NCCO Choral Scholar Vol. 60-2

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Volume 60 | Number 2

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Table of Contents

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Executive Leadership Editor Letter NCCO10 Conference Information

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Choral Reviews Nathan Reiff, editor Contributors: Nathan Reiff, Alexandra Grabarchuk

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One Foot Is Not Both the Same: Variations in Choral Programming Philosophies and Trends Rebecca Lord, Kenneth R. Lord

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Book Reviews Andrew Crow, editor Contributors: Jessie Flasschoen Campbell, Timothy Little Trần, Andrew Martin

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David’s Reflection: A Question of Borrowing in Two Contemporaneous Swiss Choral Works Miles Canaday

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Recording Reviews Morgan Luttig, editor Contributors: Corie Brown, Ethan Murphy

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NCCO Executive Leadership

Kellori Dower PRESIDENT

Dr. Kellori Dower is the Dean of Visual and Performing Arts at Cypress College in Orange County, California. She was the director of two award-winning high school choral music programs prior to serving as Director of Choral Activities at the collegiate level. Past appointments have also included High School administrator and District Arts Administrator positions. She was the 2016 recipient of the Outstanding Music Educator Award for the California Music Educators Association.

She is an active choral composer, adjudicator and clinician. Dr. Dower’s work and research regarding culture and music led to the creation of collegiate courses in Rap and Hip Hop, Gospel Music and African American folk compositions.

Katherine FitzGibbon PRESIDENT-ELECT

Katherine FitzGibbon is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Lewis & Clark College, where she conducts two of the three choirs, teaches courses in conducting and music history, and oversees the voice and choral areas.

Dr. FitzGibbon founded Resonance Ensemble in 2009, a professional choral ensemble presenting powerful programs that promote meaningful social change.

Dr. FitzGibbon has also served on the faculty of the summertime Berkshire Choral International festival and conducted choirs at Harvard, Boston, Cornell, and Clark Universities, and at the University of Michigan. She was a previous member of NCCO’s National Board and Mission and Vision in Governance Committee.

Elizabeth Swanson VICE PRESIDENT Elizabeth Swanson is the Associate Director of Choral Studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she is the conductor of the University Choir and CU Treble Chorus, teaches courses in conducting, and serves on master’s and doctoral committees. Dr. Swanson is an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States with events planned in Arkansas, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, and New York City this year. She is currently serving in her second term as NCCO’s Vice President on the Executive Board; additionally, she is honored to have served as the chair of NCCO’s inaugural Mission & Vision in Governance Committee. Her degrees are from Northwestern University (D. Mus. Conducting), Ithaca College (MM Conducting), and St. Olaf College (BME).

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Michael McGaghie TREASURER Michael McGaghie serves as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Macalester College, where he conducts the college’s two choirs and teaches courses in conducting, musicianship, and Passion settings from Bach to the present. He also directs the Isthmus Vocal Ensemble and the Harvard Glee Club Young Alumni Chorus. His recognitions from ACDA include an invitation to conduct the Macalester Concert Choir at the 2016 North Central division conference, an ICEP fellowship to China, and the Julius Herford Prize. Prior to his elected term as Treasurer, Dr. McGaghie served on NCCO’s National Board and as an inaugural member of the Mission and Vision in Governance Committee.

Marie Bucoy-Calavan SECRETARY Marie Bucoy-Calavan has been Director of Choral Studies at The University of Akron since 2014, where she conducts Chamber Choir, Concert Choir, and teaches undergraduate– and graduate-level conducting and choral literature. She serves as secretary on Chorus America’s Board of Directors and as coordinator and chair for University Repertoire and Resources, Ohio Choral Directors Association. Bucoy-Calavan finished her BA and MM at California State University, Fullerton, and completed her DMA in Choral Conducting at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.

Jace Saplan DIRECTOR OF AFFINITY GROUPS Associate Professor Jace Kaholokula Saplan (they/he) serves as Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music Learning and Teaching and choral conducting at Arizona State University where they oversee the graduate program in choral conducting, conduct the ASU Concert Choir, and teach courses in choral literature and pedagogy that weave decolonial and critical theories with communal vocal practice. Recently, Saplan was named as the third artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington (Choral Arts DC). As a Kanaka Maoli advocate, artist, and culture bearer, Saplan is also the artistic director of Nā Wai Chamber Choir, a vocal ensemble based in Hawaiʻi dedicated to the preservation, propagation, and innovation of Hawaiian choral music.

Angelica Dunsavage CHIEF EDITOR OF PUBLICATIONS Dr. Angelica Dunsavage (she/they) serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at Tennessee State University, where she conducts the TSU University Choir and the Meistersingers and teaches courses in conducting and music education. Prior to her appointment at TSU, Angelica taught music education and choral/vocal classes at Washington State University. She received her DMA in Choral Conducting and Music Education from University of Arizona, her MM in Choral Conducting from Bowling Green State University, and her BS in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

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From the Editor

Being the Change We Seek

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Angelica Dunsavage

“I cannot be a teacher without exposing who I am.”

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—Paulo Freire

s educators, our philosophies, identities, and values imbue the work we do. The repertoire we choose and scholarship we pursue display what we acknowledge as valuable… and what we dismiss. This edition of The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review delves into trends and changes in philosophy, and what we can expect from the future of the profession.

• We recognize that the choral field has historically created divides between choral performance and education, between pre-professional and avocational choral study, and between types of post-secondary spaces.

• We acknowledge that our profession has been a site of harm for many through our colonial ideas of repertoire, pedagogy, aesthetics, and perspectives, and we envision and promote practices that foster the ongoing growth and transformation of our field.

In this edition, Rebecca and Kenneth Lord’s article One Foot is Not Both the Same highlights various philosophies when it comes to repertoire selection.

Miles Canaday’s article David’s Reflection uses analysis to determine instances of borrowing in the works of Frank Martin and Arthur Honneger.

In book reviews, recent publications by André de Quadros, Emilie Amrein, and Jason Max Ferdinand challenge the hierarchies of traditional choral performance, and call us to action for a choral field based on equity and belonging. We hope that this publication continues to expand what is possible in choral scholarship and be the changes we seek.

• We celebrate an expansive and everevolving vision of choral excellence.

At our upcoming conference, NCCO 10: Coming Home, we put our mission on display through interest sessions and posters that challenge beliefs and uplift new ideas, and panels that reevaluate current structures in higher education.

We welcome our headlines Dr. Rosephanye Powell and Dr. Kathy Saltzman Romey, as well as numerous life member recipients who will share their knowledge and engage with students. In this edition, we feature an overview of our upcoming

The Mission Statement Acknowledgements of NCCO are as follows: • We believe that the choral field and the act of singing communally can have transformative effects on society.

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values with its research. Kirsten Hedegaard’s article Environmentalism through Choral Music highlights how choral music can be a message for social change. Nicholas Sienkiewicz combines psychology with musical analysis to unpack the a review writer, or just have an idea to share, emotional impact of Considering Matthew Shepard. please We hopevisit thatncco-usa.org/publications/the-choralthis publication continues to expand scholar-american-choral-review to learn how you what is possible in choral scholarship and be the can getwe involved. change seek.

Editorial Mentor if requested.

• Submissions are now open for article ideas and works in progress. We would th like to hear a growing of conference, heldfrom November 9th–11number at Morehouse authors, particularly those who may have College. For more information on our conference, been uninspired to submit article, and including how to register, pleaseanvisit ncco10.nccocommit to guiding groundbreaking ideas usa.org/home. into publication.

Sincerely, Sincerely,

The Choral Scholar and American Choral Review • The Choral Scholar will be expanding to is always looking for new ideas and writers. If you include new methods of scholarship, areincluding interested interviews, in submittingvideos, an article, becoming creative

Angelica Dunsavage Angelica Dunsavage

Chief Editor Editor of of Publications Publications Chief

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1 0T H B I E N N I A L CONFERENCE 2023 HOSTED BY MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

RAY CHARLES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

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Featured Artists

Rosephanye Powell PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, AUBURN UNIVERSITY Rosephanye Powell has been hailed as one of America’s premier women composers of choral music. She has an impressive catalogue of works published by some of the nation’s leading publishers, including the Hal Leonard Corporation, the Fred Bock Music Companies, Gentry Publications, Oxford University Press, Alliance Music Publications, and Shawnee Press. Dr. Powell’s works have been conducted and premiered by nationally and internationally renowned conductors and have been premiered at distinguished halls around the country, including Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, Spivey Hall, and Strathmore Hall. Dr. Powell’s works have been commissioned by professional choral ensembles, including the Baltimore Choral Arts Society; Sing for the Cure (the Dallas Women’s Chorus and the Turtle Creek Chorale); Cantus, men’s a cappella vocal ensemble; and Chanticleer, the Grammy award-winning men’s vocal ensemble.

Kathy Saltzman-Romey PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, EMERITA, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Kathy Saltzman Romey is Professor Emerita of Music and former Director of Choral Activities at the University of Minnesota, where she oversaw the graduate program in choral conducting and conducted choirs for thirty years. She is also Artistic Director of the 200-voice symphonic chorus, The Minnesota Chorale, which serves as principal chorus for the Minnesota Orchestra. Known for her meticulous training of choirs, Romey has conducted the Chorale in regional, national and international forums and annually coordinates BRIDGES, the nationally acclaimed education-outreach program of the Minnesota Chorale. A passionate advocate of civic engagement, Romey documented the Bridges program in a co-authored chapter with two University of Minnesota conducting students for the 2009 book Wisdom, Wit and Will: Women Choral Conductors on Their Art published by GIA Publications.

Full Featured Artist bios here

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Interest Sessions

Click on titles for more information.

When “World Music” Hits Home: CHORAL MUSIC IN AMERICAN DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES

Speakers: Dr. Coreen Duffy, University of Montana; Dr. M. Nicole Davis, University of Arizona; Dr. Jace Kaholokula Saplan, Director of Affinity Groups

Bach, Belt, & Beyonce: AWAKENING THE SINGER’S FORMANT AS A COMMON THREAD TO REALIZE A NON-GENRE-BIASED PEDAGOGICAL PATH

Speaker: Dr. Julie Ford, Saint Mary’s College of California

Gender Issues and A Brief Introduction of Choral Literature by Eastern Asian Female Composers Speaker: Dr. Pingyi Song, Coker University

Feldenkrais Method AND MENTAL WELLBEING IN THE CHORAL ROOM

Speaker: Dr. Merrin Guice Gill, Bethel University

Singing for a Sustainable Future: HOW THE CHORAL ARTS CAN HELP ADDRESS THE CLIMATE CRISIS

Speaker: Dr. Kirsten Hedegaard, Loyola University Chicago

Preparing Students for Choral Leadership Speaker: Christie McKinney, Chorus America

Discovering the Basque Country: COMPOSERS AND REPERTOIRE FROM NORTHERN SPAIN

Speaker: Dr. Beth Gibbs, Florida Southern College

Leaders, Not Leftovers: STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING A STRONG AND INCLUSIVE TREBLE ENSEMBLE

Speakers: Dr. Hana Cai, Lehigh University, Dr. Sean Linfors, Ithaca College 7

Choral Performances

Click here for choir and conductor bios.

Morehouse Glee Club

Missouri State University Women’s Chorus

DR. DAVID MORROW, CONDUCTOR

DR. ERIN PLISCO, CONDUCTOR

Spelman Glee Club

NOTUS: Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble

DR. KEVIN JOHNSON, CONDUCTOR

DR. DOMINICK DIORIO, CONDUCTOR

Auburn University Chamber Choir

Princeton University Chamber Choir

DR. WILLIAM POWELL, CONDUCTOR

PROF. GABRIEL CROUCH, CONDUCTOR

Azuza Pacific University Chamber Singers

Queens University Royal Voices of Charlotte

DR. MICHELLE JENSEN, CONDUCTOR

DR. JUSTIN SMITH, CONDUCTOR

East Carolina University Chamber Singers

University of South Carolina Concert Choir

DR. JAMES FRANKLIN, CONDUCTOR

DR. ALICIA WALKER, CONDUCTOR

Florida State University Chamber Choir

Columbus State University Schwob Singers

DR. MICHAEL HANAWALT, CONDUCTOR

CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS CHOIR DR. DAVID HAHN, CONDUCTOR

Georgia Southern University Southern Chorale DR. SHANNON JEFFREYS, CONDUCTOR

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Masterclass

Conducting Masterclass ANTON ARMSTRONG, MASTER TEACHER Featuring selections from the new Oxford Book of Choral Music by Black Composers, ed. Marques L.A. Garrett

Anton Armstrong, TOSDAL PROFESSOR OF MUSIC

Anton Armstrong became the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin University and conducted the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA). He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor (with John Ferguson) of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy.

Active as a guest conductor in the United States and abroad, Dr. Armstrong has conducted All-State choirs and choral festivals in nearly all 50 states. Additionally, he has served as guest conductor at international choral festivals and with luminary ensembles including the World Youth Choir, the Indonesia Youth Choir, the Ansan City Choir (South Korea), the Formosa Singers (Taiwan), the Houston Chamber Choir, the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, the Phoenix Chorale, the Westminster Choir and the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Full bio

Columbus State University Schwob Signers Dr. David Hahn, DIR. OF CHORAL ACTIVITIES Schwob Singers is the premiere auditioned choral ensemble at the Schwob School of Music comprised of voice majors and other talented undergraduate and graduate students across many disciplines at Columbus State University. Repertoire selections are diverse and typically include works from the standard canon as well as contemporary choral works and premieres of newly commissioned works. In addition to national tours, Schwob Singers frequently performs for university recruiting and donor events.

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Posters

Click here for full session descriptions.

Poster with Mini Presentation

Poster

Ms. Jocelyn Hagen, COMPOSER

Dr. Joshua Palkki,

Dr. Patrick Freer,

A Choral Exploration of the U.S./Mexico Border Crisis

A Guide to Performing with Projections

ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Considering Care: Nel Noddings’s (1928–2022 Contributions to Approaching Divisive Issues in Choral Music

Ms. Sinamar Pascua Respicio

Dr. Minji Kim, GORDON COLLEGE

Dr. Mark Statler,

A Conductor’s Analysis of Balintawak: Misang Pilipino by Bonifacio Abdon (1876–1944)

Contemporary Korean Choral Repertoire and Pedagogical Considerations

UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE AT MARTIN

The Choral Works of Florence B. Price: Compelling Music for a Range of Choirs

Ms. Teresa Murphy

Damián Sánchez and the Choral Representation of Argentinian Folk Music

Dr. Julian Bryson,

JACKSONVILLE UNIVERSITY

Cultivating Empathy Through the Avant-Garde

Ms. Annika Stucky

Leaders to Teachers: Student Leadership and the Formation of the Choir Director

Dr. Rachel Carlson, KEAN UNIVERSITY

Rebuilding through Repertoire: Contemporary Works with Limited Divisi by Women Composers

Mr. Evan Montemayor

Supporting Transgender Individuals in Education: Problems & Solutions

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Choral Reviews Nathan Reiff, editor

edited by William Culverhouse, Director of Choral Activities at Binghamton University and specialist in musics of the Arab world. As someone who has “completed several research tours of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, and Palestine, exploring traditional and contemporary vocal and instrumental music of the Middle East,” (William Culverhouse bio) Culverhouse seems particularly well-suited to helping Abu-Khader translate Arabic folk music for the Western ear—and, indeed, both the score’s precise pronunciation guide (which uses IPA transcription adapted by Abu-Khader and Culverhouse) as well as its useful story and performance notes help transform this “light, energetic piece” into a glimpse of a multi-faceted, vibrant culture.

Talaa Min Bayt Abuha

Nazem Naim (1925–2020), arr. Shireen Abu-Khader SATB, unaccompanied (c. 3:30) Text: Arabic (Nazem Naim)

Score available from Dozan World

Recording: Vancouver Youth Choir, Carrie Tennant, June 4, 2022: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=M0w7DxNBSx4

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hireen Abu-Khader has become an increasingly familiar name in North American choral music over the last decade and a half. A Palestinian-Jordanian-Canadian artist, composer, and educator with degrees from USC, Oberlin, and University of Toronto, Shireen serves as Composer-in-Residence with the storied Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. She is also founder and director of Dozan World Inc., an organization centered around the creation, promotion, and preservation of Arabic music, both of the folkloric and the contemporary choral varieties.

The arrangement opens with hushed lower voices setting the scene, basses singing drumlike vocables and tenors riffing on a formulaic phrase which serves as “a famous opening to many Arabic songs, [where] the melody is usually improved by the singer.” This quasiimprovisational tenor line alternates between C-sharps and C-naturals, offering a Mixolydian flavor to the predominantly D-major landscape.

The treble voices join in, telling the story of a pretty young woman exchanging a flirtatious moment with the narrator, presumably a

Talaa Min Bayt Abuha (Leaving Her Father’s House) falls squarely within the category of music from the Levant, “an Eastern Mediterranean region encompassing Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and a multiplicity of faiths, languages and music.” (Dozan World) Originally written

by Iraqi composer Nazem Naim (1925–2020), this version is arranged by Abu-Khader and

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young man. The mixed-meter feel of this arrangement, which breaks down the original 4/4 time signature into a combination of triple and duple meters, creates a dance-like effect which underscores the lighthearted character of the text.

Performance video: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=M0w7DxNBSx4 Shireen Abu-Khader’s profile on the Dozan World website: https://dozanworld.com/pages/shireen-abukhader-founder

The opening transitions into an accretive repeating middle section, where lower voices take on the text, altos hocket above, and sopranos provide a lush harmonization. A modulation into A major takes us to the rowdy conclusion, which goes into a straight-forward, vivace triple meter and accelerates all the way to the end. This loud, fun finale builds energy and allows the choir to experiment with folkier vocal production if desired. Ultimately, Talaa Min Bayt Abuha is quite accessible in a musical sense; any barrier to entry will likely come from the Arabic language, although the arranger and editor do what they can to mitigate that challenge.

— Alexandra Grabarchuk Dr. Alexandra Grabarchuck serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Whittier College.

Salve Regina (from The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service)

Dan Locklair (b. 1949)

TTBB, unaccompanied (c. 3:45)

Text: Latin (Marian antiphon)

A fun, whirlwind tour through a song “commonly sung at family gatherings and celebrations,” this edition’s notes leave us with some foodfor-thought re: gender identity as expressed in spoken language. As the score explains, “it is interesting to note that the subject of this piece, the ‘pretty one’, is referred to using the feminine form in some parts of the song, and the masculine form in others. While it is very common for Arabic songs to address female subjects using masculine pronouns, the mix of both masculine and feminine pronouns in this piece makes the linguistic aspect of it quite intriguing.” This element of expressing other cultures and worldviews through choral music could ostensibly be explored in a productive way during rehearsal with ensembles of any age and provenance.

Scrolling score video available via composer’s account on YouTube

Recording: Harvard Glee Club, Andrew Clark, March 23, 2023: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=aEnGwvGIYW4

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he ancient Marian antiphon Salve Regina, sung in the Catholic tradition during the period between Pentecost and Advent, is both an intimate greeting to the Virgin Mary and a plaintive cry. The rich history of this text includes choral settings by a host of composers from the Renaissance to the present day, with particularly well-known adaptations by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francis Poulenc, and Arvo Pärt, among many others.

Link to partial perusal score: https://dozanworld.com/products/talaa-minbayt-abuha

North Carolina-based composer Dan Locklair is among the latest composers to contribute to the 12

multi-century choral tradition of the Salve Regina antiphon. Locklair’s Salve Regina is a motet from the larger The Harvard/Ashmont Evening Service, written in 2022 for a collaboration between the Harvard Glee Club (TTBB) and the Choir of Men and Boys of the Parish of All Saints, Ashmont (SATB) in Dorchester, Massachusetts. These two ensembles have a history of partnership extending back more than a century and regularly premiere joint works capitalizing on a unique aspect of different church spaces at both Harvard and All Saints: they each have organs in both the front and the rear of the building.

reinforces through notation by giving the half note the beat and with frequent meter changes to align downbeats with stressed syllables. Notated without a key signature, the piece begins and ends in G Major, with departures to B-Flat Major, A Lydian (the Lydian mode and whole tone scales feature prominently throughout the rest of the Service), and D Major, most notably. Locklair’s harmonic language is largely diatonic with occasional non-triadic tones such as sevenths and ninths. The piece is mostly throughcomposed, though the music at the text “Eia, ergo” echoes the opening material.

While the full Service is thus for the uncommon scoring of combined SATB and TTBB choirs with two organs, Locklair’s Salve Regina is a more intimate setting for unaccompanied TTBB ensemble alone. The work remains largely homophonic throughout with the voices consistently spaced fairly close together, save for a dramatic apex late in the piece. Locklair deftly creates idiomatic, singable lines across all voice parts while remaining sensitive to the tuning challenges frequently created by close voicing in the tenor-bass range. Though the broader effect for the listener is often of a shared text declamation, the individual voice parts are typically always in motion, with rhythmicized neighbor and passing tones appearing throughout.

This helps to facilitate dynamic changes and consistently engaged singing throughout long, legato phrases.

This Salve Regina setting maintains its intimate quality even as it builds to an effective climax at the text “Et Jesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui, nobis post hoc exsilium ostende” (“and Jesus, the blessed fruit of your womb, show us at the end of this our exile”). Here, a sudden harmonic shift from a G minor seventh chord to a G Major chord which requires a high B (an outlier and the highest note of the piece) from the first tenors signals the most forceful dynamic of the work.

The remaining two pages of music comprise a gradual diminuendo and sense of relaxation back into the warm, rich sonorities of the opening of the piece. The work ends in quiet tranquility.

Locklair’s musical style in Salve Regina is expansive and broad, which the composer

Dr. Nathan Reiff serves as the Director of Choirs at Swarthmore College.

Dan Locklair’s biography: https://www.locklair.com/about

— Nathan Reiff

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One Foot Is Not Both the Same: Variations in Choral Programming Philosophies and Trends Rebecca Lord & Kenneth R. Lord

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Literature Review

nonsense riddle of uncertain origin asks, “What is the difference between a duck?

One foot is both the same.” To paraphrase this riddle in a choral music context: What is the difference between a choir? One conductor is both the same. While the notion of such uniformity is as silly as the riddle, the sparse literature on choral programming trends does little to clarify the basis for different perspectives and priorities among specific groups of choral conductors.

Research that systematically analyzes trends in choral programming is sparse. Of the few studies that are accessible, methods have primarily incorporated comparisons of repertoire lists over time, examination of specific choral performances, and analysis of qualitative commentary published in practitioner outlets, supplemented in some instances with follow-up inquiries from small numbers of conductors.

From iconic works of prior eras to fusion with rap, in performance languages from Arabic to Xhosa, from sacred (in varied religious traditions) to secular, and involving composers, singers, audiences, and thematic content from many cultures, religions, orientations, and social-political values, the world of choral music is anything but homogeneous. This growing variety in choral offerings has been the subject of commentary and sometimes conflict in journals, conferences, blogs, and social media. Yet, despite the plethora of voices, sometimes championing and at other times condemning various facets of choral-music diversity, there has to date been no scholarly work that empirically establishes similarities among and differences between distinct groups of conductors. Based on responses to questions about performance influences and priorities and repertoire selection from a national (United States) sample of conductors spanning a broad range of choral entities, this study seeks to close that gap and to provide current evidence regarding choral-music philosophies and trends suggested by other scholars in prior work.

Jones cataloged the compositions performed at national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association between 1960 and 1987.1 The composers whose works appeared most frequently were Brahms, Schubert, and Bach.

There was a marked shift from sacred works (82.3% in 1962) to secular (54.5% in 1987) over that period of time. Compositions in English, Latin, and German were most performed and Spanish least. A cappella performances dominated. With respect to musical periods, 20th-century compositions led at 49%, followed 1

William Darryl Jones, “An Index of Choral Music Performed during National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (1960-1987)” (PhD diss., Florida State University, 1988).

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by Renaissance (13%), Romantic (12%), and Classical (2%). Jones noted an increase of jazz/ pop selections, which first appeared in 1971, over the remainder of the time.

composers represented most frequently were Brahms, Bach, Poulenc, Whitacre, and Mendelssohn. Secular music continued to outpace sacred (54.2% and 45.8%, respectively).

English, Latin, and German were still the performance languages of choice, followed by French, Spanish (which moved up from bottom place in the earlier period), Italian, and Hebrew, with “other languages” collectively falling between Latin and German. Again, the majority of performances (54.5%) were a cappella. Music from the 20th and 21st centuries topped the list of time periods at 41.8%, followed in order

by Romantic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, and Pre-Renaissance. Two categories showing marked growth over the time period were ethnic/multicultural (which grew from 18.9% in 1991 to 35.1% in 2019) and jazz/pop (from 7.1% to 13.3%).

Watson compared state high-school choral-festival repertoire lists in 2016 with those of 1989 and surveyed repertoire directors of state vocalmusic associations.2 Of the composers whose works were most frequently performed by the high-school choirs in 2016, two were from the Renaissance period (de Victoria and Palestrina), two from Baroque (Handel and Hassler), two from Classical (Haydn and Mozart), one from Romantic (Brahms), and two from the 20th–21st centuries (Thompson and Whitacre). The most-programmed styles, in order of frequency, were motets, anthems, oratorios, Spirituals, folk songs, and masses. Perhaps the most glaring difference from the earlier 1989 findings, in both programming frequency and the level of importance perceived by survey respondents, was the emergence to prominence in the latter study of the Spiritual.

Otherwise, Watson concluded, little had changed.

Lynch analyzed the repertoire performed by high-school mixed choirs at ACDA Eastern Division Conferences between 1978 and 2016.5 The composers whose works appeared most frequently were Hogan, Brahms, Hassler, Monteverdi, Vecchi, Byrd, and Durufle. Works by women and “people of color” were infrequent (4.2% and 9.1%, respectively). The musical periods represented most often were Late Contemporary and Medieval/Renaissance. As in the other studies, the most common performance language was English, with an increase over time in the total number of languages (some mentioned were Afrikaans, Georgian, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Portuguese, Scat Sounds, Sesotho, Sulu, Tamil, and Xhosa). Lynch observed upward trends over the four decades in the programing of world music, spirituals, folk songs, hymns, and jazz/pop. Again a cappella performances dominated (70.4%).

Hager used specific performances of innovative works to extrapolate 21st-century trends. Those she identified revolved around text selection (“looking beyond traditional sacred and literary texts”), movement (large and small form and in between), fusion with popular music, “let’s get social” (justice, beer, and virtual choirs), and technology.3 Hall replicated the Jones study, analyzing compositions performed at ACDA national conventions between 1991 and 2019. 4 The 2

James B. Watson, “Most Recommended Choral Music: A Survey of High School State Choral Festival Repertoire Lists” (PhD diss., University of South Carolina, 2016).

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Jocelyn Hager, “21st Century Choral Music: What’s Next?” (paper presented at 11th World Symposium on Choral Music, Barcelona, Spain, July 2017.

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Jonathan Randall Hall, “An Index of Choral Music Performed during the National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (1991–2019)” (PhD diss., University of South Carolina, 2020).

Lorraine A. Lynch, “Trends in Choral Repertoire Performed at American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conferences by Selected High School Mixed Choirs from 1978 to 2016” (PhD diss., The State University of New Jersey, 2020).

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Cheli suggested a substantially changing landscape in choral music. 6 She examined changing cultural paradigms by reviewing relevant dialogue published in the American Choral Directors Association’s (ACDA) Choral Journal since its inception in 1959 and interviewing nine eminent conductors. She concluded that choral music in the 21st century is grappling with a “new cultural revolution”:

distinctive programming preferences, potentially likely to emerge in an environment that Cheli noted was characterized by “both firm opposition and celebration.” This research seeks to close those gaps.

Method To address the objectives identified above, a survey was constructed for online dissemination to choral conductors across the United States. Current and past conductors of K-12, college/university, community, worship, professional, symphony, opera, jazz/show, and early-music choirs were invited via solicitations on the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) ChoralNet.org and numerous choral-music Facebook groups (both general and specific to each choir type), with an assurance of respondent anonymity.

With the rise of third-wave feminism and critical race theory in the humanities at large, choral musicians began to grapple more directly with a choral canon that was dominated by predominantly white, male composers. As the field itself slowly diversified, so too did the accepted performance repertoire. More conductors grew interested in incorporating music from non-Western traditions into their choral repertoire, leading to a steady increase in the number of works by nonwhite composers performed at conventions and conferences between 1989 and 2000. In recent years, mission-based choirs (e.g. hospice choirs, social justice choirs, and queer choirs) have carved out a space for themselves, utilizing the tools of community singing in pursuit of shared non-musical goals or beliefs.

These types of choirs have met both firm opposition and celebration from within the choral establishment, as the field struggles to adapt to a radically diversifying demographic and a society in turmoil.7

Sample The survey was open for submissions during April and May 2022, generating 383 responses within that time. Conductors from each type of choir were represented in the sample, with breakdowns shown in Table 1. Also reflected in the table is the breakdown by vocal ranges (soprano/alto, tenor/bass, and mixed voices). Many respondents reported experience conducting in more than one category, which accounts for totals exceeding the sample size. Across the sample, 335 of the respondents (87.4%) were serving currently in choral conducting positions at the time of submission, with the remaining 48 (12.5%) responding on the basis of prior experience.

What is lacking in the above studies is current empirical data from a broad swath of choral conductors to confirm, qualify, and further explain the emerging trends to which they pointed. Furthermore, research has yet to explore the existence of subsets of conductors with

Measures For classification purposes, respondents were asked to report their current and previous conducting experience in each of the above categories. They then reported the extent (response options of not at all, mildly, moderately,

6

Ciara Anwen Cheli, “Changing Cultural Paradigms in Choral Programming” (honors thesis, Wellesley College, 2020).

7

Ibid., 9.

16

and highly) to which each of the following criteria (1) currently or most recently influences their programming selections and (2) would influence those selections under ideal circumstances with no restrictions: budget, employer/board, potential popularity of the song/work, educational value for singers, accompanying instrument(s), compositional time period, language of song/ work, iconic choral work, multicultural, living composer, woman composer, LGBTQIA+ theme/composer, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) theme/composer, social-justice theme, and Judeo-Christian values theme.

Two questions inviting open-ended responses followed, asking respondents to share “specific goals or a philosophical approach you have regarding programming” and “thoughts about current programming trends as you perceive them, positive and/or negative.” In the next set of questions, conductors of youth choirs (K-12 of any type) indicated the frequency (never, rarely, occasionally, frequently) with which they programmed each of the following music periods,

types, languages, and accompaniment options: Pre-Renaissance, Renaissance (e.g., Palestrina), Baroque (e.g., Bach and Handel), Classical (e.g., Mozart and Haydn), Romantic (e.g., Brahms), 20th-21st century, jazz/pop, ethnic/multicultural/ spiritual/folk, sacred, secular, English, Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Hebrew, other languages, a cappella, keyboard, other instrumental, recorded. The same battery of questions was repeated relative to programming for adult choirs of any type. They were then invited (open-ended) to identify song(s)/work(s) that they and their choirs have particularly loved.

In the final set of questions, respondents assessed the extent (using the scaling options reported above for selection influences) to which the following aided them in selecting repertoire: personal experience singing in choirs, literature classes or texts, recommendations, choral reading sessions, performances of other choirs, publisher demo recordings, and ACDA repertoire lists. The full questionnaire appears as Table 2.

Table 1. Sample Representation across Types of Choirs Currently Conducting

Previously Conducted

Elementary

83

150

Junior High/Middle School

107

136

High School

116

123

College/University

72

63

Community

108

68

Worship

129

111

Professional/Symphony/Opera 21

29

Jazz/Show

32

48

Early Music

34

26

Soprano/Alto

144

73

Tenor/Bass

84

62

Mixed Voices

248

55

Note: Totals in both columns exceed the total sample size because many respondents, between present and past roles, have conducted multiple types of choirs.

17

Table 2. Questionnaire Choral Programming Survey The aim of this survey is to discover trends, philosophies, and goals in choral programming in the United States. There are no right or wrong answers and each entry will remain completely anonymous. Please be honest in sharing your experiences and views. Your voice is invaluable in capturing an accurate view of choral programming realities and perceptions in our time. Thank you for your contribution!

Please check all types of choirs for which you have held a regular conducting position. If a particular choir fits multiple categories, please check all that apply.

Current

Previous

Children (Elementary-Aged): school, worship or community Junior High/Middle School-Aged: school, worship, community High School-Aged: school, worship, community Collegiate Community, Adult Worship, Adult Professional/Symphony/Opera Chorus Jazz/Show Choir SA TB Mixed Voices Early Music, Bach Choir, or other similar Your Programming Criterion: please rate the degree to which each criterion currently or most recently influences your programming decisions, and then according to your personal preference in an ideal situation with no limitations.

Highly Budget: Current or Most Recent Position (CR) Budget: Ideal (I) Your Employer/Board: CR Your Employer/Board: I Potential Popularity of Song/Work: CR Potential Popularity of Song/Work: I Educational Value for Singers: CR

18

Moderately

Mildly

Not At All

Educational Value for Singers: I Accompanying Instrument(s): CR Accompanying Instrument(s): I Compositional Time Period: CR Compositional Time Period: I Language of Song/Work: CR Language of Song/Work: I Iconic Choral Works: CR Iconic Choral Works: I Multicultural: CR Multicultural: I Living Composer: CR Living Composer: I Women Composers: CR Women Composers: I LGBTQIA+ Theme/Composer: CR LGBTQIA+ Theme/Composer: I BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Theme/Composer: CR BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) Theme/Composer: I Social Justice Theme/Composer: CR Social Justice Theme/Composer: I Judeo-Christian Values Theme/Composer: CR Judeo-Christian Values Theme/Composer: I To what degree have the following aided you in selecting repertoire?

Highly Personal Experience Singing in Choirs Literature Classes or Texts Recommendations Choral Reading Sessions Performances of Other Choirs Publisher Demo Recordings ACDA Repertoire Lists Other (Please share in comments below).

19

Moderately

Mildly

Not At All

Please share any specific goals or a philosophical approach you have regarding programming.

Please share any thoughts about current programming trends as you perceive them, positive and/ or negative.

For your youth choir(s) (K-12-aged choir, any type), please share the frequency with which you have programmed the following. If you have not programmed for youth choirs, please skip.

Frequently

Occasionally

Rarely

Never

Not Sure

Pre-Renaissance Renaissance (e.g., Palestrina) Baroque (e.g., Bach & Handel) Classical (e.g., Mozart & Haydn) Romantic (e.g., Brahms) 20th–21st Century Jazz/Pop Ethnic/Multicultural/Spiritual/Folk Sacred Secular English Text Latin Italian French German Spanish Hebrew Other Languages A Cappella Keyboard Accompaniment Other Instrumental Accompaniment Recorded Accompaniment For adult choirs (any type), please share the frequency with which you have programmed the following. If you have not programmed for adult choirs, please skip. (Same table of questions as previous question.)

Repertoire Recommendations: If you would like to recommend song(s)/work(s) that you and your choir(s) have particularly loved, please list title(s), composer(s)/arranger(s), voicing(s), accompanying instrument(s), and publisher(s) if known.

20

If you have any additional comments to make on the topic of choral programming, please share them here.

If you would like to receive a report of the survey results, or would be willing to be contacted with any follow-up questions, please provide an e-mail address.

If you would like to share your name and/or current or recent position(s), please list them here (optional). These will remain confidential. Thank you for your contribution!

Results

last in ideal). Under ideal circumstances, they would welcome greater ability to program on the basis of women composers (eighth up to fifth), BIPOC composers and themes (eleventh up to seventh), social-justice themes (thirteenth to tenth), and LGBTQIA+ composers and themes (slightly up from fourteenth to thirteenth). There were no significant differences in means and only minor deviations in rank order between actual and ideal for time period, iconic works, multicultural, and Judeo-Christian values, all of which had means near the scale midpoint. Employer/board was the weakest influence in the actual list and remained second lowest in the ideal, supplanted in that position by budget’s plunge.

Responses fell across the full range for each of the items measured with structured scales, with the exception of English-language music, where (not surprisingly for a survey conducted in the United States), none of the respondents used the “never” option. Means for the structured items appear in Table 3, with results of paired-sample t-tests indicating where responses vary significantly between actual and ideal programming influences and between youth and adult choirs.

With respect to factors influencing programming decisions, the highest mean, for both current reality and unconstrained, ideal circumstances, was for educational value. Though it exceeded the other variables even relative to actual current influences, the significantly higher value it received in the ideal situation suggests conductors would choose, if possible, to emphasize it even more strongly. Other significant differences between actual and ideal reveal that ideal programming practices are constrained by some practical realities. Conductors would seemingly like their programming choices to be less constrained by language considerations (which dropped slightly from second in the actual rank order to third in the ideal), accessibility of or expectations of using instrumental accompaniments (which saw a larger drop from third in actual rank order to seventh in ideal), popularity (from fourth to tenth), and budget (from a middle-of-the-pack seventh in actual to

In comparing programming preferences between youth and adult groups, the various musical time periods emerged in the same rank order for both types of choirs: Music from the 20th and 21st Centuries came in first, followed in order

by Classical, Baroque, Romantic, Renaissance, and at the bottom Pre-Renaissance. While the order was the same, in each time period the mean preference score was significantly higher for adult choirs than for youth. Similarly, sacred music scored significantly higher for adult choirs.

On the other hand, means for jazz, pop, ethnic, multicultural, spiritual, folk, and secular music were significantly higher for youth than for adult choirs. With respect to languages, English and Latin topped the list, with French at the bottom, for both groups. French, German, and Latin were significantly higher for adult than for youth choirs, with a significant difference in the opposite 21

direction (stronger for youth) for Spanish.

Accompaniment options followed the same rank order for both types of choirs, with keyboard accompaniment at the top of the list, followed in

order by a cappella, other instrumentation, and recorded accompaniment. A cappella and other instrumentation were significantly higher for adult and recorded for youth.

Table 3. Pooled Sample Means Actual

Ideal

Budgetd

2.56

2.01

Employer/Boardd

1.97

1.69

Popularityd

2.63

2.47

Educational Valued

3.37

3.49

Accompanying Instrumentsd

2.90

2.60

Time Period

2.49

2.50

Language

2.92

2.76

Iconic Work

2.62

2.66

2.87

2.92

Living Composer

2.37

2.43

Woman Composerb

2.54

2.61

LGBTQIA+d

2.10

2.24

BIPOCd

2.45

2.54

Social Justiced

2.36

2.46

Judeo-Christian Values

2.47

2.45

Youth

Adult

Pre-Renaissanced

1.94

2.22

Renaissanced

2.43

2.72

d

Baroque

2.66

3.04

Classicald

2.81

3.05

2.59

3.03

20 –21 Century

3.54

3.64

Jazz/Popd

3.14

2.44

Ethnic/Multicultural/Spiritual/Folkd

3.53

3.18

Sacredd

3.36

3.78

Secularc

3.51

3.09

English

3.96

3.95

d

Multicultural b

Romanticd th

st

a

22

Latina

3.04

3.14

2.29

2.16

French

2.07

2.13

Germanc

2.24

2.40

Spanishd

2.64

2.31

Hebrew

2.39

2.15

Other Languages

2.44

2.28

A cappellab

3.14

3.28

Keyboard Accompaniment

3.81

3.72

Other Instrumental

2.99

3.16

Recordedd

1.98

1.46

Italian a

a

Choral Singing Experience

3.48

Literature Classes or Texts

2.61

Recommendations

3.22

Choral Reading Sessions

2.79

Performances of Other Choirs

3.29

Publisher Demo Recordings

2.66

ACDA Repertoire List

2.20

a. p<.05 | b. p<.01 | c. p<.005 | d. p<.001

Items related to influences on selection, asked generally without specific reference to youth and adult choirs, showed choral singing experience to yield the highest mean. Others, in order, were performances of other choirs, recommendations, choral reading sessions, publisher demo recordings, literature classes or texts, and ACDA repertoire lists.

the sample. Cluster analysis can help reveal any such pattern variations. Based on the expectation that the questions addressing conductors’ ideal programming situation best capture their true unconstrained preferences, this array of variables was used for cluster analysis, which proceeded in two stages. First, hierarchical analysis using Ward’s minimum-variance method was conducted to identify an appropriate number of clusters. The resulting dendrogram indicated that three clusters would appropriately capture similarities within and differences between groups of respondents.

Using that information, a three-cluster solution was generated using k-means cluster analysis, with cluster centers reported in Table 4.

While the means examined above provide a general overview of respondent preferences and influences, with some breakdowns between actual/ideal and youth/adult choirs, they potentially obscure patterns of programming preferences that may differ between subsets of 23

Table 4. Cluster Centers Traditionals

Inclusives

Eclectics

Budget

2.41

1.80

1.70

Employer/Board

1.93

1.70

1.42

Popularity

2.68

2.40

2.20

Educational Value

3.77

3.71

2.93

Accompanying Instruments

2.86

2.59

2.27

Time Period

2.89

2.64

1.88

Language

3.09

2.79

2.31

Iconic Work

2.92

2.71

2.24

Multicultural

2.96

3.70

2.60

Living Composer

2.53

3.20

2.06

Woman Composer

2.69

3.70

1.43

LGBTQIA+

2.11

3.39

1.20

BIPOC

2.61

3.70

1.35

Social Justice

2.34

3.48

1.52

Judeo-Christian Values

2.73

2.08

2.37

Cluster centers suggest that respondents in the first cluster, labeled Traditionals, reflect the strongest sensitivity of the three groups to language, musical time periods, accompaniment options, Judeo-Christian values, popularity, budgets, and employers/boards. They share with the second cluster an emphasis on educational value and iconic works. They constitute 34.6 percent of the sample. The second cluster shows the greatest sensitivity among the three groups to multicultural, women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ composers and themes, social justice, and living composers. This group, constituting 33.0 percent of the sample, is named Inclusives. The defining feature of the third cluster is its balancing of priorities across the various considerations. No one variable dominates. Its cluster centers are lowest among the three groups on all variables except Judeo-Christian values, which it shares with Traditionals. This group is labeled Eclectics and represents 32.4 percent of the sample.

Differences in the cluster membership were not significant for most types of choirs, matching closely the percentages shown above for the full sample. Where significant differences arose, they were attributable to a higher proportion of conductors (greater than 40%) associated with the Inclusive cluster and the remainder almost evenly divided between Traditionals and Eclectics.

That was the case for collegiate (45.0% Inclusive; χ 2 =23.99, p < .001), community (44.8% Inclusive; χ2=19.44, p < .005), and SA (41.0% Inclusive; χ2=19.93, p < .005) choirs.

The patterns that are evident in the cluster centers, while useful for understanding the relative strength of the different priorities of a given group, do not imply that the other two clusters are devoid of interest in or sensitivity toward those variables. As will be seen in a deeper analysis of means, the differences reflect the magnitude, not the absolute presence or absence of a given array of influence variables.

24

Differences in means between the three clusters for the full array of structured items appear in Table 5. With respect to time periods and musical styles, Traditionals and Inclusives exhibited common patterns for programming selections ranging from pre-Renaissance through Romantic periods, jazz/pop, and secular, both exceeding Eclectics. For 20th–21st Century music, results were directionally the same but with no significant differences for youth choirs, and Eclectics falling significantly below Inclusives (but not Traditionals) for adult choirs. The programming of sacred music was relatively strong but with no significant differences across the three groups.

Inclusives were most inclined to program ethnic, multicultural, spiritual, and folk music. In terms

of languages, Traditionals and Inclusives again had made similar use (and greater than Eclectics) of compositions in Italian, French, German, and Hebrew. Inclusives programmed more works than conductors in the other two clusters in Latin, Spanish, and other languages (although Traditionals were not significantly lower than Inclusives in other languages for adult choirs).

Eclectics exceeded Traditionals in the use of English compositions for adult choirs. The three groups were largely comparable in terms of accompaniment options, the only difference being a higher (but still relatively low) utilization of recorded accompaniments for Traditionals than for the other two.

Table 5. Cluster Means

F Traditionals Budget

Actual

Employer/Board

Actual

Inclusives

Eclectics

3.58a

2.671

2.541,2

2.362,3

1.75

2.071

1.971

1.871

6.54c

2.821

2.582

2.41

Ideal

22.94d

Ideal

13.84d

Ideal

8.73d

2.681

2.402

2.202

46.91d

3.771

3.711

2.932

Popularity

Educational Value

Actual

2.411 1.931

1.802 1.702

1.702 1.423

Actual

40.13d

Accompanying Instruments Actual

3.55a

3.051

2.881,2

2.742,3

30.02d

2.841

2.641

1.962

Ideal

Ideal

10.46d

Ideal

41.59d

Ideal

22.21d

Ideal

17.88d

Ideal

152.71d

Ideal

153.29

Time Period Language Iconic Work Multicultural Living Composer

Actual Actual Actual Actual Actual

94.30d 14.23d 88.48d 94.30d

25

d

3.591

2.861 2.891 3.141 3.091 2.881 2.921 2.852

2.962

2.502

2.532

3.641

2.592 2.642 2.961 2.792 2.661 2.711 3.541

3.701

2.991

3.201

2.852

2.273 1.883 2.592 2.313 2.172 2.242 2.193

2.063

1.573

1.513

Woman Composer

Actual

202.75d

2.592

3.481

1.523

185.14d

2.032

3.091

1.243

Ideal

414.93d

Ideal

372.49d

Ideal

Ideal

Ideal

11.02d

Adult

4.33a

Adult

10.97d

2.891

2.961

2.322

Adult

9.93d

3.211

3.251

2.712

Adult

10.75d

3.261

3.201

2.712

Adult

13.86

3.221

3.321

2.632

Adult

3.39a

LGBTQIA+ BIPOC Social Justice Judeo-Christian Values

Pre-Renaissance

Renaissance

Actual Actual Actual Actual

Youth

Youth

Baroque

Youth

Classical

Youth

Romantic

Youth

20th–21st Century

Jazz/Pop

Ethnic/Multicultural/Spiritual/Folk

Sacred

Youth

Youth Adult

Youth

Adult

Youth

Adult

240.14d 527.15d 124.38d 204.87d 6.07c

Adult

Italian

Youth Adult

2.641

2.731

3.481

2.162

2.083

1.583 1.523

2.481

2.372

2.591

2.511

2.092

6.88c

6.39c

5.05b

d

2.62

4.41

a

2.241

2.851

2.951 2.731

2.421

2.691

2.821 2.691

3.491

3.691

3.221

3.241

3.621,2

2.002

2.352

2.512 2.322

3.421

3.811

3.572,3 2.872

9.46d

2.551

2.741

2.092

9.09

3.172

3.511

2.952

13.03d d

0.76

2.29

0.54

Youth

2.342

3.261

1.353

5.69c

Youth

Latin

2.232

3.701

1.433

1.751

English

Adult

2.612

3.481

1.203

2.011

8.98

2.492

3.391

1.433

2.041

Youth Adult

2.112

3.701

2.61

Secular

2.692

d

8.17d 3.34

a

9.07d

9.72d

15.70

d

8.44d

26

3.632

3.401

3.851

3.251

3.043

3.361

3.791

3.701

3.861

3.091

3.411

2.692

3.611

3.951

3.701

3.981

3.961

3.311

2.743

2.581

1.852

3.902,3

3.941,2

3.172

3.471

3.012

2.371

2.241

3.172

2.431

4.001

2.833 1.842

French

Youth

12.82d

2.121

2.331

1.722

12.44d

2.331

2.491

1.852

Adult

11.22d

Adult

9.33d

2.481

2.671

2.042

12.03d

2.352

2.641

1.963

German

Youth

Spanish

Youth

13.73d

Hebrew

Youth

17.58d

Adult

Adult

17.66d

Adult

15.43d

Adult

6.61c

Other Languages A cappella

Youth Youth

Keyboard Accompaniment

Other Instrumental

Recorded

Youth

Adult

Youth

Adult

Youth

Adult

2.201

2.672 2.511 2.301

14.52d

2.482 2.371

7.08c

3.181 3.371

1.55

3.881

2.73

3.851

0.39

3.021

0.92

3.231

2.85

2.011

5.21b

1.631

a. p<.05 | b. p<.01 | c. p<.005 | d. p<.001

2.401

3.021 2.741 2.501 2.761 2.651

3.361 3.491

3.811

3.601

3.051

3.101

1.691

1.232

1.732

2.203 1.932 1.682 1.973 1.823

2.842 3.032

3.741

3.751

2.941

3.051

2.061

1.382

In a given row, means differ significantly from those with which they do not share a common superscript (1, 2,or 3).

Discussion

Results from this survey are more recent in time than the analyses reported earlier, come from a broad swath of choral groups (K-12, college, community, professional, worship, show, early music, etc.), and reflect programming preferences across all performance venues (not just conventions or competitions). Positive means relative to conductor priorities generally reinforce the growing interest in multicultural, BIPOC, and women composers and related themes noted earlier by Hall, Lynch, and Cheli. Other aspects of the “cultural revolution” addressed by Cheli do not emerge as strongly across the sample as a whole. The importance of language and iconic works remains a consistent thread, from the earliest study to the present time, but with a larger array of languages emerging, consistent

Prior published studies of choral programming preferences and trends predated the survey that provided the data for this effort and largely reported results across the relevant samples without exploring the possibility of distinctive clusters of conductors. This research thus adds to the body of knowledge in this domain both by generating updated information regarding trends of recent years and, in recognizing that choral conductors are not a homogeneous population, by identifying three different clusters of choral conductors whose priorities and programming preferences can easily be obscured by pooling data across the larger population: Traditionals, Inclusives, and Eclectics.

27

with the growing interest in multiculturalism. A notable result in this study is the strong emphasis conductors place on providing educational value for singers and audiences.

to cover” and “I try to find pieces that I can borrow (available for free)” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship, professional). Some in this cluster expressed overt aversion to Inclusives’ priorities, such as “I find many newer works to be lacking in quality (thick textures and harmony focused with forgettable melodies and boring accompaniments)” and “if I want to program a dead white guy’s music, I’d like to not have to feel guilty about it” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship).

The open-ended questions included in the survey yielded responses that provide heightened nuance to the empirical results described earlier.

Responses being optional, not all undertook the additional effort to share their insights relative to goals, trends, recommended compositions, and other thoughts. A substantial proportion did, however, and those responses offer richness beyond the numbers. Extracted below are quotes from respondents in the three clusters that reflect some of their defining characteristics. The types of choirs for the respondents who provided the extracted quotes are noted in parentheses following their statements.

Inclusion emerged repeatedly as a key priority among Inclusives, as seen in these representative comments: “I want my singers to be as diverse as the greater community, and my literature choices make everyone feel seen and represented” and “shining a light on composers that aren’t all white, cis, males” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship). Some alluded to specific population groups they target in the selection of composers and themes, such as “I am working to make BIPOC, queer, and women composers at least half of my programs” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship). Some noted that not only programming for diversity, but also the how and why of such an effort, are important: “I am striving for more equity than just tokenism,” “I also want to be careful about not appropriating culture, and I am fortunate to have friends in the BIPOC community with whom I can discuss this as I am programming,” and “Conductors (myself included) need to be exceptionally sensitive to programming works by BIPOC composers that ONLY speak to trauma” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship). Some in this cluster explicitly emphasized social justice, such as “building a community and advancing social justice are my highest priorities” and “I love that the awareness of Justice in all facets informs our choices” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship, jazz/show). The group’s higher propensity for programming the works of living composers came through in such expressions as “I place a premium on programming works by

Traditionals’ focus on language and time periods surfaced in statements such as “Variety in time periods, musical styles and language/culture are paramount concerns” (school, worship). Some alluded to iconic works in comments such as “they should be exposed to the choral classics of our western society” and “not enough of classics” (collegiate, community adult, worship).

Traditionals also exhibited the greatest sensitivity of the three clusters to popularity, as seen in these statements: “Popularity is a factor, but mostly as it relates to the audience—‘chestnuts’ and crowdpleasers” and “If they love it, I’m going in the right direction” (school, community adult). Other comments highlighted educational value, such as “repertoire with different teaching concepts (intervals, modes, various time signatures and key signatures, languages, different cultures, history)” and “educating future clergy about sacred choral repertoire” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship). Budget consciousness surfaced in “I look for a lot of copyright royalty free music or reproducible choral octavos like from music K8 because that’s what I can afford 28

living composers” and “being open to new works which explore color and texture differently” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship, professional). Inclusives’ greater diversity in the languages of selected works surfaced in comments such as “We sing in 10 languages, including Polish, Tagalog and Igbo” (school, community adult, worship). The emphases on educational value and iconic works this group shares with Traditionals appears in observations like “Educate the ear, the mind and the heart through your repertoire choices” and “performing choral classics” (school, collegiate, community adult).

on educational value is evident in comments like “I also have seen where directors try too hard to educate their audiences with lofty literature and fail to enrich and allow the audience to just experience the music” (school, collegiate, community adult, jazz/show).

The recommended works that conductors in the three groups chose to report, shown in Table 6, lend further insight into their programming preferences. A relevant caveat is that counts or percentages of recommended works in the various categories, though informative, are less readily generalized to the three groups in the broader population of conductors than the structured items in the survey because not all responded to this item and, of those who did, the numbers of composers/compositions shared varied widely.

Still, some apparent trends are noteworthy.

In several ways, the recommended works are consistent with and somewhat predictable based on responses to the structured questions.

Deviations also occur, which is reasonable to expect, given that any conductor’s list of recommended works is but a subset of the total array of compositions s/he may have programmed in recent years. Such deviations also highlight the complexity of the programming task in which priorities can sometimes compete or overlap.

The broad basis for programming employed

by Eclectics is typified in such comments as “Expose students to a ‘buffet’ of good music from all genres and time periods,” “I try to include something from the Renaissance or in that style, always something a cappella, and something from the standard gems, in addition to the hymn arrangements,” “I like to have variety in mood: beautiful, sad, cheerful, serious, light-hearted, etc.,” and the simple observation “Variety is the spice of life!” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship, professional). This group’s shared emphasis (with Traditionals) on Judeo-Christian values is seen in such comments as “I program works that fit a broadly Judeo-Christian theme” and “Our focus is on Christian values and bringing the love of Christ to our audiences” (school, community adult). A number of individuals in this cluster made comments consistent with its having the lowest means across some of the variables of great importance to Inclusives, such as “I don’t quite buy into searching for a piece that must have been composed by someone of a particular ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation,” “I’m increasingly nervous about offending someone with my selections; as a result, I’m often tempted to program FEWER multi-cultural elements for fear I’m not ‘doing it right,’” and “we make art, not social justice” (school, collegiate, community adult, worship, professional). Eclectics’ somewhat lower focus (relative to the other two groups)

Some of the most consistent results arose among Inclusives. Their recommended works included higher percentages for Asian, Black, and Latinx composers (32.9%) than Traditionals (12.7%) and Eclectics (11.3%), consistent with the corresponding patterns observed using the structured scale items in these categories.

Similarly, they included more works by female composers (52.8%) than Traditionals 26.3%) and Eclectics (18.3%). Their recommended works included more compositions focused on African-American (e.g., Rosamond Johnson’s Lift Every Voice and Sing, Rosephanye Powell’s Still I Rise), feminist (e.g., Andrea Ramsey’s Lineage), 29

LGBTQIA+ (e.g., LeeAnn Rimes’ Love Is Love Is Love), multicultural (e.g., Carlos Cordero’s Ayudame!), and social-justice (e.g., Andrea Ransey’s I Lift My Voice, Melanie DeMore’s Rise Up) heritage, struggles, and themes than were reported by conductors in the other two groups.

Their penchant for ethnic, folk, and multicultural music can be seen in the substantially higher number of global folk songs (Chinese, Colombian, French Canadian, Indian, Malaysian, Mexican, Turkish) than found for the other clusters.

Table 6. Recommended Works Traditionals Period Pre-Renaissance

Composer Work (Plainsong) Ubi caritas Mateo Flecha Riu, Riu, Chiu Renaissance Giovanni Palestrina O bone jesu Baroque Gottfried Stolzel Bist du Bei Mir Classical Wolfgang Mozart Don nobis pacem Romantic Anonymous Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho* Liberian folk song African Noel* Felix Mendelssohn Verleih uns frieden th st David Brunner (3) On Christmas Morn 20 –21 Century Star Giver Yo le Canto Todo el Dia Elaine Hagenberg (3) I Will Be a Child of Peace You Do Not Walk Alone Susan Labarr (2) The Dream Ship Hold Fast to Dreams Jacob Narverud (2) Sisi Ni Moja Randall Stroope (2) The Pasture Saul Dennis Allen Be Thou My Vision Jean Berger In Time of Silver Rain Amy Bernon She Sings Jay Broeker Jason Brown Chanukah Suite Susan Brumfield Seagull, Seagull Mark Brymer What a Wonderful World Harry Burleigh My Lord, What a Mornin’ Pepper Choplin Craig Courtney Ukrainian Allelulia Emily Crocker Dan Davison Elijah Peter Durow

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Laura Farnell Dan Forrest Eliza Gilkyson Woody Guthrie Tae Kyun Ham Stephen Hatfield Seth Houston Craig Johnson Shawn Kirchner Ryan Main Karen Marrolli Chris Martin Johnny Buckland Guy Berryman Will Champion Joseph Martin Chris Mauru Allan Naplin Jim Papoulis Kyle Pederson Pinkzebra Sarah Quartel Richard Rodgers Rosephayne Powell Timothy Powell Andrea Ramsey Jake Runestad Stanford Scriven Timothy Shaw Leon Sher Leeann Starkey Andre Thomas Traditional island song Frederic Weatherly Zambian folk song

Period Pre-Renaissance Baroque

Inclusives

Composer Midieval plainsong Traiditional Chanukah song Caterina Assandra Chiara Cozzolani

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Rain Music Shalom Requiem Nine Hundred Miles Kashiri Dubula Emerald Stream Considering Matthew Shepherd I’ll Be on My Way And for a Breath To Dust Viva la Vida

The Awakening While the Air Is Ours Al Shlosha d’Varim Will You Take My Hand Can We Sing the Darkness to Light In Time of Silver Rain My Favorite Things The Word Was Good Letter from a Girl to the World Come to the Woods Christ the Appletree Blessed Be the Lord Heal Us Now When I Sing I Dream a World Sesere Eeye Danny Boy Bonse Aba

Work Regina caeli Hanerot Halulu* Duo Seraphim Alma redemptoris mater

Classical

Chinese folk song Mo Li Hua* Indian folk song Odi Odi* Malaysian folk song Wau Bulan* Romantic Colombian folk song Juego a Que Me Quemo* French-Canadian folk song J’entends le moulun* John Hopkins Jr. We Three Kings Mexican Folk Song La Llorona* Clara Schumann Liebst du um Schoenheit Rabindramath Tagore Alo amar Alo o go Traditional Hebrew Lo Yisa Goy* Traditional Spiritual Changed Mah Name* Turkish folk song Tini Mini Hanim* th st Abbie Betinis (3) From Behind the Caravan 20 –21 Century Jerusalem Luminosa Songs of Hafez Susan Labarr (3) Hold Fast to Dreams Where the Light Begins Chen Yi (3) Thinking of My Home With Flowers Blooming Melanie DeMore (2) Lead with Love Rise Up Dan Forrest (2) Ban, Ban, Caliban Harry Loes (2) This Little Light of Mine Andrea Ramsey (2) I Lift My Voice Lineage Verlijo Tormis (2) Kevadkillid Lauliku Lapsepoli Dale Trumbore (2) Flare Gwyneth Walker (2) I Thank You God Angele Arsenault Vichten Sherry Blevins Darkness Fell Margaret Bonds The Negro Speaks of Rivers Saunder Choi Carlos Cordero Ayudame!

Catherine Dalton She Rises Emma Diemer Hope Is the Thing: An Emily Dickinson Suite Rollo Dilworth John Henry Ruth Dwyer Duke Ellington Sacred Concert Frodo Fjelheim Eatnemen Vuelie Amy Gordon

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Carlos Guastavinos Josef Hadar Jocelyn Hagen Elaine Hagenberg Adolphus Hailstork Kim & Reggie Harris Robert Harris Bob Hurd Greg Jasperse Rosamond Johnson Shawn Kirchner Henry Leck Robyn Lana Otto Luening Ko Matsushita Meredith Monk Kyle Pederson Rosephanye Powell Sarah Quartel AR Rachman LeAnn Rimes Sarah Rimkus Sarah Riskind Russell Robinson Michelle Rouche Alfred Schnittke Sergei Slonimsky Philip Stopford Frank Ticheli Anthony Trecek-King Michael Trotta Ariety Valdes Yudelikis LaFuente Eliene Castillo Gwyneth Walker Eric Whitacre Tracy Wong

Indianas Erev Shel Shoshanim

Arise, My Beloved We Belong to the Earth Set Me as a Seal upon Thine Heart Our Blessing Cup Voice Dance Lift Every Voice and Sing

Hope Is the Thing with Feathers Dona nobis pacem Three Heavens and Hells Hands Are Knockin’ Still I Rise Voice on the Wind Barso Re Love Is Love Is Love Oseh Shalom De Profundis Lux Aeterna Voices of Nature Song of Virineya Earth Song I’m Building Me a Home Canto a Eleggua

To Sing Is to Fly Animal Crackers

Eclectics Period Composer Work Pre-Renaissance Midieval plainsong (5) Adore te devote Corde natus

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Ubi caritas Traditional English There Is No Rose of Swych Vertu Renaissance William Byrd Non Nobis Domine Michael Praetorius (3) Low, How a Rose E’er Blooming Orlando de Lassus Now Come, Redeemer of Us All Martin Luther A Mighty Fortress Is Our God Josquin des Prez Thomas Tallis Orazio Veccio Fa Una Canzona Melchior Vulpius Est is Ein Ros Baroque George Handel (2) Joy to the World JS Bach Praise the Lord William Boyce Let the Praise Go Round Dietrich Buxtehude Antonio Lotti Credo in F Johann Pachelbel The First Noel Henry Purcell Sing for Joy Thomas Ravenscroft O Lord, Turn Not Away Thy Face Salamone Rossi Barechu Heinrich Schutz Classical Gaetano Agazzi Ave verum corpus Wolfgang Mozart Romantic Felix Mendelssohn (2) He, Watching over Israel Behold a Star from Jacob Shining Cecil Alexander There Is a Hill Anonymous Beautiful Savior William Bradbury Just as I Am Johannes Brahms Phillips Brooks Oh Little Town of Bethlehem Anton Bruckner Locus iste Claude Debussy Salut Printemps Maurice Durufle Edward Elgar Agnus Dei Carlotta Ferrari Songs of Hildegard William Morris Masters in the Hall John Stainer God So Loved the World th st Dan Forrest (6) And Can It Be? 20 –21 Century Ring Out, Ye Bells!

Shalom Mark Hayes (4) Allelulia!

Prayer of Being Say It Loud!

To Love Our God 34

John Rutter (4) God Be in My Head The Lord Bless You and Keep You Shepherd’s Pipe Carol Prayer of Being Craig Courtney (3) One Faith, One Hope, One Lord His Love Never Fails Pepper Choplin (2) We Are Not Alone Lay Up Your Treasures in Heaven Rihards Dubra (2) Te Deum Stetis Angelus Elaine Hagenberg (2) O Love Brian Leech (2) Come, Share the Lord Let God Be God Lynn Lund (2) For I Have Seen the Lord Surely He Hath Born Our Griefs Karen Marrolli (2) Rivers of Living Water To Dust Mark Miller (2) Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life Roll Down Justice!

Were You There on That Christmas Night?

Natalie Sleeth (2) Only a Baby Came Heather Sorenson (2) A Thousand Storms We Believe David Allen Let Me Come and Dwell with You Kevin Allen O Sacrum Convivium Christopher Aspaas Eric Barnum Dreams of Thee Andy Beck John Beck Every Valley Hank Beebe The Lord Is My Light Cindy Berry I Will Keep My Eyes on You Alan Billingsley Maureen Briare Lead, Kindly Light Houston Bright I Hear a Voice a-Prayin’ Susan Brumfield No Time Mark Brymer Glenn Burleigh Order My Steps Ed Davis William Dawson Soon Ah Will Be Done Sally Deford To Those Who Came Before Me Rollo Dilworth Oh, What a Beautiful City!

Roger Emerson

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Cynthia Erivo Stand Up Joshuah Campbell Eriks Esenvald Northern Lights Laura Farnell Songs of the Road and Sea Tom Fettke The Majesty and Glory of Your Name Gerald Finze Lo, the Full, Final Sacrifice Harold Friedell Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether John Gardner The First Noel Keith Getty See, What a Morning Stuart Townsend Alexander Gondo Uyai Mose Ruth Gray Stopping by Woods Melody Green There Is a Redeemer Woody Guthrie Nine Hundred Miles Jack Halloran Witness Keith Hampton Praise His Holy Name Stephen Hatfield When It Was Yet Dark Moses Hogan I’m Gonna Sing ‘Til the Spirit Moves in My Heart Mac Huff Philip Keveren All the Souls Who’ve Been Set Free Camp Kirkland David Lantz Heaven Arise in My Soul Brian Leech Let God Be God Mosie Lister Ralph Manuel Allelulia Russell Mauldin Mary McDonald Declare Your Praise Allan Naplan Al Shlosha d’Varim Jacob Narverud Sisi Ni Moja Morfydd Owen He Prayeth Best Who Loveth Best Arvo Pärt Kyle Pederson Janice Perry A Child’s Prayer Pinkzebra David Rasbach Come Ye Disconsolate Robert Ray He Never Failed Me Matt Redlin Noel Chris Tomlin Ed Cash Ruth Schram Mark Schweizer For I am Persuaded

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Stanford Scriven Ashley Serena Martin Shaw Sleeping at Last Sue Smith Audrey Snyder Robert Sterling Randall Stroop Sean Sweeden Randall Thompson Charles Tindley Traditional island song Traditional Spiritual Anthony Trecek-King Kenna West, Tony Wood, Antonio Daniels Eric Whitacre Mack Wilberg

Christ the Appletree Baya Bayushki With a Voice of Singing North

Jesus Paid It All Inscription of Hope Allelulia The Storm Is Passing Over Sesere Eeye I Can Tell the World I’m Building Me a Home Hosanna (Blessed Is He) Lux Aurumque

* Traditional composition of indeterminate date; appears to date back at least to the period reflected in this table.

Note: Composers are placed under periods based on the chronology, not necessarily the style, of their work. Some composers appear with names only and others with specific compositions, based on how respondents reported them. Numbers in parentheses reflect the number of instances these composers’ works were cited by respondents; those with no number appear only once within the designated cluster.

Languages and time periods, while associated more with Traditionals in the cluster analysis reported earlier, reveal a more complex pattern with respect to recommended works.

Each of the three clusters reported works from multiple periods sung in a variety of languages (11 different languages for Traditionals and Eclectics, 18 for Inclusives).

A breakdown of the languages shows that the highest number of languages unique to a single cluster (nine: Bengali, Estonian, Hindi, Malay, Mandarin, Norwegian, Persian, Tamil, Turkish) arose among Inclusives. This pattern is consistent with the priority that group places on multiculturalism, as is the higher number of nationalities of composers (21 for

Inclusives versus 10 and 18 for Traditionals and Eclectics, respectively). While all respondents reported more recommended works in English than in other languages, the least diverse group on this attribute was the Eclectics at 82.1% English, consistent with that group’s response to the relevant structured item.

Other consistent language results relative to recommended works were Inclusives’ higher representation of compositions in Spanish and “other languages.” The priority Traditionals placed on programming across the range of musical periods in the structured questions did not emerge more strongly in that group’s list of recommended works than for the other two clusters. For Traditionals, pre-20th century 37

works comprised 12.3% of the list, compared with 18.8% for Inclusives and 26.5% for Eclectics. As with languages, other priorities potentially overlap with musical periods for the different clusters. A close examination of the specific works in the earlier periods reveals that the types of works vary across clusters, with a higher representation of folk songs for Inclusives and of sacred compositions for Eclectics. Thus, at least for recommended works, priorities on multiculturalism and folk and sacred music appear to drive conductors in the Inclusive and Eclectic groups to a greater sampling of music from diverse languages and earlier time periods than may be expected based on the perceived importance of language and period for their own sakes.

works as a priority in answering the relevant structured questions named so few among their recommended works.

With respect to the designation of compositions as sacred or secular, the earlier analysis showed statistically equivalent priority placed on sacred across the three groups, with secular higher for Traditionals and Inclusives than for Eclectics. While all three included both sacred and secular among their lists of recommended works, the balance shifted more dramatically toward sacred for Eclectics, among whom such compositions constituted 49.0% of the total, than for Traditionals (26.2%) and Inclusives (9.4%). Combined, these findings provide general support for the conclusion of a stronger priority on programming secular compositions among Traditionals and Inclusives and a greater propensity for sacred within the Eclectic group.

In the earlier analysis, Traditionals and Inclusives revealed a stronger propensity for programming “iconic” works than did Eclectics.

Given potentially variable views in the choralmusic community on what might be considered iconic, the named recommended composers were compared with the lists of early-music and classical choral composers provided by Singers. com and DigitalDreamDoor.com’s 100 Greatest Classical Choral Works—admittedly not a comprehensive or perfect approach but one that at least prevents the researchers from imposing their own judgment on the categorization. In contrast with the results observed for the value attached to iconic works (greater for Traditionals and Inclusives than for Eclectics), it was the Eclectics who recommended the most iconic compositions.

Works by Brahms, Bruckner, Byrd, Debussy, Durufle, Elgar, Handel, de Lassus, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Praetorius, des Prez, Purcell, Schutz and Tallis represented 12.5% of the compositions listed by conductors in this group, compared to the smaller 4.8% for Traditionals and the absence of works (0%) mentioned in the published lists among Inclusives. While that group’s results are potentially skewed by some outliers who submitted longer-than-average lists, it is curious that those asserting the programming of iconic

Unsurprisingly, there are multiple key areas in which respondents’ open-ended observations about choral-programming trends, influences, and recommended works harmonize well with structured scale responses and others that qualify them or provide more nuanced perspectives.

Figure 1 reflects an attempt to draw conclusions across the various types of data regarding potent priorities that emerge strongly within a particular conductor segment but are not shared equally across the others. Such vital influences that may be obscured if examines overall choral-programming trends without considering differences between segments include: popularity, Judeo-Christian values, and accompanying instruments for Traditionals; living, women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ composers, multicultural, ethnic, and folk music, “other languages” (beyond the Western European languages that historically have been associated with a substantial proportion of the choral repertoire), and social-justice themes for Inclusives; sacred works and a dominant emphasis on English as the performance language for Eclectics.

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Figure 1. Conductor Segments

Traditionals • Accompanying Instruments • Judeo-Christian Values

Inclusives • Composers from Underrepresented Population Groups

Eclectics • English Language • Sacred Works

• Living Composers

While this study provides new insights on distinct groups of conductors and their programming priorities, it has a number of limitations. The conductors who participated in the survey, while higher in number and tapping a broader array of types of choral organizations than those of earlier studies, are in this, like the earlier instances, a convenience sample. There is thus no guarantee in any of the studies conducted to date of representativeness to the larger population of choral conductors. Furthermore, while including a substantial range of ensemble types is potentially positive for broadening the understanding that might be gleaned with a narrower sample, it also creates the possibility for blurring conductor preferences with organizational purposes. For example, faith-based, LGBTQUIA+, and show choirs may have distinctive missions that dictate programming priorities to some extent, potentially narrowing the range of options available to their conductors. The sample was limited to conductors and response solicitations occurred on platforms that reached almost exclusively an audience of U.S. choral conductors; hence no reasonable conclusions are possible about preferences of singers and audiences members of programming patterns in other nations and cultures. Future research could address these limitations associated with this study’s sample and glean a more complete understanding of choral-music trends by seeking input from random samples of conductors, performers, and patrons extracted from a substantial, diverse, and global sampling

frame, and by more precisely measuring the extent to which programming criteria are derived from organizational mission versus personal preference.

Opportunities exist for deepening and broadening the thematic insights yielded in this research.

In keeping with the focus of this journal, we encourage scholars to probe more deeply the evolving programming trends in collegiate choral music and the values and priorities that affect them. In the interest of keeping the survey as manageable as possible for respondents, some of the measured constructs reflect a combination of variables that makes it impossible to isolate the individual contribution of each to the observed effect (i.e., professional/symphony/opera choirs, ethnic/multicultural/spiritual/folk music, JudeoChristian value). Types of choral organizations, compositions, and value influences could be measured separately in future research to tease out potential differences. Furthermore, given Hager’s observation of recent fusion of choral and popular music, a study of the extent to which the burgeoning array of genres of popular music that have not specifically been analyzed in this context (e.g., hip-hop, indie, k-pop, rap) are transitioning into choral literature and performance practices would be illuminating, as would an examination of the growing use of multisensory experiences (spatial arrangements, movement, props, etc.) noted by Apfelstadt8.

8

Hilary Apfelstadt, “Choral Trends.” Canadian Music Educator, vol.

52, no. 4, summer 2011, pp. 40+.

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— Rebecca Lord

The combination of celebration of and opposition to non-musical goals as part of what Cheli referred to as a “cultural revolution” saw evidence in the responses of conductors in this study, especially in the contrasting means and supporting statements obtained from Traditionals and Inclusives. They suggest that observations such as the charge that music and the arts are “the propaganda tools of choice of those wishing to seduce, dominate, and control” (Woodford 9) and the “call for radical social transformation from within music education” (Dick10) are being met with mixed reactions among those whose programming choices will drive the future of choral music.

Future research could productively examine the artistic, psychological, political, budgetary, ethical, and other considerations that exacerbate or help to close that divide.

Rebecca Lord (DMA, University of California-Los Angeles), has served as Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of California, Los Angeles, on faculty at Brigham Young University-Idaho, and as a conductor and adjudicator for a variety of festivals, community ensembles, and houses of worship. She brings to the podium richness and color, springing from her background as a professional soprano, string player, actress, and dancer. Rebecca has also been actively engaged in scholarship and as a recording artist.

— Kenneth R. Lord Kenneth R. Lord (Ph.D., The Ohio State University), is Dean and Professor of Marketing in the College of Business, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI. His research deals with motivation, information processing, and decision making. He is additionally a pianist and organist.

Finally, an important point to recognize is that these findings represent conductor programming preferences at a given point in time (2022).

Given the dynamic shifts that have occurred in recent years, it would be naïve to assume that the results observed herein will reflect the priorities of conductors in the coming years. Longitudinal research will help capture that dynamism.

This study indicates clearly that, when it comes to choral music, one foot is not both the same. Our hope is that the methods employed here provide a template by which choral-music scholars can track the continuing evolution of preference segments within the conducting world over time.

9

Paul Woodford, “Democracy, Pragmatist Aesthetics, and the Choral Experience,” The Phenomenon of Singing, vol. 5, p. 347.

10 D. Kay Dick, “Intersecting Social Justice and the Secondary Choral Classroom: A Phenomenological Study of Social Justice Teacher Perspectives” (PhD diss., Auburn University, 2022).

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Bibliography Apfelstadt, Hilary. “Choral trends.” Canadian Music Educator, vol. 52, no. 4, summer 2011, pp. 40+.

Cheli, Ciara Anwen. “Changing Cultural Paradigms in Choral Programming.” Honors thesis, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, 2020. https://repository.wellesley.edu.

Dick, D. Kay. “Intersecting Social Justice and the Secondary Choral Classroom: A Phenomenological Study of Social Justice Teacher Perspectives” (PhD diss., Auburn University, 2022).

Hager, Jocelyn. “21st Century Choral Music: What’s Next?” PowerPoint presented at the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music, Barcelona, Spain, 2017, https://www.jocelynhagen.com/21stcenturychoralmusic/.

Hall, Jonathan Randall. “An Index of Choral Music Performed during the National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (1991–2019).” PhD diss, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 2020. https:// scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6677&context=etd.

Jones, William Darryl. “An Index of Choral Music Performed during National Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (1960–1987).” PhD diss, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 1988.

Lynch, Lorraine A. “Trends in Choral Repertoire Performed at American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division Conferences by Selected High School Mixed Choirs from 1978 to 2016.” PhD diss, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, 2020. https://www.proquest.com/pagepdf/2447590815?account id=10650.

Watson, James B. “Most Recommended Choral Music: A Survey of High School State Choral Festival Repertoire Lists.” (PhD diss, University of South Carolina, Columbia, 2016. https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/ viewcontent.cgi?article=4818&context=etd.

Woodford, Paul. “Democracy, Pragmatist Aesthetics, and the Choral Experience,” The Phenomenon of Singing, vol.

5, pp. 347-360.

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TCS ACR

Book Reviews Andrew Crow, editor

De Quadros and Amrein spend most of the book critiquing the structures of white supremacy, colonialism, and carcerality embedded in the American music-making world. They point out that “choral music” deserves a broader definition than “the kind of music-making derived from the European group singing traditions found in churches and concert halls,”3 which disregards communal singing such as work songs, celebrations, and the transmission of oral history and culture. This narrow definition of choral singing is dependent on rigid hierarchies that privilege the conductor and composer, enforce assimilation into a bel canto aesthetic, and focus on product/performance. The authors argue that in American music classrooms the body is separate from, and inferior to, the mind—often ignored except to be harnessed to produce the technically correct sound. This suppression of bodily wisdom reinforces colonial attitudes toward difference, marginalizing “the poor, the sick, the imprisoned, and the disabled.”4

Empowering Song: Music Education from the Margins

André de Quadros and Emilie Amrein Routledge, 2023

159 pages, $14.72 Kindle version; $50.35 hardcover ISBN: 978-0-367-56249-6 (hbk) 978-0-367-63033-1 (pbk) 978-1-003-09715-0 (ebk)

I

n this groundbreaking book, André de Quadros and Emilie Amrein bring their experiences in the Massachusetts State Prison and at the U.S.-Mexico border to bear on a critique of conventional American music education and build a framework for a more just music pedagogy.

Derived from the works of Paulo Freire 1 and Augusto Boal,2 among many other activists and theorists, the Empowering Song pedagogical framework is collective, non-hierarchical, narrative-driven, embodied, creative, and justiceoriented. If these qualities seem undefined, that is because the authors seek to avoid anything prescriptive; rather, they present these values as a springboard for questioning, invention, and further study. As such, this book is excellent for a graduate seminar or a music education course, or for anyone in a position of musical leadership.

1

De Quadros and Amrein are vague about how exactly to avoid these structural injustices, presenting instead narratives of the work they 3

André de Quadros and Emilie Amrein, Empowering Song: Music Education from the Margins (New York: Routledge, 2023), 20 (Kindle version).

4

De Quadros and Amrein, Empowering Song, 25.

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary

ed., trans. Mayra Bergman Ramos (New York: Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 1970/2000).

2

Augusto Boal, Theater of the Oppressed (New York: Routledge, 1974).

VO L U M E 6 0 | N U M B E R 2 | FA L L 2 0 2 3

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have done in prisons, their own classrooms, and at the border. These music-making sessions vary widely, depending on the context, but they all feature circular seating, musical and artistic improvisation, dialogue and storytelling, and embodiment in the form of pantomime, dance, and meditation. They advocate for regular practices of deep listening and collective decision making about repertoire, expression, performance, and meaning.

Teaching Beyond the Music: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through the Arts

Jason Max Ferdinand

GIA Publications, 2023 80 pages, soft cover $28.95

ISBN: 978-1-62277-737-2

C

The authors create music in places of suffering, yet they do not specify what boundaries they employ around trauma to ensure the sense of safety they urge conductors to generate in the choral rehearsal. Indeed, their “consideration of healing body-mind in the educational space”5 seems to blur the lines between trauma-informed pedagogy and the type of trauma work that should only be done with a licensed professional. De Quadros and Amrein also do not specify what role consent and agency over level of vulnerability play in their music contexts. This is a crucial aspect of the type of liberatory pedagogy they are presenting.

ulturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) is a vital component for music teachers today. Jason Max Ferdinand’s multimedia resource Teaching Beyond the Music goes beyond culturally relevant pedagogy theories and simulated/situated findings by providing a framework for the application of CRT. Ferdinand compiles eight modules (created by current music educators) that not only address the needs or problems presented by societal challenges but provide step-by-step actions for choral artists working with culturally, ethnically, and artistically diverse singers. A brief description of the modules are as follows:

Empowering Song is the first step in the conversation about decolonized pedagogy that questions fundamental practices and beliefs in this field. The authors have done an excellent job of translating the works of such luminaries as bell hooks, Michael Foucault, James Baldwin, Paulo Freire, and Augusto Boal into the music education context. Hopefully, another volume will gather data and create a more concrete praxis of decolonized pedagogy.

1.“Culturally Responsive Me” (Lulu Mwangi Mupfumbu) focuses on using student culture to make connections.

It would be ideal for readers to begin with Mupfumbu’s self-assessment tool at the end of the module prior to starting.

Regardless of their knowledge base, music educators must have a foundation in reflexive practices that highlight personal biases, communication styles, and expression of competency within the music learning process.

—Jessie Flasschoen Campbell Dr. Jessie Flasschoen Campbell received her D.M.A. in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2023.

5

2.“Why We Sing” (Ryan Marsh) focuses on cultivating student-led arts advocacy.

Marsh’s activities provide an opportunity for students to champion music by exploring and analyzing cultural humility and cultural competence.

De Quadros and Amrein, Empowering Song, 54.

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3.“Our World Music” (Logan Caywood) expands upon the previous modules of cultural diversity knowledge base to the cultural congruity of analyzing, teaching, performing, and assessing ethnically and culturally diverse music. Readers can use this module to dive deeper into cross-cultural communication research and practices that challenge traditional Western forms of discourse.

provides a vital opportunity for teachers to design culturally relevant curriculum by challenging appropriation and assumptions promoted by the mass media (i.e., societal curriculum).

4.“The Common Bar” (Robert Abel Martinez) explores the building of musical skills as an “invisible force” that brings students together to make music. While Martinez refers to the fixed do solfege system, teachers should use whatever methods are congruent with their students’ needs. Readers should note that this section (p. 42) makes some spurious designations for solfege syllables in the teaching of intervals. Hopefully a future edition will amend this portion.

Ferdinand incorporates two unique learning components in this volume. First, Cindy Ellis’s interactive segment about instructional design includes videos, recordings, activities, and community connections. Each module clearly defines learning objectives that meet the National Core Art and Social Emotional Learning Standards. Second, Henry Leck’s added artwork addresses the interdisciplinary connections of the visual arts in the music learning processes, in tandem with oral/aural learning pedagogies.

Leck challenges music educators to use colors and visuals in the teaching of music—as the voice has many timbres, because of the varied employment of resonators and the vocal mechanism.

8.“Servant Leadership” (Ryan Ellis) focuses on exploring leadership qualities in others and oneself through the art of choral music.

5.“Turning the Culture Tide of Your Program” (Hope Kesling Mithaler) provides a framework to organically transform a disconnected program into one of safety, strength, and success by promoting student co-teaching and leadership opportunities.

Teaching Beyond the Music is a relevant tool for any current and preservice music educator.

While modules are clear and concise, they are also malleable enough to be crafted into individualized music-making experiences that meet students’ needs. This book will remind choir directors of their calling to be wholesome practitioners—healing the world through music and the contributions that ethnically, culturally, and artistically diverse communities have and continue to give to humankind.

6.“I Need You to Survive” (Edward P. Norris III) is similar to Module 2 in that it uses student experiences and culture in the learning process, but it focuses on how the uniqueness of one’s individuality contributes to the larger choral tapestry.

For some, it may be helpful to start with Module 6 first and then move to Module 2.

— Timothy Little Trần

7.“#ClassroomCulture” (Cindy Ellis) provides a foundation for using social media in music education. This module

Dr. Timothy Little Trần is the Director of Choral Studies and Assistant Professor of Music at Slippery Rock University.

44

and vocal technique, and the sometimes strained relationship between orchestral musicians and choral conductors, among others. Readers may disagree with some of Kesling’s positions, such as the near exclusive use of sectional, rather than mixed, formations, and it is unfortunate that Kesling uses the now-dated terms “men” and “women” when referring to sectional rehearsals rather than the names of the voice parts. However, his overall message is valuable, especially for young conductors who are still discovering their own best practices.

The Voices I Hear: A Philosophical and Practical Approach to the Choral Art

Will Kesling, Foreword by Z. Randall Stroope GIA Publications, 2022 472 pages, soft cover $39.95

ISBN: 978-1622776436

I

n The Voices I Hear, Will Kesling draws on his extensive experience as a conductor to create a resource that addresses a broad cross-section of the duties of choral conductors and the skills necessary to be successful in performing those duties. Through anecdotes from his career and information from other resources, Kesling synthesizes topics that are often divided amongst several different courses of study.

Section three deals with Kesling’s approach to programming, using several different programming models—such as a thematic format—as a starting point to devise interesting programs. Kesling offers sample programs drawn from his career and based on each model. As much as understanding these various models can be useful to a conductor, seeing the pieces Kesling chose in the sample programs themselves could also serve to inspire future programming ideas.

In six sections (each with several chapters), Kesling discusses developing a choral sound, the conductor’s responsibility as voice teacher, programming, interpretation, historical performance practice, and rehearsal techniques.

Sections one and two focus on singing, specifically—the first on choral sound and the second on the individual singer—section four on interpretation—with a significant emphasis on the importance of score study—and section six with rehearsal techniques and the challenges of combining chorus with orchestra. Kesling’s thoughts in these sections mostly seem to follow conventional wisdom, often referencing the practices of other conductors who have inspired many in the profession, such as Robert Shaw and Don Neuen. He does, however, offer some alternate perspectives from his own experience (his practice of placing the sopranos to the conductor’s right for choral-orchestral works being one notable departure from the norm).

Readers may find significant value in the fifth section, “Keys to Periods.” In these six chapters, Kesling discusses issues of performance practice for traditional historical eras, plus “Keys to Spirituals,” as Kesling titles chapter 19. Although not a comprehensive discussion of performance practice minutiae, Kesling manages to address some of the most pressing issues of performing music from each period—use of instruments and the approach to vibrato in the Renaissance and the challenges of experimental 20th-century music, for example—while also suggesting resources for deeper exploration. Aside from the chapter on spirituals and a short section discussing the influence of “world music”—another term that has perhaps passed its prime—and jazz, however, Kesling does not discuss music of non-classical genres. Despite this omission, however, readers may find this section a handy reference guide when performing historical repertoire from the Western canon.

In these sections, he also discusses placement of individual singers within a section, choral diction

45

The Voices I Hear serves as a jumping-off point for discussion of the issues that choral conductors face in many aspects of their work. It is not a conducting textbook, but does address gesture; it is not a choral methods textbook, but does offer advice for structuring a rehearsal and developing choral tone; it is not a vocal pedagogy textbook, but does discuss vocal technique; and it is not a performance practice treatise, but does provide tips and resources for performing music of various styles. In bringing these topics together in one text, Kesling highlights the broad range of skills and knowledge a choral conductor needs to be successful and how they work together. Some dated language and lack of discussion of non-

classical genres aside, The Voices I Hear could serve well as the centerpiece for an undergraduate choral methods course or perhaps even for a graduate conducting seminar. In either case, the instructor will likely want to explore certain topics in greater detail, with The Voices I Hear serving as a central hub with spokes reaching out to additional resources.

— Andrew Martin Dr. Andrew Martin serves as Director of Choral Activities and Coordinator of the Fine Arts Program at the University of Tennessee Southern in Pulaski, Tennessee.

46

TCS ACR

David’s Reflection:

A Question of Borrowing in Two Contemporaneous Swiss Choral Works Miles Canaday

Introduction

Swiss composers Arthur Honegger (1892–1955) and Frank Martin (1890–1974) each wrote significant choral works in the 1920s: Honegger’s oratorio Le roi David [King David] was premiered in 1921 and secured his international reputation, and Frank Martin composed his Messe pour double choeur a cappella [Mass for Double Choir a cappella] in 1922 and 1926 but withheld its premiere until 1963. While these two pieces differ in scope and genre, the Agnus Dei of Martin’s Mass, composed in 1926, shares many commonalities with Honegger’s “Penitential Psalm” movement, including strikingly similar textures, rhythms, harmonies, melodies, and uses of repetition. Indeed, these similarities qualify not just as mere modeling, but are close enough to constitute borrowing, or the incorporation of precise and recognizable elements from a previously known work. While Martin never acknowledged that he borrowed from Le roi David, I will show that he clearly did so, reflecting and expanding Honegger’s material into a piece that nonetheless retains its own originality.

B

oth composers were of French-Swiss origin: Arthur Honegger was born in La Havre, France, and Frank Martin in Geneva eighteen months later. Although they met on several occasions, there is almost no documentation regarding their acquaintance.

Honegger’s Le roi David was premiered on June 11, 1921 as incidental music to a four-hour play

by René Morax. The score’s immediate success prompted Honegger and Morax to collaborate on a concert version in 1922 for seventeen instruments, choir, soloists, and narrator that lasted slightly over an hour. In a third version, Honegger kept the same music but expanded the instrumentation to full orchestra in 1923.

This piece solidified Honegger’s international reputation and continued to be programmed for many years after its premiere. In fact, according to Honegger biographer Harry Halbreich, after

the third version’s wildly successful Paris premiere on March 14, 1924, the piece “was given so many times in Paris, in France, and in the world at large, that Honegger ended up being annoyed at its popularity, which overshadowed the rest of his output.”1 As further evidence of its rapid and widespread dissemination, Le roi was performed in Buenos Aires and New York City in August and October of 1925, respectively.2 1 Harry Halbreich, Arthur Honegger, trans. Roger Nichols, Reinhard G. Pauly, general editor (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 95.

2

Ibid., 102.

VO L U M E 6 0 | N U M B E R 2 | FA L L 2 0 2 3

47

Frank Martin composed the first four movements of his Mass for Double Choir in 1922 and the Agnus Dei in 1926. There was then a delay of almost forty years before the work’s premiere in 1963: Martin apparently kept the work in a drawer, considering it to be too personal to be performed in public. In a 1970 program note on the Mass, Martin writes:

Martin later discusses Le roi in his 1946 essay, “Le compositeur moderne et les textes sacrés” [“The Modern Composer and Sacred Texts”], where he describes it as a great sacred piece but casts doubts on its spiritual qualities.6 We cannot know whether the commonalities between Martin’s Agnus Dei and Honegger’s Penitential Psalm were conscious choices on Martin’s part; however, as I will demonstrate, these similarities are too strong to be merely coincidental, and therefore constitute borrowing, regardless of Martin’s intentions.

Martin’s Agnus Dei contains enough original material that it still stands as its own work, but it owes much to Honegger’s Penitential Psalm.

[A]t this time in my life, I didn’t know a choral conductor who might have been interested in the [Mass]….[F]or in fact, I didn’t want it performed at all. I was afraid that it would be judged from an entirely aesthetic standpoint. The Mass was, at the time, a matter entirely between God and myself.3

II. Texture The most overt similarity between these two movements is their textures. Both works are divided into two choirs: the top choir consists of the voices in the Honegger and Choir I in the Martin, while the bottom choir comprises the instruments in the Honegger and Choir II in the Martin. In both works, the top choir sings the slow, simple, yet syncopated melody, and the bottom choir provides an accompaniment of slow, repeating quarter note chords. The use of unison in both works is salient. In the Honegger, the tenors and basses are grouped together, as are the sopranos and altos, creating a sparse, twovoice texture in the top choir. Martin’s Choir I sings in unison for the entire movement except for mm. 30–35 and in the final eight bars. Even in mm. 30–35, Choir I splits into only two parts.

Still, these two movements share a unison, syncopated melody over a steady quarter note accompaniment. (Please see Figure 1.)

Here he cites aesthetic and religious reasons for withholding the Mass from publication. But what if his concerns regarding aesthetic judgment pertained to his usage of material from Honegger’s Le roi David?

Due to the popularity of Le roi, it is highly likely that Martin heard this work in the early 1920s, possibly between the composition of the first four movements of his Mass in 1922 and the Agnus Dei in 1926. Martin and Honegger first met on June 1, 1923 in Paris,4 four days after the Paris premiere of the choral movements from Le roi. It is unclear whether Martin attended this performance, but due to the oratorio’s widespread popularity, it is extremely likely he heard the piece after its initial fame starting in 1923, if not beforehand in its first version with smaller orchestration. Indeed, it was performed in Geneva in January 19255 while Martin was living there.

3

6

Frank Martin and Maria Martin, A propos de...Commentaires de Frank Martin sur ses oeuvres, (Neuchâtel: À la Baconnière, 1984), 11, cited in Antje Wisseman, preface to Frank Martin, Messe für zwei vierstimmige Chöre, ed. Antje Wissemann, trans. J. Bradford Robinson, (Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag, 2014), V. 4 5

Frank Martin, Un Compositeur médite sur son art: écrits et pensées recueillis par sa femme, Langages (Neuchâtel: La Baconnière, 1977), 123–132, translated by Robert V. Glasmann, “A Choral Conductor’s Analysis for Performance of Messe pour double choeur a cappella by Frank Martin” (DMA diss., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1987), ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, 130– 140, especially 132. Thank you to Joseph Kemper for providing access to Glasmann’s dissertation.

Halbreich, 93.

Ibid., 99.

48

It should be noted that Martin uses a similar texture earlier in the Mass. In his dissertation that compares four twentieth-century masses, Bruce Lynn Vantine observes that the unison melody over open fifths in the “Domine Deus, Agnus Dei” section of the Gloria (mm. 58–84) resembles the texture of the opening of the Agnus Dei. This textural commonality adds to the Mass’ overall stylistic unity despite the four-year gap between the composition of these movements.7 Yet, there is a crucial textural difference between this section of the Gloria and the beginning of the Agnus Dei: this latter movement shares Honegger’s syncopations, whereas in the Gloria, Choir I only sings on the beat. (Please see Figure 2.)

palette expands rapidly and shares many chords in common with the Honegger. (Please see the Harmony section below for further discussion.)

While a textural consistency links Martin’s Gloria and Agnus Dei, this resemblance is superficial compared to the similarities in texture between the Agnus Dei and Honegger’s Penitential Psalm.

III. Rhythm Another strong commonality between the two movements is rhythm. Both feature slow tempi: Martin marks Andante, while Honegger marks Grave, eighth note=104 (quarter note=52).

Although the meter changes frequently in the Agnus Dei, the pulse is always in quarter notes.

Indeed, both works start with one bar of quarter note chords in their lower choirs in order to

Moreover, Choir II’s harmony in the Gloria does not expand beyond an open-fifths drone, whereas in the Agnus Dei, Choir II’s harmonic

Figure 1: Textural comparison between the opening measures Martin mm.

1-4 of Martin’s Agnus Dei and Honegger’s Penitential Psalm

Choir I (unison octaves)

  



            

Frank Martin, Agnus Dei mm. 1-4

     



A - gnus De - i,

qui tol

         A - gnus De - i, qui tol - lis pec - ca - ta Honegger           mm.   1-3  Choir II Tenor and Bass       

Choir II Soprano and Alto

Choir (Tenors and Basses)

Orchestra reduction

7



   



  

  -

 

                

  

  

  

      

Mi - sé - ri - corde, o Dieu pi - tié

  

  

Bruce Lynn Vantine, “Four Twentieth-Century Masses: An Analytical Comparison of Style and Compositional Technique” (DMA diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982), 77, quoted in Glasmann, 46. Glasmann observes that Vantine misattributes this section of the text to the Credo.

49

  

  





mun - di:

Arthur Honegger, Penitential Psalm mm. 1-3

  

  



lis pec - ca - ta mun -

 

 

mi - se

   

-

- di

   

   

re - re

  

no - bis

  

se - lon ta gran - de com - pas - si - on.

  

  

  

  

  

  

Martin GLORIA mm. 58-62

Figure 2. Martin’s Gloria mm. 58–62 for textural comparison with opening of Agnus Dei texture (please see Figure 1).

  

Frank Martin, Gloria, mm. 58-62

Choir I (unison octaves)



              Do - mi - ne De - us         Choir II Tenor and Bass            

Choir II Soprano and Alto

 

   

 

   

Ag - nus



establish this pulse. Although the Penitential Psalm is in 12/8, the instruments (the lower choir) play consistent quarter notes (essentially in 6/4) while the voices (the top choir) sing rhythms typical of compound meter. Due to the ponderous tempo of the dotted quarter note (34.67 bpm), however, any sense of the voices’ compound quadruple is all but lost to the constant, plodding quarter notes in the instruments. As a result, the listener perceives constant syncopation in the choir, rather than the notated triple-duple cross-rhythm with the instruments. This sense of syncopation is reinforced by the singers’ frequent alternation between eighths and quarters. (Please see Figure 1.) Martin’s rhythmic matrix is therefore highly similar to Honegger’s, despite the differences in their respective meters and subdivisions.

        

De - i,

   

Fi - li - us

   

  



Pa - tris

   

   

traditional tonal function: E minor (or simply E) is established as tonic as a result of repetition, emphasis, and return, rather than through any tonic-dominant relationship.

Many of the chords in the Martin are either identical to the four used by Honegger, or very closely related. The first clear example occurs on the third beat of m. 5 of the Martin, where the second choir sings an F♯ chord, a different inversion of the chord that occurs in the Honegger in mm. 3 and 7. Although the Agnus Dei begins effectively in B minor, nine of its fifty-one bars are based in E minor (or “on E”) and feature Em9 and Em11 chords (mm. 8–10 and mm. 31–37).

These are the exact chords that form the very harmonic and tonal foundation of the Honegger, found in nine of its thirteen bars. Furthermore, in m. 15 of the Agnus Dei, the second choir sings an FM♮4 chord before moving to B♭m9 in m. 16.

Although there is no ninth in the FM♮4 chord, this progression resembles mm. 5–6 of the Honegger, in which CM resolves to Em11, followed by Em9.

(Please see Figure 3.) This same type of chord (major with raised fourth) occurs in the Martin again in m. 18, but with an added ninth (A♭) in the first choir on beat 5, creating a G♭M chord, the same sonority as mm. 5 and 9 of the

IV. Harmony and Melody These two movements share harmonic elements, including identical sonorities and key areas.

Honegger’s harmonies are complex, yet few in number. The four chords he employs are: Em11 resolving to Em9 (mm. 1, 2, 6, 10, 11); Em9 alone (mm. 4, 8, 12, 13); F♯ (mm. 3, 7); and CM (mm. 5, 9). It seems these chords do not possess

50

Honegger. (Please see Figure 4.) While this use of pandiatonicism and extended chords is not uncommon in music of this era, Martin’s use of the identical chords and key areas from the Honegger betray his borrowing.

accompanied by an Em9 chord in the second choir.

(Please see Figure 5.) Additionally, the Honegger melody begins on the word “miséricorde,” and Martin’s quotation begins on the Latin cognate “miserere”—both meaning “have mercy.” (Less overtly, Martin’s scalar descent from F# down to C# in m. 35 is also identical to the pitches in m.

4 of the Honegger.)

The clearest instance of Martin’s borrowing is a quotation of the Penitential Psalm’s primary melody and harmony at the climax of the Agnus Dei. In general, their melodies share similar descending contours and mostly stepwise motion with leaps of no more than a third. But at this climax in mm. 34–35 of the Agnus Dei, the pitch classes and harmony are identical to Honegger’s primary theme: a scalar descent from A to F# with a syncopation, skipping down to D and back to F#,

If none of the other commonalities between these pieces reminds the listener of the Honegger, the melody and harmony they share at the Agnus Dei’s climax would certainly do so. In fact, these similarities are so striking that this moment could be considered a direct quotation.

Figure 3. Harmonic comparison between Martin’s Agnus Dei mm. 15–16 and Honegger’s Penitential Martin mm. 15-16 Psalm mm. 5–6

        

      

Frank Martin, Agnus Dei mm. 15-16

Choir I (unison octaves)

  Choir II Soprano and Alto       

 

mi - se - re - re,

     Choir II Tenor and Bass  

  

             Honegger  mm. 5-6

 

mun - di:

FM♮4

  

A - gnus De - i

mi - se

-

re - re

no - bis

B♭m9

   Soprano and Alto  

Arthur Honegger, Penitential Psalm mm. 5-6

         Tenor and Bass      

Orchestra reduction



    

 



           

(on) La - ve - moi jus - qu’au fond de mon

      

CM9#4



 



 



 

  

51

  



 

  

Mi - sé - ri - corde,

i - ni - qui - té









Em11

Em9

 

 

  

  





o Dieu

  

   

pi - tié



 

  

  o

Figure 4. Harmonic comparison between Martin’s Agnus Dei m. 18 and Honegger’s Penitential Psalm m. 9 Martin 18 as m. 9) Honegger m.9 (m. 5 contains the samem. harmony

   

Choir I (unison octaves)

Arthur Honegger, Penitential Psalm m. 9

 



     Tenor and Bass  

                mun

Choir II Soprano and Alto

-

di:

mi - se

               Choir II Tenor and Bass     

tol - lis pec - ca - ta

G♭M♮4

     

   Soprano and Alto      

Frank Martin, Agnus Dei m. 18

Orchestra reduction

G♭M9♮4



    

pu - ri - fie - moi

    

ché.

      

CM9#4



de mon pé - ché.



 

 

 



   

 

Figure 5. Martin’s melodic and harmonic quotation from Honegger’s Penitential Psalm at the climax of the Martin Agnus Dei mm. in mm.34-35 34–35.

                          Frank Martin, Agnus Dei mm. 34-35

Choir I Soprano and Tenor (unison octaves)

Choir I Alto and Bass (unison octaves)

Choir II Soprano and Alto

Choir II Tenor and Bass

Tenor and Bass

Orchestra reduction

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Arthur Honegger, Penitential Psalm mm. 1-4

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se - lon ta gran - de com - pas - si - on. Veuille ef - fa - cer ma trans - gres - si - on

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52



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V. Repetition

repeats the Agnus Dei text no fewer than 9.5 times without resting before both choirs sing “dona nobis pacem” in the last four measures.

This results in the sense that the second choir continuously repeats this text throughout the movement. Indeed, they repeat it so many times and with such little variation in harmony and zero variation in rhythm that this text becomes background, and thus similar to the instrumental accompaniment in the Honegger. In other words, the setting in the second choir is no longer a traditional execution of this text, but becomes a mantra of penitence.

Repetition is a significant feature of both pieces. Most notably, the quarter note chords in the second choirs are repeated relentlessly throughout both works. On average, Honegger changes these chords once per measure; before the progression starting in m. 20, Martin changes harmonies every two measures. Therefore, these two movements share not only slow tempi, but ultra-slow harmonic rhythm. Moreover, the syncopation in both first choirs’ melodies is continually emphasized. In the Martin, the first choir lacks eighth note syncopations in only eight of its fifty-one measures.8 In the Honegger, the choir’s syncopation relative to the instruments’ quarter notes is strongly present in every measure.

VI. Dissimilarities There are certainly dissimilarities between these two movements, the most salient being performance forces (instruments and choir vs. unaccompanied double choir). Based on the above discussion, however, this difference is more timbral than textural, since Honegger treats the voices as one choir and the instruments as another. The other prominent dissimilarity is the difference in length of the two works, with the Agnus Dei (fifty-one measures) being almost four times longer than the Penitential Psalm (thirteen measures). Honegger’s movement is brief enough that modulation would be neither necessary nor appropriate; Martin’s is long enough to require modulation and a broader harmonic palette in order to avoid monotony. Honegger also employs canon between the low-voice and high-voice parts, whereas the first choir in the Martin sings entirely homorhythmically, rarely even breaking out of unison. Both of Martin’s choirs have remarkably wide ranges, while Honegger’s ranges are quite limited, perhaps due to the reduction of vocal parts into only two voices. The difference in language is significant, as well: the syncopations in the Agnus Dei are more noticeable due to the metered nature of Latin. These syncopations occur on both stressed and unstressed syllables alike;

Both composers repeat phrases and individual words of their respective texts. Honegger states Morax’s text in the low-voice parts in mm. 2–8, repeated in canon by the high voices starting in m. 6. The low voices then repeat the short phrase, “purifie-moi de mon péché” in mm. 8–9, echoed by the trebles in m. 9, thus emphasizing “purify me from my sin.”9 The last four bars (mm. 10– 13) feature only the phrase “miséricorde, O Dieu pitié,” [“have pity, O God of mercy”] repeated by both low and high voices five times.

The Mass Ordinary includes three statements of the Agnus Dei text, with a different consequent after the third instance, “dona nobis pacem” (“grant us peace”). It seems Martin exceeds this liturgical practice, setting the Agnus Dei text six times in the first choir over forty-seven measures.

Moreover, he repeats the word “miserere” (“have mercy”) three to six times in each of these statements. In the meantime, the second choir 8

These eight measures are: 4, 13, 18, 26, 41, 43, 44, 47. These do not include the first measure where Choir I does not sing, nor the homophonic chords in the final four measures.

9

Please see the Appendix for full texts and translations.

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Martin seems to emphasize stressed syllables through duration and melisma rather than through metrical alignment of text and music.

His frequent time signature changes mostly conform to the second choir’s nine repetitions of the Agnus Dei text and its few melismas. In order to emphasize the final part of the Agnus Dei text, “dona nobis pacem,” Martin adds a homophonic coda that ends on G major. Honegger’s coda is a crescendoing continuation of the Em9 “tonic” chord in the instruments alone.

the composer borrowed a melody from César Franck’s 1884 Prelude, Choral, et Fugue in his violin sonata of 1913,10 and how later, the slow movement of Martin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 of 1933–34 “explores non-functional minor ninth chords in a haunting pattern reminiscent of Honegger.”11 Martin’s imitation of this particular combination of harmony and texture from Honegger is salient in light of the architecture of the Agnus Dei. In his article on musical borrowing, J. Peter Burkholder states that “proof of borrowing is incomplete until a purpose can be demonstrated.”12 Regardless of whether Martin’s borrowing was conscious or unconscious, we can surmise that his purpose was to create a repentant character through these textures, rhythms, harmonies, melodies, and uses of repetition—the very aspects that Honegger used to create the same character in his Penitential Psalm of several years’ prior.

VII. Conclusion In his Agnus Dei, Frank Martin clearly borrowed from Arthur Honegger’s Penitential Psalm, using this prior, well-known piece’s specific rhythms, textures, harmonies, repetition, and melody, not to mention its mutual subject of repentance.

While Martin’s Agnus Dei shares several stylistic elements with the “Domine Deus” section of the Gloria from his Mass, these are limited to texture and open harmonies. The additional similarities of rhythm, sonority, melody, and repetition that the Agnus Dei shares with Honegger’s Penitential Psalm, however, are so strong that they render coincidence unlikely, especially given the composers’ shared culture, geography, and timeframe, as well as the ubiquitous popularity of Honegger’s Le roi David.

But could Martin have been self-conscious about the boldness of his borrowing from Le roi David— enough so to influence his decision not to publish or perform his Mass? As mentioned above, Martin claimed he did not publish or perform the Mass because it was “a matter entirely between God and myself.” Beyond this, he believed that composers should avoid any expression of individuality in their sacred music, even suggesting they perform their works without their names attached. He acknowledged his conflicting desires: on the one hand, he wished to have his own sacred works performed in this way, and on the other, he wanted listeners to focus entirely on the spiritual messages of his works without being distracted by curiosity about the composer’s identity.13 These beliefs were evidently at odds with the act of

It is unclear, however, why Martin borrowed from Le roi, and equally unclear whether Martin was aware that he had evidently done so. There is a possibility that he had heard Le roi sometime between composing the first four movements of his Mass in 1922 and when he began the Agnus Dei in 1926, but had forgotten how much the Penitential Psalm resembled his new movement. There is evidence of his borrowing the musical materials and styles of other composers (consciously or not) both before and after he composed the Mass. In his article “Frank Martin’s Early Development,” Mervyn Cooke observes that

10

Mervyn Cooke, “Frank Martin’s Early Development,” The Musical Times, 131, no. 1771 (1990): 473–78, accessed May 11, 2016, https://doi.org/10.2307/1193659, 473–5.

11 12

Ibid., 476.

J. Peter Burkholder, “Borrowing,” Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2001), accessed Aug. 9, 2023, https://doi. org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52918.

13

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Martin, Un Compositeur, trans. Glasmann, 135.

public performance of his sacred works, at least with his name attached. In order to continue to compose sacred works, he would need to reconcile his conflicting desires.

to do with public opinion.”15 In terra pax itself, as well as his use of the past tense (“it seemed to me”), indicate that his views had changed after this moment in 1945. Indeed, this was the first of many sacred pieces he would compose and premiere over the remainder of his life, including several oratorios and a Requiem. It seems that once he had overcome this impasse, Martin was able to reconcile his beliefs with his practice.

The solution to this impasse came more than twenty years after Martin began composing the Mass: Radio-Geneva commissioned him in 1944 to write a choral-orchestral work that would celebrate World War II’s eventual armistice via radio broadcast on the day of its announcement.

The text was left to the composer, who naturally felt the weight of this commission. Writing one year after its premiere, Martin expressed his views on beginning this work:

But what about his stated fear that his Mass “would be judged from an entirely aesthetic standpoint”? Certainly, this relates to his belief that religious works at that time could not be heard separately from contemporary artistic values. In his writings on sacred music, Martin laments that in earlier times, composers writing solely for the Church did not concern themselves with “public opinion, criticism, or this entity, fearful and intangible for the artist, which is the world of art that weighs and judges, which makes reputations or destroys them.”16 In contemporary art, he feels that too much emphasis is placed on individuality, “because in art one searches much more for uniqueness, for unusual and personal characteristics rather than for general human values.”17 He saw the composer’s assertion of originality for the sake of individuality as anathema to sacred music. Elsewhere, Martin establishes a dichotomy between originality and “calm beauty”:

The occasion of this celebration was of such dimension and of such gravity that it was scarcely possible to conceive of a text which was not completely animated by religious feeling; it was also an occasion at which religious sentiment should be found to be widespread and, at least in part, unanimous. In the face of such considerable events, the thought of God and his power is evoked in the spirits of even those for whom it only has symbolic value.14 Evidently, the event’s significance allowed Martin to overcome his past feelings on the matter of composing and performing sacred works. This commission became In terra pax, an oratorio with biblical texts on the theme of reconciliation.

With its premiere on May 7, 1945, Martin finally shared a sacred work with the public at age 54.

Writing many years later in a program note for a performance of his Mass in 1970, Martin explained that prior to that commission, he believed that “the expression of religious sentiments, it seemed to me, ought to remain secret and have nothing

Why, then, do contemporary composers often give their works so tumultuous a character at the expense of calm beauty?

Admittedly, these composers are in a difficult position, being constantly confronted by two cliffs, the two contrary demands for originality and for perfection….in his heart the hope springs 15

Frank Martin, untitled program note for a concert that included his Messe, from A propos de..., 11–12, transl. Glasmann, 128.

16

14

17

Martin, Un Compositeur, trans. Glasmann, 135.

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Martin, Un Compositeur, trans. Glasmann, 131.

Ibid., 132.

eternal to reconcile or encompass those two opposites, i.e. originality and fierce turbulence on the one hand and calm beauty and serenity on the other.18

take composers at their word about their artistic intentions, it seems there is a strong enough correlation between Martin’s beliefs about sacred music and his actions to warrant some degree of trust in his statements. It can therefore be concluded that his reasoning for hiding the Mass in a drawer for almost forty years was most likely as he claimed: for personal and spiritual reasons.

It seems in Martin’s mind there is a polarity between music that appeals to audiences at the time and asserts a composer’s identity (originality), and music that connects more deeply to the composer’s own sensibilities (“calm beauty”).

So what is next in this unresolved chapter in Swiss choral music? There is not enough conclusive evidence to solve the mystery of why Martin borrowed from Honegger’s Penitential Psalm.

We do know, however, that Martin’s style was inextricably linked with Honegger’s throughout his life. Martin’s widow, Maria Boeke Martin, recalled an instance at a concert they attended in 1966 where a conductor surprised Martin by playing one of his earlier works without first revealing the composer’s identity. Martin whispered to his wife during the performance that the piece must be by Honegger, only to be astonished when the conductor pulled him onstage afterward to be recognized as the composer. Martin had apparently forgotten he had written the piece twenty-one years earlier.20 This example illustrates the interconnectedness of these two composers’ styles and output, as well as how Honegger’s music had influenced Martin on a deeply subconscious level. If he confused his own music for Honegger’s, then perhaps this profound influence went unnoticed in his Mass. We cannot prove that Martin consciously borrowed from Honegger’s Penitential Psalm, but despite the many properties these two pieces share, Martin’s expansion of Honegger’s material still strikes audiences with its originality nearly a century later.

The combination of Martin’s fear of aesthetic judgment and his distaste of originality for the sake of individuality might give the reader of his statements pause in light of his use of material from Le roi David: could these statements reflect self-consciousness from having borrowed from a very famous work? Do these comments hold a special weight, given the lack of originality and the abundance of “calm beauty” in his Agnus Dei with its Andante tempo and minor eleventh chords?

While these questions are certainly valid, the more likely reason for his withholding the Mass is nonetheless spiritual. Over many years, Martin provided a consistent narrative for why he did not publish sacred music until later in his career.

And what adds credence to this narrative is that his reluctance to publish sacred music did not apply to the Mass alone: he also composed two large sections of a Christmas Cantata (“Cantate sur la Nativité”) in 1929, but never completed it, and did not publish it on the same grounds he outlines above for the Mass.19 That his reluctance applied not only to the Mass but to the Christmas Cantata indicates a verisimilar consistency of approach to sacred music. While we cannot always 18 Frank Martin, from his “musical credo dating from 1943,” uncited quotation in Willi Reich, “On Swiss Musical Composition of the Present,” trans. Ernest Sanders, The Musical Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 1. (Special Fiftieth Anniversary Issue: Contemporary Music in Europe: A Comprehensive Survey, Jan., 1965), 78–91, Oxford University Press, accessed Nov. 5, 2016, http://www.jstor. org/stable/740891, 81–2.

19

20

Maria Martin, Souvenirs de ma vie avec Frank Martin (Lausanne: Age d’homme, 1990), 211–212. It seems Martin finally fulfilled his wish for his music to be performed anonymously, to the point where even he did not know the author! Thank you to Monica Streifer for her translation of the French in this passage.

Martin, Un Compositeur, trans. Glasmann, 135.

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—Miles Canaday

Assistant Conductor for the Eastman-Rochester Chorus, Miles conducted Duruflé’s Requiem and prepared the ensemble for a performance of Mozart’s Requiem with the Rochester Philharmonic.

Miles Canaday is Artistic Director of the Thomas Circle Singers, a 50-voice volunteer choir that partners with Washington, D.C.-based social service organizations.

He joins TCS after four years as Assistant Professor of Music at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, where he directed the Whitman Chorale and Chamber Singers and designed courses in conducting and American music. During his time at Whitman, these ensembles appeared at a College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) national conference, premiered works by Carlos Velez and Arianne Abela, and performed with the Walla Walla Symphony. Previously, Miles served as Visiting Director of Choirs at William & Mary, where he conducted over thirty performances on campus and on tour, including a premiere at commencement. As

Canaday holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with William Weinert and received the Walter Hagen Prize in Conducting. His critical edition of works by Renaissance composer Sebastián de Vivanco is forthcoming with A-R Editions. Miles completed a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Yale School of Music, studying with Marguerite Brooks and Jeffrey Douma. Miles graduated with a B.A. in music with honors from Harvard College, where he studied conducting with Jameson Marvin and Federico Cortese and was President of the Harvard Glee Club.

Appendix: Texts and Translations Agnus Dei Text from the Catholic Mass Ordinary Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

Arthur Honegger’s Le roi David, 19. Penitential Psalm (“Psaume de pénitence”) French text by René Morax; English version by Edward Agate Miséricorde, o Dieu, pitié selon ta grande compassion.

Veuille effacer ma transgression.

Lave-moi jusqu’au fond de mon iniquité.

Purifie-moi de mon péché.

Miséricorde, o Dieu, pitié.

Pity me, God, in my distress Turn not away, but heal me again, Wash me of sin and cleanse me of shame.

And in thy hot displeasure, O chasten me not.

O God, turn not away, heal me again, Pity me, God, in my distress!

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Bibliography Burkholder, J. Peter. “Borrowing.” Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, 2001. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.52918 Cooke, Mervyn. “Frank Martin’s Early Development.” The Musical Times 131, no. 1771 (1990): 473–78. Accessed May 11, 2016. https://doi.org/10.2307/1193659.

Glasmann, Robert V. “A Choral Conductor’s Analysis for Performance of Messe pour double choeur a cappella by Frank Martin.” University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1987. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global.

Halbreich, Harry. Arthur Honegger. Translated by Roger Nichols. Reinhard G. Pauly, general editor. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999.

Honegger, Arthur. Le roi David: psaume symphonique en trois parties d’après le drame de René Morax. French text

by René Morax. Original 1921 version. English version by Edward Agate. German version by Hans Reinhart.

Lausanne: Édition Fœtisch, 1924–5.

Martin, Frank. Un Compositeur médite sur son art: écrits et pensées recueillis par sa femme. Langages. Neuchâtel, Switzerland: La Baconnière, 1977.

———. Messe für zwei vierstimmige Chöre. Kassel, Germany: Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, 1972. New Edition, ed. Antje Wissemann, 2014. Preface trans. J. Bradford Robinson.

Martin, Frank, and Maria Martin. A Propos de... Commentaires de Frank Martin sur ses oeuvres. Langages.

Neuchâtel, Switzerland: La Baconnière, 1984.

Martin, Maria. Souvenirs de ma vie avec Frank Martin. Lausanne, Switzerland: Age d’homme, 1990.

Reich, Willi. “On Swiss Musical Composition of the Present.” Trans. Ernest Sanders. The Musical Quarterly, vol.

51, no. 1. Special Fiftieth Anniversary Issue: Contemporary Music in Europe: A Comprehensive Survey (Jan., 1965), pp. 78–91. Oxford University Press. Accessed Nov. 5, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/740891.

Vantine, Bruce Lynn. “Four Twentieth-Century Masses: An Analytical Comparison of Style and Compositional Technique.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1982.

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TCS ACR

Recording Reviews Morgan Luttig, editor

example, the presence of the Lombard rhythm, or Scottish snap, appears in most if not all of her choral writing. Tann is fluid stylistically, taking inspiration from Welsh hymns (notable in track two, The Moor), plainsong, and at times, from orchestration that could be likened to Britten’s Ceremony of Carols (for example in track nine, Children of Grace.)

Hilary Tann: Luminaria Magna: Sacred Choral Music

Cappella Clausura

Amelia LeClair, conductor NV6509 (2023, 72’00”)

L

The album begins with Advent, the first of four Embertides, an organ suite that pays homage to the four parts of the liturgical and secular year.

These standalone reflections are interspersed between nine of Tann’s thirteen extant choral works.1 Her three Psalms (136, 86, 104) finish out the album, performed in the order intended by the composer.2 Out of the nine choral works, only two are for soprano/alto voicing, while the remaining pieces include lower voices. Some pieces add organ, and the final two Psalms, 86 and 104, include trumpet.

uminaria Magna is Cappella Clausura’s latest release. Led by founder Amelia LeClair, Cappella Clausura, in collaboration with Danish organist Heinrich Christensen, interprets thirteen of Hilary Tann’s sacred works. The exceptional performances of both Christensen and Cappella Clausura bring to life the Welsh composer’s vibrant organ and lyrical choral settings which are organized programmatically by interspersing solo organ works amidst her shorter choral pieces. The recording is not only a gift to the ears, but an opportunity for conductors and lovers of choral music to become more familiar with the lesser known but accessible and diverse choral oeuvre of Tann.

Two pieces stand out in both composition and performance. That Jewel-Spirit… is written for SSA voices, flute, and piano or string quintet (Cappella uses organ in place of piano.) The

The music of Welsh-born Hilary Tann (1947– 2023) is influenced not only by her Welsh origins, but also by the natural world, as well as her affinity with Japan. Tann lived and worked in upstate New York, and was also a published haiku poet. Compositionally in her choral works, she is attentive to text, weaving various languages together often freely flowing between English and Latin in one piece. Stylistically, one can’t help but note the Celtic influence of her homeland. For

1

According to the composer’s works listed on her website: https://hilarytann.com/

2

See program note for Psalms at: https://hilarytann.com/

VO L U M E 6 0 | N U M B E R 2 | FA L L 2 0 2 3

59

text combines poetry of Japanese haiku master Matsuo Bashô and American poet Penny Harter both who wrote about Mount Haguro, located in the ancient province of Dewa, Japan. The work was commissioned in memory of a student, Moe (known as “Momo”) Nakamura. The composer wrote in the program note, “the connections between Momo, Japan, and the USA are many.”

The opening theme, upon which the piece is based, enters above a major second in the upper register of the keyboard and flute, giving both a simplicity and a melancholy sense to the piece that continues until the end.

Michael Kurek: Symphony No. 2: Tales from the Realm of Faerie and Other Works

Vanderbilt Chorale, European Recording Orchestra

Michael Kurek, conductor NV6458 (2022, 58’39”)

I

n a time when so much is happening in the world, people often look for ways to escape and find reprieve from the challenges in daily life. For many, music is this reprieve. The choral and instrumental selections in Symphony No. 2: Tales from the Realm of Faerie and Other Works take listeners on a journey to lands of fantasy and hope. The album features music

by American composer, Michael Kurek, divided into two parts: Symphony No. 2, scored for large symphony orchestra, and Missa Brevis, set for choir and organ. Listeners will find that the music is enjoyably straightforward and easy to follow. Symphony No. 2 evokes strong aural images of imagination while Missa Brevis honors the centuries-old traditions of the Mass ordinary through its functional and convincing setting.

The second work that shines both compositionally and in its introspective performance is Measuring the Distance, which combines English with Latin numerology in a text, again, by Penny Harter.

Throughout, Tann uses rhythmic language, some spoken sections, and articulation to create the feeling of the passing of time. “Musicians have a complex and personal relationship to time: the practical business of notating music; the experiential time of listening; the times of one’s life. In ‘Measuring the Distance,’ temporal matters gradually give way to an unbounded sense of loving and being loved,” 3 wrote the composer. Indeed, she sets the words then try to measure love- love that can leap any distance with a rare moment of simplicity and vulnerability in a soprano and tenor duet about halfway through the piece. At the end of the work, Tann uses the same text to bring back the important message, centering love. Throughout, the choir’s sound is supported, full, and lush, which allows overtones to speak and the interpretation of the piece’s message to come through.

Michael Kurek’s Symphony No. 2 creates a cinematic soundscape that transports listeners to fantasy lands of literature and cinema. The selections will remind listeners of various characters, creatures, and other thematic moments found in fairytales. Using “faerie,” the old spelling for “fairyland,” Kurek’s piece title insinuates a desire for listeners to escape into an imaginative fairyland while listening to Symphony No. 2.

Although the symphony comprises more time than the mass on the recording, the two works complement one another in their quest to take the listener on an epic journey of enjoyable music.

—Corie Brown Dr. Corie Brown serves as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at San José State University.

3

https://hilarytann.com/

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Michael Kurek’s Missa Brevis is both accessible and simple. The Vanderbilt Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Tucker Biddlecombe, performs Kurek’s mass in a way that showcases the musical effectiveness and simplistic beauty of the work.

Throughout the Mass, organist Polly Brecht plays the accompaniment with sensitivity as the instrument is aurally balanced with the voices.

On the second half of this recording, the four movements of the Missa Brevis are paired with Kurek’s Ave Maria, a selection that could be used liturgically or in concert.

provides support for the choir while remaining independent and aurally interesting for the listener. A salient feature of Kurek’s Missa Brevis is that each movement has its own unique identity.

Each movement could stand alone, but they also seamlessly connect as the whole, making the mass cohesive for the listener.

Overall, trained musicians can hear the simplicity and functionality of this brief mass.

Whether used in liturgical or concert contexts, audience members will enjoy the digestible and harmonically stunning piece. The polished performance by the Vanderbilt Chorale makes the practicality of the piece hard to detect.

This recording utilized German Neumann U87 microphones and a Dobson 92 organ, recorded in Turner Hall at Vanderbilt University. These highvalue instruments and recording devices combined with the artistry of conductor Tucker Biddlecombe, organist Polly Brecht, and the singers of the Vanderbilt Chorale, create an ethereal experience that is simple yet full of beauty.

This setting of the Missa Brevis utilizes traditional movements from the mass ordinary: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. The organ introduction of the Kyrie sets the tone of the work with its use of pedal points and stepwise descent in the bass. Similar to the other movements, The Kyrie utilizes homophony and voice pairings between the treble and tenor-bass voices. The Vanderbilt Chorale effectively portrays the tripartite division of the piece through powerful dynamic and affect changes. The voices of the Vanderbilt Chorale are perfectly balanced and weave together seamlessly as the choir transitions into new musical material within and between each movement.

To conclude the album, the treble voices of the Vanderbilt Chorale performed Kurek’s SSA arrangement of Ave Maria. Continuing with a theme of simplicity, this arrangement offers legato and lyrical lines sung artfully by the choir. The contour and melodic material may seem akin to the well-known Gounod arrangement of Ave Maria, which may not be surprising given the late and 19th and early 20th century French choral influences in Kurek’s work.

The Gloria begins with a triumphant opening that appears as a homophonic choral incipit.

This movement stays harmonically simple, a helpful characteristic for developing choirs as they navigate the plentiful text of the Gloria. The Sanctus opens with an ascending unison line from the treble voices before splitting into two, then four parts. This movement features colorful chords on vivid text, such as “sabbaoth,” “hosanna,” and “in excelsis,” providing harmonic places of arrival for the choir. The Agnus Dei has a similar affect to the opening Kyrie, longing for mercy but filled with hope as the choir concludes the Missa Brevis on an intimate chord, singing “pacem.”

Throughout the mass, the organ accompaniment

The selection of Symphony No. 2 and Missa Brevis provide listeners the chance to be engulfed in a different world. Kurek jokes that his music is “completely conventional and without interest,41” 1

Michael Kurek, “Symphony No. 2: Tales from the Realm of Faerie,” 2022, https://michaelkurek.com/symphony-no-2-talesfrom-the-realm-of-faerie/.

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acknowledging that those who listen to his music may enjoy it simply for music’s sake. Both the European Recording Orchestra and the Vanderbilt Chorale are effective in their presentations of Michael Kurek’s compositions and accomplish taking the listeners into an engulfing escape.

This album is highly recommended for its musical effectiveness, functionality, simplicity,

and the elevated performances by the European Recording Orchestra and The Vanderbilt Chorale.

— Ethan Murphy Mr. Ethan Murphy is a PhD student in Choral Conducting at Florida State University.

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TCS ACR