemed just as enthusiastic about the work, telling the story with humor and breaking into song himself at times to illustrate a point.

Dr. MacKenzie noted that the libretto, or text, for the oratorio was based on the Bible and on John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” and had been offered to George Frideric Handel 50 years earlier. Haydn, who had been inspired to write an oratorio after hearing Handel’s “Messiah,” in England, brought the English text back to Austria and had it translated in German. He then wrote the music, and, finally, had the text translated back into English. The work took two years to write; Haydn finished it in 1798, having, by his account, prayed for guidance from God every day during that time period. It is considered the first bilingual work, written with the intention of being performed both in German and in English.

The Mastersingers performed the English version, a simple and elegant statement of Haydn’s strong religious beliefs, and his joy and wonder in the Creation. The work, in three acts and numerous recitatives (speech-like singing), arias (melodic singing), and choruses, is presented largely by three angels—soloists John Murelle, baritone; Rebecca Grimes, soprano; and Thomas Oesterling, tenor—accompanied by orchestra and chorus. The soloists represent the angels Raphael, Gabriel, and Uriel, who tell the story of the creation with joy and childlike wonder.

The soloists were well-suited for their roles, particularly Mr. Murelle, whose angel Raphael told most of the story, and who also sung the part of Adam. His voice is warm, rich and powerful, but not overwhelming, and he sang with dramatic flair, using facial expressions as well as his voice to convey meaning.

Ms. Grimes sang her part, the angel Gabriel, expressively, and with a smile, her voice blending well with the chorus and orchestra, and with the other soloists. She did a particularly good job with the birds, her words echoed by the woodwinds. She also sang the part of Eve, harmonizing well with Mr. Murelle’s Adam.

Mr. Oesterling sang the part of Uriel, his voice strong and clear. I particularly liked his introduction of Adam and Eve, and his somewhat sad recitative on the “happy pair.”
Haydn’s work is cheerful and uplifting, and he uses the technique of tone-painting, using the music to illustrate the meaning of the text. The overture, “Representation of Chaos,” reflects this vividly, making use of vague and unresolved harmonies to represent the angel Raphael’s words, “the earth was without form and void.” Individual instruments attempt to establish a melody, but fall back into the churning chaos. Finally, powerful chords are played, “and then there is light.”

As the Earth is created, the orchestra provides the sounds of rain, hail, and “the light and flaky snow,” and, later, the moon and stars, the birds of the earth, and all living creatures, giving all the instruments: flutes, oboes, bassoon, cellos, and others, a chance to replicate the sounds of the lark, the “adoring coos of the turtle dove” (nicely expressed by Ms. Grimes), the nightingale, the roaring lion, the tiger, the “nimble stag,” the “fleecy gentle sheep,” and the “host of insects.” The last brought a laugh from the audience, as did Mr. Murelle’s slow, deep, dramatic reference to the creeping in, “with sinuous trace” of the worm.

The intimate setting, with the orchestra in the center and the chorus divided on either side, and the soloists in front, may have been a little crowded for the musicians, but it provided a lovely visual image for the audience, and the performers played and sang with spirit and professionalism.

The talents of the orchestra, consisting of 33 members of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, were shown off well by “The Creation,” giving them opportunity to express the energy and vitality, the softness and expressiveness, and the reverence and majesty of the piece. The 29-member chorus was magnificent as well, especially in two fugal sections in the beginning and, later, when the choir creates a pizzicato-style accompaniment to the singers.

My only complaint, and this should be directed to Haydn, not to the Mastersingers, was that the chorus was not heard often enough. The chorus, either alone, or supporting the soloists, provided a powerful sound of its own, well conveying the work’s of awe and inspiration.

There will be more of the chorus in the fall. The Mastersingers by the Sea, which was itself created only this past fall, has provided the Upper Cape with an opportunity to hear a varied collection of outstanding choral and instrumental music this season, and next season’s schedule includes concerts on November 8 and 9 and February 28 and March 1; an Elizabethan feast on December 16; and another oratorio, Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” on May 8, 9, and 10, 2009.

Those interested in participating in the chorus, may arrange for an audition on May 10, noon to 3 PM, at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church by contacting Judy Willis at 508-548-3992.

Theater:

“Inventing van Gogh” at the Cotuit Center for the Arts

“Enchanted April” at Cape Cod Community College

“Little Women, the Musical” at Harwich Junior Theater

“Wizard of Oz” at Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center, Hyannis

Music:

Mastersingers by the Sea, with members of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s “The Creation,” at St. Barnabus Church, in Falmouth, Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon

Falmouth High School Evening of Jazz, Lawrence Junior High School, Saturday evening

Cape Cod Symphony’s Young Artists’ Competition, Barnstable High School, Knight Auditorium, Hyannis, Sunday afternoon

Festivities:

“Open Spaces II” art exhibit, Highfield Hall, Falmouth, through May 1. Opening reception Sunday, April 6, 2:30 to 4 PM.

Clownfish Rapper Sword Dancing fundraiser, Liam Maguire’s, Falmouth, Sunday afternoon, April 6, 3 to 5 PM at Liam Maguire’s, 273 Main Street, Falmouth.

The Chorale is also welcoming new members, including those who want to try out . Rehearsals for this event begin Tuesday, April 8, at 6:30 PM at the John Wesley United Methodist Church, at the corner of Jones and Gifford Streets. There is a $15 participation fee, which includes music.

Following is my recent review of the Falmouth Chorale:

Chorale’s ‘Te Deum’ A Glorious Finale

Posted in: Entertainment
By MARILYN J. ROWLAND
Originally posted: Mar 20, 2008 – 2:27:25 PM

John Yankee directed the Falmouth Chorale and Orchestra in an exhilarating performance of Fauré’s “Requiem” and Dvorak’s “Te Deum” this past weekend at St. Patrick’s Church on Main Street in Falmouth, and he seemed just as pleased and awed with the magnificence of the performance as the audience was. The chorale and the orchestra complemented each other well, bringing out the best in each other.

As Robert Wyatt pointed out in his informative and animated pre-concert lecture, Mr. Yankee creatively chose to pair two very different pieces of music written within a few years of each other by two composers who were contemporaries of each other, and who rose to celebrity at about the same time, in their late 30s. The pieces complement each other: Fauré’s calmly beautiful celebration of death, and Dvorak’s more spirited interpretation of an early Christian hymn of praise, “Te Deum Laudamus.” Also on the program was the wonderfully festive “Slavonic Dance Op. 46, No. 4 in F major.”

Gabriel Fauré did not write his “Requiem in D minor,” one of his best-known compositions, for anyone in particular. He is quoted as saying he composed it “for nothing…for fun, if I may be permitted to say so.” He saw death as a “happy deliverance, an aspiration toward the happiness above, rather than as a painful experience,” and the “Requiem” reflects this peaceful, serene mood.

Originally composed in 1887-1888, the piece was not initially well received, and Fauré revised it, adding two movements that had traditionally been spoken parts at a funeral and increased the orchestral instrumentation twice by 1890. The Falmouth Chorale performed one of the early revisions of the work, with a limited range of instrumentation, contributing to the ethereal beauty of the performance and evoking a feeling of tranquility, the quiet passion of chorus supported by the deep resonant sound of the low strings.

This version of the “Requiem” included seven movements, the most famous of which is the soprano aria, “Pie Jesu.” Mr. Yankee’s decision to have the aria sung by a boy soprano was an excellent one. Benjamin Young, a Lakeville seventh grader, sang it angelically, with a delicate, vulnerable quality, emphasizing its simplicity and pureness.

Philip Lima sang the baritone solo, with full, rich, and dramatic tone in the “Offertorium” and in the “Libera Me,” his voice filling the church over the pizzicato strings, and the horns adding drama and strength to the chorus. This was Mr. Lima’s first performance with the Falmouth Chorale, and it was a wonderful introduction to his substantial talents as a singer.

After intermission, the orchestra returned with Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance, Op. 46, No. 4 in F major,” a delightful waltz-like piece, both graceful and exuberant. Dvorak composed his Slavonic dances in response to Johannes Brahms’s suggestion that he create a set of Czech dances similar in spirit to Brahms’s own Hungarian dances. Dvorak used Brahms’s dances as a model and incorporated characteristic Czech rhythms in his dances, but made up his own melodies to express both the essence of the Czech character and his own feelings. The dances, originally written for piano and later orchestrated, brought Dvorak to prominence.

The final piece on the program, Dvorak ‘s “Te Deum,” was the pièce de résistance of the evening. Written in 1892, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, the piece was first performed in New York in October of that year (on the same program was Dvorak’s Slavonic Dance No. 4) with a chorus of 250 singers, conducted by Dvorak himself. The 65 members of the Falmouth Chorale brought the “Te Deum” to life in glorious style, aided by a strong performance by the 36-member orchestra, and outstanding solos by Mr. Lima and soprano Martha Evans, who is well-known to Falmouth Chorale and Cape Cod Opera audiences for the extraordinary range and power of her voice.

The four movements of Dvorak’s “Te Deum” are written in symphonic form, beginning with a fast movement, followed by a slow one, then a scherzo-like movement, and ending with an energetic finale. Most of the piece is sung and played at full volume and with celebratory spirit. Ms. Evans’s solos were exquisite, the woodwinds responding to her phrases nicely. Mr. Lima was also excellent, his solos supported by trombones and, later, by low strings and woodwinds. That followed by a duet was extraordinary, and the audience responded enthusiastically with a much-deserved standing ovation for all performers.

The program notes were well prepared, providing not only background material on the music and the performers, but also the words, in both Latin and English, to both the “Requiem” and the “Te Deum.” It was also good to see that Frederick Johnson, the former director of the Falmouth Chorale, has been honored with a new $1,000 Falmouth Chorale scholarship named after him.

Coming up this weekend are several performances by Mastersingers by the Sea, directed by David MacKenzie. He is also the conductor of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, which will be playing with the chorale, in a performance of Haydn’s “Creation” at Saint Barnabus Episcopal Church, 91 Main Street, Falmouth on Saturday, April 5, at 8 PM, and Sunday, April 6, at 3 PM. The chorale and orchestra will also perform on Friday, April 4, at 8 PM at the Fireman Center for Performing Arts in Marion. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance at Eight Cousins Bookstore and the Inkwell Bookstore in Falmouth and at the Market Street Bookstore in Mashpee Commons, or online at Mastersingers by the Sea.

The performance will feature three soloists, Rebecca Grimes, soprano, Thomas Oesterling, tenor, and John Murell, baritone. The oratorio celebrates the creation of the world as described in the Book of Genesis.

Two sources of information on the “Creation” are Wikipedia and Music with Ease.