The Lone, Wild Bird - David N. Johnson
Elijah: "Cast Thy Burden Upon the Lord"
- Felix Mendelssohn
Bryn Calfaria - Ralph Vaughan Williams
Hymns: #450 Coronation, #307 Bryn Calfaria, #182 Truro
The music this past week didn’t quite turn out to be what I
had planned but I was pleased with the flexibility and adjustments that we
made. Originally the plan was for French and English music but rather than
Poulenc and Handel we presented Johnson and Mendelssohn.
The choir presented David N. Johnson’s (1922-1987) classic
anthem The Lone, Wild Bird. Johnson
received his initial training at the Curtis Institute before enlisting in the
army in 1942. Upon his return he studied at Trinity University and then here in
Syracuse with famed professor, Arthur Poister. In 1967 he succeeded Poister as
professor of organ at Syracuse University where he served for only two years
before moving to Arizona to teach at Arizona State University at Tempe. Johnson
was inspired to right this piece after seeing a solitary bird miles from shore
on a trip from Los Angeles to Bombay. He adapted the Henry Richard McFadyen poem “The Lone, Wild Fowl” and set it
to the Sacred Harp tune “Prospect.” This piece is accessible and adaptable for
choirs at every level and is well crafted, making it a standard of the choral
canon.
Cast Thy Burden upon
the Lord is a quartet from the first part of Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847)
epic oratorio Elijah. The simple
chorale serves as a reminder to Elijah that God will provide for him and look
after him despite his feelings of loneliness and abandonment. The chorus is
accompanied very simply with strings and a solo flute arpeggio. As with many of
the choruses from this work it’s hard not to turn my mind to the notion that
this oratorio was performed in concentration camps during WWII. This must have
served as a powerful reminder to the people that had lost all hope that God
would provide for them.
The organ music of Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911) occupies a
unique place in the canon of organ literature. His pieces range from simple but
colorful versets and pieces from the “Practical Organist” which are virtually
sight-readable to large complicated sonatas and programmatic pieces. The “Adagio”
from his Sonata No. 3 in c minor is a
simple piece that exploits the lush strings and celestes (stops that are tuned
slightly sharp to creating a soft undulating effect) of the Cavaille-Coll
organs. The piece utilizes gradual shading of dynamics while employing the
terraced dynamics which are an innate part of the organ’s design. The piece
jumps from one manual to the next in increasing volume before reducing the
dynamics to finish with only the softest stops of the swell division.
The postlude is Ralph Vaughan Williams’(1872-1958) setting
of Bryn Calfaria, a Welsh hymn tune
by William Owen (1813-1893).
This piece is reminiscent of the large “praeludia” of the North German School
opening and closing with large free gestures. The middle section is a much
stricter fugue which moves from the soft stops of the choir to the high pitched
stops of the swell before moving to the great and closing with the same
gestures which began the work. This setting captures the majestic grandeur of
this great hymn.
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