Vespers
December 3, 2025 7:00 p.m.
Cole Memorial Chapel | Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts
Wheaton Chorale & Chamber Singers
Alexandra Lutkevich, conductor
Notes to the Audience:
Please help us maintain the spirit of the Vespers tradition:
• Please reserve all applause until following Garrett’s Earth Song toward the end of the program.
• Kindly silence your cell phones
• During the carols, please stand as you are able and join us in singing!
Thank you!
Chorale:
Emily Bellows
Amanda Bergeron
Marin Binder
Jaxson Borges
Mia Boudreau
Jill Brown
Mallory Canning
Caleb Cascio
Pierce Connolly
Hayla Davis
Lucy Dibble
Chamber Singers:
Marin Binder
Mia Boudreau
Mallory Canning
Caleb Cascio
Pierce Connolly
Leo Edwards
Jacob Goldman
Lily Hazelbaker
George Lane
Annabel Morris
Aidan Strovnik
Owen Dietrich
Aud Dodge
Loic Ebelle
Leo Edwards
Sydney Esper
Maggie Gould
Lily Hazelbaker
Wheaton has celebrated the holidays in song and verse for more than eighty years. Over the decades, the Vespers concert has evolved with the increasing diversity of the college to include a wide range of music and writings, both sacred and secular, from varied cultures and traditions. In recent years, our Vespers concerts have featured music from six continents and ten centuries.
This year, we are pleased to present pieces and poetry to you centered on the theme of love, in both the most intimate and most broad senses.
We hope that you enjoy the program, and wish you a wonderful holiday season.
Vespers Thanks to:
All of the musicians and readers who joined us in performance this evening, Jessica Kuszaj, Kristina Kalogeras and the Arts Office for help with programs, publicity and logistics, George Lane for their tireless work as Chorale Assistant, and a huge thank you to Yuri Son, our amazing collaborative pianist, for her guidance and extensive work with the students.
Gareth Jones
Dorothy Joseph
George Lane
Annabel Morris
El Parks
Kira Powell
Susana Quintas Bosz
Aidan Strovnik
Fern Tamagini-O’Donnell
Serafina Velazquez
Anna Willi
Reymond Woessner
Anya Yigit
Fern Tamagini-O’Donnell
Reymond Woessner
Alexandra Lutkevich, director
Instrumentalists:
Yuri Son*, piano
Juan Mesa*, organ
Sheila Falls-Keohane*, violin
*indicates Wheaton faculty
Readers:
Jonathan Millen
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Michaele Whelan
President, Wheaton College
Suite “Euterpe” from Musicalischer Parnassus
Johann K. F. Fischer (1656–1746)
Praeludium
Allemande
Menuet
Chaconne
—Juan Mesa, college organist
Angels We Have Heard On High
Music: Gloria, arr. Edwin S. Barnes (1887–1958)
Insanae et Vanae Curae
Music: Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Text: Unknown
I Would Like to be Deaf to the World’s Noise
Vittoria Colonna (1490–1547)
—Jonathan Millen, reader
I Love All Beauteous Things
Music: Judith Weir (b. 1954)
Text: Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
Insanae et vanae curae invadunt mentes nostras; saepe furore replent corda, privata spe.
Quid prodest O mortalis conari pro mundanis, si coelos negligas. Sunt fausta tibi cuncta, si Deus est pro te.
Insane and useless worries invade our minds; often fury fills the heart, deprived of hope.
What good, O mortal, to strive for worldly things, if you neglect the heavens? All things work in your favor, with God on your side.
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Music: Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900)
Text: Edmund Sears (1810–1876)
Sure on This Shining Night
Text: James Agee (1909–1955)
Music: Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
The Coolin from Reincarnations, Op. 16
Text: James Stephens (1880–1950), after the Irish of Raftery
Music: Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Nearness of the Beloved (Nähe des Geliebten)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) tr. Richard Wigmore
Quartette, Op. 92
Music: Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
1. O schöne Nacht
Text: Georg F. Daumer (1800-1875)
O schöne Nacht!
Am Himmel märchenhaft
Erglänzt der Mond in seiner ganzen Pracht; Um ihn der kleinen Sterne liebliche Genossenschaft.
Es schimmert hell der Tau
Am grünen Halm; mit Macht Im Fliederbusche schlägt die Nachtigall; Der Knabe schleicht zu seiner Liebsten sachtO schöne Nacht!
2. Spätherbst
Text: Hermann Allmers (1821–1902)
Der graue Nebel tropft so still Herab auf Feld und Wald und Heide, Als ob der Himmel weinen will In übergroßem Leide.
Die Blumen wollen nicht mehr blühn, Die Vöglein schweigen in den Hainen, Es starb sogar das letzte Grün, Da mag er auch wohl weinen.
—Jonathan Millen, reader
O lovely night!
tr. Emily Ezust
O lovely night!
In the heavens, the moon gleams magically in all its splendour; about it, the sweet comradeship of tiny stars.
The dew glimmers brightly on the green blades of grass; with great power, the nightingale sings out in the elder-bush; the young man steals quietly to his sweetheartO lovely night!
Late Autumn tr. Emily Ezust
The grey mist drops down so silently upon the field, wood and heath that it is as if Heaven wanted to weep in overwhelming sorrow.
The flowers will bloom no more, the birds are mute in the groves, and the last bit of green has died; Heaven should indeed be weeping.
3. Abendlied
Text: Frederich Hebbel (1813–1863)
Friedlich bekämpfen
Nacht sich und Tag. Wie das zu dämpfen, Wie das zu lösen vermag!
Der mich bedrückte, Schläfst du schon, Schmerz? Was mich beglückte Sage, was war’s doch, mein Herz?
Freude wie Kummer, Fühl’ ich, zerrann, Aber den Schlummer Führten sie leise heran.
Und im Entschweben, Immer empor, Kommt mir das Leben Ganz, wie ein Schlummerlied vor.
4. Warum?
Text: J.W. von Goethe (1749–1897)
Warum doch erschallen
Himmelwärts die Lieder?
Zögen gerne nieder Sterne, die droben Blinken und wallen, Zögen sich Lunas Lieblich Umarmen, Zögen die warmen, Wonnigen Tage Seliger Götter Gern uns herab!
Evening Song tr. Emily Ezust
Peacefully does night struggle with the day: How to muffle it, how to dissolve it.
That which depressed me, are you already asleep, o Pain? That which made me happy, say, what was it, my heart?
Joy, like anguish, I feel has melted away, but they have gently invoked slumber instead.
And as I float away, ever skyward, it occurs to me that life is just like a lullaby.
Why?
Tr. Emily Ezust
Why then do songs Resound heavenward? They would gladly lure down The stars, which Gleam and wander above; They would entice Luna’s Lovely embraces, And invoke the warm, Blissful days Of blessed godsGladly would they do this!
Rock of Ages, Let Our Song
Music: Maoz Tsur, German synagogue melody
Text: Chanukah text, Leopold Stein (1810–1882)
On the Beach
Mary Oliver (1935–2019)
—President Michaele Whelan, reader
Five Hebrew Love Songs
Music: Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)
Text: Hila Plitmann (b. 1973)
1. Temuna הנומת
Temuná belibí charutá; Nodédet beyn ór uveyn ófel: Min dmamá shekazó et guféch kach otá Usaréch al paná’ich kach nófel.
2. Kala Kalla הלכ הלק
Kalá kallá Kulá shelí.
U’vekalút Tishák hí lí!
3. Larov רלבו
“Laróv,” amár gag la’shama’im, “Hamerchák shebeynéynu hu ad; Ach lifnéy zman alu lechán shna’im, Uveynéynu nishár sentiméter echád.”
4. Eyze Shelleg! הזיא גלש Éyze shéleg!
Kmo chalamót ktaním Noflím mehashamá’im.
5. Rakut תוכר
Hi haytá kasha.
Vechól káma shenistá lehishaér kach, Pashút, uvlí sibá tová, Lakách otá el toch atzmó, Veheníach Bamakóm hachí, hachí rach.
A Picture
A picture is engraved in my heart; Moving between light and darkness: A sort of silence envelops your body, And your hair falls upon your face just so.
Light Bride
Light bride
She is all mine, And lightly
She will kiss me!
Mostly
—Caleb Cascio, tambourine
“Mostly,” said the roof to the sky, “the distance between you and I is endlessness; But a while ago two came up here, and only one centimeter was left between us.”
What Snow!
What snow!
Like little dreams
Falling from the sky.
Tenderness
—Mallory Canning, soloist
He was full of tenderness; She was very hard.
And as much as she tried to stay thus, Simply, and with no good reason, He took her into himself, And set her down in the softest, softest place.
Invitation to Love
Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
—President Michaele Whelan, reader
The Lesson
Music: Marques L.A. Garrett (b. 1984)
Text: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872–1906)
An Earth Song
Music: Marques L.A. Garrett
Text: Langston Hughes (1901–1967)
On This Day, Earth Shall Ring
Text: Piae Cantiones 1582, tr. Jane M. Joseph (1894–1929)
Music: Personent hodie, melody from Pies Cantiones, 1582
In dulci jubilo (BWV 729)
J. S. Bach (1685–1750)
—Juan Mesa, college organist