Requiem and Reconciliation Program

RIDER UNIVERSITY

Westminster Choir College

Requiem and Reconciliation

Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. | Gill Memorial Chapel WESTMINSTER CHAPEL CHOIR WESTMINSTER SCHOLA CANTORUM Alicia Brozovich, conductor Michelle Kwok, graduate assistant conductor Robert Lapore, Jr., graduate assistant conductor Brendan Evans, guitar Akiko Hosaki, organ Stephanie Sussmeier, harp Ruotao Mao, violin Mayumi Grasso, cello

Conductor’s Note It is 1891, and an elderly Walt Whitman pens a final edition of his infamous collection of over 400 poems on life, death, hope, love, war, and peace: Leaves of Grass. It will be published the following year – the “deathbed edition” of a book representing over 30 years of stories, reflections, revisions, and edits. The poet was known for spending time alongside soldiers of the American Civil War – documenting their stories, caring for the wounded, and even writing letters on their behalf.

As the bell tolls for the New Jersey writer, across the Atlantic Ocean, a French composer is assembling one of the most famous editions of his Requiem in D minor. Gabriel Fauré was only 19 when the American Civil war was drawing to a close – just finishing the Cantique de Jean Racine in 1865 to submit for a competition, which he ultimately won.

I am not sure that most people think of Walt Whitman when they hear Fauré’s Requiem. However, I cannot help but think of how seminal works by each of these two men existed in the same time frame. When considering current world events, which seem oceans away and yet ever-near, the thought of juxtaposing these artists’ compositions only made sense.

So, our story takes the listener through a “requiem for a fallen soldier,” in a sense. A procession of a common 1835 shape-note hymn – which could very well have been well-known to Civil War soldiers in the South – opens the concert, followed by the familiar Requiem drone. Then, composer Jeffrey Van transports us into the memory of the war – any war – before the Offertory prayer is sung. As we follow the ritual Requiem service, we are interrupted a final time by Walt Whitman’s poem “Reconciliation,” just before the concluding plea for angels to lead our anonymous soldier to paradise.

– Alicia Brozovich

Requiem and Reconciliation Traditional adapted by Gregory Brown ’01

The Morning Trumpet

Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)

Requiem Introit and Kyrie

A Procession Winding Around Me Jeffrey Van

(b.1941) I. A PROCESSION WINDING AROUND ME II. BEAT! BEAT! DRUMS! III. LOOK DOWN, FAIR MOON Offertory

Fauré Tyler Kim, baritone Intermission

Pie Jesu

Fauré Zoe Beaton, soprano

Agnus Dei

Fauré

Libera Me

Fauré Michelle Kwok, conductor Ben Kirk, baritone Christopher Palmer, baritone

IV. RECONCILIATION In Paradisum

Van Fauré

Program Notes The Morning Trumpet The Morning Trumpet appears in many shape note collections and is a popular tune among those who enjoy singing from these wonderful books.

My setting takes Southern Harmony of 1835 as its point of departure, making slight changes to the form of the piece, but maintaining a harmonic and rhythmic language that stays true to the original. This setting was originally created for New York Polyphony (ATBB) and is here reworked for mixed choir (SATB).

– Gregory Brown, composer A Procession Winding Around Me American composer and guitarist, Jeffrey Van, takes the listener through various scenes of wartime as Walt Whitman’s American Drum-Taps texts (Leaves of Grass, 1855) are juxtaposed with a single guitar. The iconic poetry is brought to life as the guitar acts as an entire orchestra; sometimes imitating the sonority of a string section, other times using extended techniques to offer an entire spectrum of percussive colors.

By The Bivouac’s Fitful Flame The distant sound of drums and cannon fire accompanies a lone soldier, unable to sleep the night before battle, reflecting on memories and thoughts “processing” through his mind. As his thoughts become more intimate, the guitar is silent, only returning when the reality of what is about to happen slips back into his mind’s eye.

Beat! Beat! Drums!

The silence is interrupted by a snap glissando on the guitar. Thick ominous harmony marches forward, interspersed with the crack of gunshots. The warfare thunders into houses, churches, schools, and even the bridal chamber to shake the fabric of society. Throughout, the guitarist bends his instrument into the shape of snare drums, pounding trumpet blasts, and gunshots.

Look Down Fair Moon It is the night following the battle, and the guitar imitates moonlight distorted by fog. Startlingly, as the clouds part, the melodic line is

disturbed by an eerie screech, evoking the horror at the scene the moonlight beholds. The fallen soldiers are “heard” in whistles riding the night breeze.

Reconciliation A hymn unravels, addressing a supreme being to bring peace. The harmony then becomes unmoving while distant artillery fire returns in the guitar. Sopranos and altos evoke heavenly voices in a cascading petition for healing, inspiring the entire chorus to join together again in the prayer.

The climax of the piece occurs during the musical B section. The tenors and basses serve as the voice of a soldier reflecting on how his enemy, the one he killed, was made of the same divine substance as himself. The harmony is suspended in both the choir and guitar at key points (e.g. “dead,” “face,” “touch”), resolved briefly at the moment of reconciliation: when he kisses the face of his deceased enemy (“lips”).

Requiem in D. Minor “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” - Gabriel Fauré In 2011, arranger David Hill created a new version of Fauré’s Requiem, scored for SATB, organ, violin, cello, and harp. The driving forces behind this new arrangement were two-fold: the popularity of the Requiem among ensembles of all venues and sizes, and the need to keep an eye toward the small budgets of many school, university, and church music programs. The devoted Fauré follower will hear no difference in the vocal parts, as great care was taken by Hill to match this new arrangement to multiple editions of piano-vocal and instrumental scores. Most notable in the Hill edition, however, is the specifically-written organ part, including registration suggestions for three- and four-manual instruments; all based on the instrumentation of the fully scored version of the Requiem.

– Alicia Brozovich, conductor – Michelle Kwok, graduate assistant conductor – Robert Lapore, Jr., graduate assistant conductor

Texts and Translations Gabriel Fauré: Requiem I. lntroitus – Kyrie Choir, tenors Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine

Grant them eternal rest, o Lord,

et lux perpetua luceat eis

and may perpertual light shine upon them

Sopranos Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion

Thou, o God, art praised in Sion, and unto Thee

et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem

shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem.

Choir Exaudi orationem meam

Hear my prayer,

ad te omnis caro veniet

unto Thee shall all flesh come.

Kyrie eleison,

Lord have mercy,

Christe eleison

Christ have mercy,

Kyrie eleison.

Lord have mercy.

II. Offertorium Altos, tenors O Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex Gloriae

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

libera animas defunctorum

deliver the souls of all the faithful departed

de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu

from the pains of hells and from the bottomless pit.

O Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex Gloriae

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

libera animas defunctorum de ore leonis

Deliver them from the lion’s mouth,

ne absorbeat eus Tartarus ne cadant in obscurum.

neither the black abyss swallow them up.

nor let them fall into darkness,

Altos, tenors, basses O Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex Gloriae

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

ne cadant in obscurum.

neither the black abyss swallow them up.

Baritone solo Hostias et preces tibi Domine, laudis offerimus

We offer unto Thee this sacrifice of prayer and praise

tu suscipe pro animabus illis

Receive it for those souls

quarum hodie memoriam facimus

whom today we commemorate.

Fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam

Allow them, o Lord, to cross from death into the life

Quam olim Abrahae promisisti et semini eus.

which once Thou didst promise to Abraham and his seed.

Chorus O Domine, Jesu Christe, Rex Gloriae

Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,

libera animas defunctorum

deliver the souls of all the faithful departed

de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu

from the pains of hells and from the bottomless pit.

ne cadant in obscurum.

nor let them fall into darkness.

Amen.

Amen.

III. Sanctus Sopranos, tenors, basses Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua

heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.

Hosanna in excelsis.

Hosanna in the highest.

IV. Pie Jesu Soprano solo Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem

Merciful Jesus, Lord, grant them rest

dona eis requiem sempiternam requiem

grant them rest, eternal rest.

V. Agnus Dei Tenors, choir Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

O Lamb of God, that takest aways the sin of the world,

dona eis requiem

grant them rest

Choir Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

O Lamb of God, that takest aways the sin of the world,

dona eis requiem

grant them rest

Tenors Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

O Lamb of God, that takest aways the sin of the world,

dona eis requiem, sempiternam requiem.

grant them rest, everlasting rest.

Choir Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine

May eternal light shine on them, o Lord,

Cum sanctis tuis in aeternum,

with Thy saints for ever,

quia pius es.

because Thou are merciful.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine,

Grant them eternal rest, o Lord,

et lux perpetua luceat eis

and may perpetual light shine on them.

VI. Libera me Baritone solo Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna

Deliver me, o Lord, from everlasting death

in die illa tremenda

on that dreadful day

Quando coeli movendi sunt et terra

when the heavens and the earth shall be moved

Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem

when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire

Choir Tremens factus sum ego et timeo

I quake with fear and I tremble

dum discussio venerit atque ventura ira​

awaiting the day of account and the wrath to come.

Dies illa dies irae

That day, the day of anger,

calamitatis et miseriae

of calamity, of misery,

dies illa, dies magna

that day, the great day,

et amara valde

and most bitter.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine

Grant them eternal rest, o Lord,

et lux perpetua luceat eis

and may perpetual light shine upon them.

Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna

Deliver me, o Lord, from everlasting death

in die illa tremenda

on that dreadful day

Quando coeli movendi sunt et terra

when the heavens and the earth shall be moved

Dum veneris judicare saeculum per ignem

when thou shalt come to judge the world by fire

VII. In Paradisum Sopranos In Paradisum deducant Angeli in tuo

May the angels receive them in Paradise,

adventu suscipiant te Martyres

at they coming may the martyrs receive thee

et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem

and bring thee into the holy city Jerusalem

Chorus Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Sopranos Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat

There may the chorus of angels receive thee,

et cum Lazaro quondam paupere

and with Lazarus, once a beggar,

aeternam habeas requiem

may thou have eternal rest.

Chorus Aeternam habeas requiem

May thou have eternal rest.

About the Artists ALICIA N. BROZOVICH has founded, cultivated, and developed numerous ensembles and music programs both domestically and abroad. Her current endeavors include serving as conductor of Westminster Chapel Choir and Westminster Schola Cantorum, conductor of the Westminster Community Chorus; assistant conductor for Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra in New York City; cover conductor for New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra; and director of development for Trenton Children’s Chorus. Her professional Trenton-based chamber ensemble, The LOTUS Project, presented its first performance January 2022 at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton.

Also a professional vocalist, Ms. Brozovich has appeared as a soloist on televised EWTN broadcasts from the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia; at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC; on tour with Westminster Choir; at the 11th International World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain; and with Westminster Kantorei on the award-winning recording Lumina.

She currently performs with the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir and Theoria chamber ensemble.

Ms. Brozovich is published as a contributor in Teaching Music Through Performance in Choirs: Volume IV (GIA: 2017). She holds degrees from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and Benedictine College in Atchison, KS. alicianbrozovich.com thelotusprojectnj.org WESTMINSTER CHAPEL CHOIR WESTMINSTER SCHOLA CANTORUM Alicia Brozovich, conductor Michelle Kwok, graduate assistant conductor Robert Lapore Jr, graduate assistant conductor SOPRANO

Zoe Beaton, Palm City, FL*

Emilie Beals, Carlisle, PA

Mackenzie Berry, Frederick, MD

Juli Chiriboga, Huntington, NY

Olivia Dunleavy, River Edge, NJ

Abigail Culkin, Woodbine, MD

Emily Huguenin, Howell, NJ

Olivia Dixon, Woodbury, NJ

Jessica Koscak, Tamaqua, PA

Alli Fama, Babylon, NY

Ashley LiBrizzi, Hillsborough, NJ

Claire Fritz, Elizabethtown, PA*

Abigail Rose, Perkasie, PA

Sienna Grinwald-Alves, Barnegat, NJ

Elizabeth Rosenberg, Rising Sun, MD

Emily Huber, East Meadow, NY

Jasmin Villatoro, Holbrook, NY

Lauren Mickley, Old Greenwich, CT*

TENOR

Bella Nakum, Belle Mead, NJ

Rosalind Ballow, Warminster, PA

Samantha Noble, Jersey City, NJ

Devin Embrich, West Palm Beach, FL

Eleanor Rees, Huntington, NY

Tyler-Minseok Kim, Siheung, South Korea

Brenna Richard, York, PA

Benjamin Kirk, Lumberton, NJ*

Abbey Ritter, Geneva, NY

Christopher Simon, Mendham, NJ

Abbey Spolidoro, Warwick, RI

Eddie Tamanini, Langhorne, PA*

Jennie Mae Sprouse, Nashville, TN

BASS

Julia Wilder, Carmel, NY

Jacob Hale, Satellite Beach, FL

Tiffany Ye, Fairfax, VA

Lucas Heredia, East Brunswick, NJ*

ALTO

Christopher Palmer, West Chester, PA*

Adrianna Barnett, West Grove, PA*

Gavin Springer, Belmar, NJ

*Indicates section leader

Westminster College of the Arts

2083 Lawrenceville Road Lawrenceville, NJ 08648

R I D E R.E D U/A RT S