Music Worcester, Inc. presents
157th Worcester Music Festival
April 23, 2017 at 6:00 PM
THE WORCESTER CHORUS
CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists)
Christopher Shepard, Artistic Director
PROGRAM — Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
CONCORA
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir (BWV 29)
1. Sinfonia
2. Chorus: Wir danken dir, Gott
3. Aria: Halleluja, Stärk und Macht (Jack Anthony Pott, tenor)
4. Recitative: Gottlob! es geht uns wohl (A lexander Patrie, bass)
5. Aria: Gedenk’ an uns mit deiner Liebe (Louise Fauteux, soprano)
6. Recitative: Vergiss es ferner nicht, mit deiner Hand (Thomas C. Buckley, alto)
7. Aria: Halleluja, Stärk’ und Macht (Thomas C. Buckley, alto)
8. Chorale: Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren
Deciphering Bach: BWV 190, Opening Chorus
Artistic Director Chris Shepard examines elements of Bach's music language, with performers presenting excerpts
from the opening chorus of Cantata 190.
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied! (BWV 190)
1. Chorus: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!
2. Chorale and Recitative: Herr Gott, dich loben wir
(Pamela Frigo Johnson, mezzo-soprano // Peter Perkins, tenor // Edward Tyler, bass)
3. Aria: Lobe, Zion, deinen Gott! (Pamela Frigo Johnson, mezzo-soprano)
4. Recitative: Es wünsche sich die Welt (Jermaine Woodard, Jr., baritone)
5. Duet: Jesus soll mein Alles sein (Mark Child, tenor // Jermaine Woodard, Jr., baritone)
6. Recitative: Nun, Jesus gebe (Mark Child, tenor)
7. Chorale: Lass uns das Jahr vollbringen
Gloria in excelsis Deo (BWV 191)
1. Chorus: Gloria in excelsis Deo
(Olivia Miller and Jennifer Lamson, sopranos // Scott Reeves, alto // Jack Anthony Pott, tenor // Edward Tyler, bass)
2. Duet: Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui sancto (Jennifer Ferrand-Kelly, soprano // Jack Anthony Pott, tenor)
3. Chorus: Sicut erat in principio
(Olivia Miller and Jennifer Lamson, sopranos // Margaret Tyler, mezzo-soprano
Jack Anthony Pott, tenor // Steven A. Fasano, baritone)
CONCORA with the Worcester Chorus
Gloria in excelsis Deo (BWV 191)
1. Chorus: Gloria in excelsis Deo
(Olivia Miller and Jennifer Lamson, sopranos // Scott Reeves, alto // Jack Anthony Pott, tenor // Edward Tyler, bass)
3. Chorus: Sicut erat in principio
(Olivia Miller and Jennifer Lamson, sopranos // Margaret Tyler, mezzo-soprano
Jack Anthony Pott, tenor // Steven A. Fasano, baritone)
We’d like to thank
tonight’s sponsors:
We appreciate all applause! However, the maestro does not pause between
each movement - please consider applauding at the conclusion of each work.
NOTES ON THE PROGRAM
Bach’s Cantatas
orchestral introduction—and few are as festal as the organ concerto
that opens BWV29. This music is a direct and complete parody of
Johann Sebastian Bach was thirty-eight years old in 1723 when he
the first movement of the E Major Violin Partita, a brilliant work
accepted the job he would hold for the rest of his life, essentially
that Bach used again later in his Wedding Cantata (Herr Gott,
serving as the town Music Director in Leipzig. Among other things, he Beherrscher aller Dinge, BWV 120a). This is a particularly fine
oversaw the music programs at the city’s major churches, in particular reworking for the organ of the idiomatically violinistic writing of the
Thomaskirche and Nicolaikirche. He was also one of the highestviolin partita. It is thought that Bach himself would have played the
ranking members of the teaching staff at Thomasschule, where he
solo organ part.
trained the boys to sing in the Sunday services, spreading their services
across the city’s four main churches. But the single largest part of his
The thanksgiving chorus also reappeared in Bach’s later work,
job for the final twenty-seven years of his life—and the monumental
signalling the esteem in which he held the movement, when he
task for which his work in Leipzig is best remembered—was the
transformed it into the Gratias agimus tibi and Dona nobis pacem of
composition of the cantatas for weekly church services.
the B Minor Mass. At first glance, it is typical of Bach’s stile antico
writing, in which he imitates Palestrina-like Renaissance motets.
Within the Lutheran church service, the cantatas served to reflect on
These tend to have instruments double the vocal parts colla parte and
the Bible readings of the day, and many cantatas are based on a
are devoid of the concerto-type ebullience associated with Baroque
relevant chorale whose significance would have been instantly
music. But after establishing the Renaissance flavor, Bach
meaningful to the Leipzig parishioners. Although there was not a set
introduces trumpets and timpani later in the piece, doubling the
form, most cantatas begin with a choral movement, followed by two or singers and adding their own voices as they develop the musical
three solo arias, often linked to recitatives. Most cantatas finish with a material.
hymn or chorale and are about twenty minutes long.
The tenor aria celebrates God’s strength and offers praise to God;
Though a handful of Bach’s cantatas have always been part of the
Bach highlights the word “highest” by taking the tenor to the top of
standard choral repertoire, the vast majority of them remained
his range for this word. The comparison of Leipzig to Zion is
under-performed until the latter part of the twentieth century. Since the evident in the second half of this aria; the bass recitative that follows
advent of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the updated complete edition of
offers a litany of how God shows Leipzig his favor. In the lovely,
Bach’s music begun in 1950, the cantatas have had a long, steady
lilting siciliano that follows, the soprano shows more humility,
renaissance in the concert hall, church service, and perhaps most
asking for blessing and mercy and guidance for the town’s leaders.
important, the recording studio. Helmuth Rilling, conductor of the
The alto recitative is essentially a prayer for the town council,
Bach Collegium Stuttgart, recorded the complete cycle of the Bach
answered by the citizens singing “Amen.” Interestingly, Bach
cantatas in the 1970’s and 80’s with modern instruments. At the same recapitulates the tenor aria—a rare practice for him—by having the
time, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt recorded the
alto sing the first part of that aria verbatim, though in a higher key.
complete cantatas with early instruments and choir, using boy trebles as
Bach would have done. No fewer than three conductors are in the midst The brass provide a fanfare to the closing chorale, in another
of releasing complete cantata cycles, all with period instruments: John departure from Bach’s usual technique. This is a particularly bright
Eliot Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir, who performed all of the
hymn, pitched at the very top of all the singers’ and instrumentalists’
cantatas throughout 2000, in an extensive Bach pilgrimage; Maasaki
range, affirming the townsfolks’ belief in God and their city.
Suzuki and the Bach Collegium Japan; and Ton Koopman and the
Amsterdam Bach Orchestra and Choir. The availability of such a wide BWV 190: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
range of outstanding recordings has made this repertoire accessible to
lovers of Bach’s music in an unprecedented way. It is likely that we are Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, one of the most festive cantatas
living in the golden age of the Bach cantata.
composed for Bach’s first cantata cycle in Leipzig, was first
performed on New Year’s Day in 1724. Bach later reused the music
BWV 29: Wir danken dir Gott, wir danken dir
to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg Confession.
Unfortunately, the original orchestration of the first two movements
Bach’s biographers are always quick to point out that he was a
has been lost. In today’s concert, we perform the Diethard Hellmann
somewhat prickly employee, leaving some jobs because of
reconstruction, published by Breitkopf und Härtel. The first
disagreements or dissatisfaction, and spending the final years of his life movement is one of the most immediately accessible and attractive
locked in an insurmountable conflict with his headmaster at the
movements in all of Bach’s works. The use of trumpets, oboes and
Thomasschule in Leipzig. But this is not entirely fair to Bach. Part of
strings gives a festive feel; the psalm texts and the German Te Deum
his professional difficulties in the commercial city of Leipzig was that lend the opening movement a real dignity. The first movement is in
he ultimately answered to two masters who themselves didn’t agree
the high Baroque ritornello style, with the chorus singing material
about much: the church council and the town council.
derived from the orchestral introduction. The Lutheran Te Deum,
heard here as a unison cantus firmus (chant) would have been
As part of his duties to the town council, Bach provided music to
instantly recognizable to the congregation. Bach inserts a choral
celebrate the election or appointment of the town’s councillors. This
fugue on a very simple rising scalar subject to the text “let all who
cantata had its first performance on Monday, August 27, 1731.
have breath praise him” before returning to the original musical
Signalling its importance to Bach, it was performed at least twice
material.
again, in 1739 and 1749, in the latter instance being likely the last
cantata that Bach performed in his lifetime. The text of the cantata
The German Te Deum chant reappears in the second movement,
combines thankfulness to God with an almost jingoistic sense of God
with the choir singing chorale-like phrases of the melody with solo
as Leipzig’s protector. These were heady days for this famous German recitatives interspersed, asking for blessing for the New Year. The
trade fair city, and it is not surprising that the city fathers saw
following alto aria, again set to very accessible and attractive music,
themselves as having a “most favored nation” status. As the bass
bears all the hallmarks of a Baroque dance. The singer tells the
recitative questions, “Where is there a people such as we, to whom God congregation to praise God and follow him as the Good Shepherd; it
is so near and merciful?”
is perhaps this pastoral reference that gives the piece a slightly rustic
feel. (continues on next page)
Fewer than twenty extant cantatas begin with a sinfonia, a free-standing
(Notes on Program continued) The bass recitative takes up the
theme of Jesus as Shepherd, leading into a tenor-bass duet that is as
beautiful as the alto aria is joyful. In this litany, the singers begin
each line with “Jesus,” thus combining prayer and a statement of
faith. The solo instrument designation has been lost; scholars agree
that either an oboe d’amore or a violin could play this line; today,
we have chosen to use the oboe d’amore, an instrument that is
tuned slightly lower than the regular oboe. Like BWV29, this
cantata closes with a chorale that employs a brass fanfare motive,
this time in a setting of the second verse of Jesu, nun sei gepreiset.
cycle in 2013. In addition to the music of J.S. Bach, Chris has
conducted many staples of the choral-orchestral repertoire, and he
has commissioned and premiered a number of new choral works in
Australia and America. He also leads two of the longest-running
annual Messiah performances in America, with the Worcester
Chorus and at Carnegie Hall with the Masterwork Chorus.
A committed music educator, Chris has served on the faculty of the
Taft School, Sydney Grammar School, Hotchkiss Summer Portals,
and Holy Cross College. He founded the Litchfield County
Children’s Choir in 1990, and has conducted numerous middle and
BWV 191: Gloria in excelsis
high school regional festival choirs in New England, New York,
and Australia. He presented two documentaries with SBS-TV, an
Like the chorus from BWV29, the music in this cantata is also
Australian national public television network, and has given
found in the B Minor Mass. In this case, however, the parody is in presentations at conferences for American Choral Directors
the other direction: Bach turned to the Missa 1733 in 1745, when
Association and Australian National Kodàly Association. Chris has
he compiled this cantata to celebrate the Peace of Dresden, which been a guest conductor at Emmanuel Church in Boston, a church
ended the Second Silesian War. It was performed on Christmas
renowned for its four-decade Bach cantata project, and he currently
Day, 1745. The first movement is almost identical to the text of the serves as Music Director of Saint John’s Episcopal Church in
Mass, though it is interesting to note the slight changes, which are Stamford, Connecticut. He served as music director of the
a result of the differing syntax. In the Christmas context, the words Middletown Chorale in the mid-1990s, and led the Dessoff Choirs
“Glory to God in the highest” are heard as the angels’ song of
in New York City from 2010-2016.
praise, rather than the second section of the liturgical Mass. The
triumphant, trumpet-driven opening section highlights the “glory”, A pianist and keyboard continuist, Chris holds degrees from the
whereas the more pleading fugue of the second section places the
Hartt School and the Yale School of Music, where he studied
emphasis on “peace.” For Leipzig, which would have suffered
choral conducting with Marguerite Brooks, and the University of
during the war, one can only imagine how deeply meaningful this Sydney. His PhD dissertation on the performance history of Bach’s
sentiment would have felt in 1745.
B Minor Mass in New York City won the American Choral
Directors Association’s 2012 Julius Herford Prize for outstanding
The other two movements, also from the B Minor Mass, are simply doctoral thesis in choral music.
the doxology, so the words are actually quite different from the
original text. The soprano, tenor and flute pass around a
descending four-note motto throughout their movement. This
ABOUT THE WORCESTER CHORUS
alternation originally illustrated the Son proceeding from the
Father, a meaning that is lost here. The full orchestra and chorus
return in the final movement, one of the most florid and exciting
The Worcester Chorus, under the sponsorship of Music Worcester
choral movements Bach ever wrote. Like the first movement, a
Inc., has the unique distinction of being one of the most
concertato-style opening section gives way to a fugue, this one
outstanding ongoing choral groups in the United States having
spilling over with fast melismas in all five voice parts. The whole been founded in 1858 for the purpose of performing in the first
fugue is repeated with the orchestra adding to the texture, bringing annual Worcester Music Festival held in the newly built Mechanics
this cantata celebrating both Christmas and the end of a dreaded
Hall.
war to a spectacular finish.
During its rich history, the Chorus has performed with a variety of
©2017 Chris Shepard
symphony orchestras, including appearances with the Prague
Symphony in Carnegie Hall (1985), the Hartford Symphony (1994)
and a performance of the Verdi Requiem with the Springfield
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Symphony Orchestra.(2006) The Chorus has toured internationally
as well, including: Mexico and the Oaxaca Spring Festival (1983),
Now in his second year as Artistic Director of CONCORA, Chris The British Isles and the Strathclyde Festival (1986), Switzerland,
Shepard also serves as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus in Italy and Yugoslavia (1990), Austria for the Salzburg Music
Festival (1994), St. Petersburg and Pushkin, and Scandinavia
Worcester, Massachusetts, and the Masterwork Chorus of New
Jersey. He has performed a wide range of repertoire, collaborating (1998).
with a number of orchestras and conductors such as the Juilliard
The Chorus traditionally performs four concerts each year as part
Orchestra under the direction of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the
of the Worcester Music Festival, including Messiah in
Orquestra Sinfónica Nacional de Mexico with Carlos Miguel
December. Repertoire includes the greatest choral masterpieces, as
Prieto, and in venues that include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center
well as works by contemporary composers and arrangements of
and Radio City Music Hall in New York, as well as the Royal
Festival Hall in London and the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico American folk songs and classics from musical theater.
City. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015, and made his
The Worcester Chorus includes both amateur and professional
conducting debut with the New Haven Symphony in 2016.
musicians with the primary mission to foster the choral arts and
enhance the cultural life of Worcester and the surrounding area. It
Chris returned to America in 2008 after a dozen years in Sydney,
endeavors to provide the highest level of musicianship and artistry,
Australia, where he founded the Sydneian Bach Choir and
resulting in an enriching and emotional experience for both the
Orchestra. He led their BACH 2010, a project to perform all of
audience and singers. The Worcester Chorus performed as a
Bach’s choral cantatas. Under his direction, the ensemble
featured part of Patti LuPone’s Don’t Monkey with Broadway
performed over eighty cantatas, as well as the two Passions, B
Minor Mass, and Christmas Oratorio; they completed the cantata program in September of 2016.
The Worcester Chorus is part of the Central Massachusetts Choral Consortium. Upcoming performances : www.masshome.com/choruses
Soprano
Lexi Alm
Hildegard Armstrong
Judith Berlane
Emma Berman
Susanne Blatt
Kay Cahn
Danielle Cogan
Andrea Cook
Caroline Duffy
Ellen Duffy-Friend
Pauline Dyer-Cole
Lois Foley
Beth Gale
Anna Granquist
Marion Grundberg
Marie Harrington
Janice Hitzhusen
Maureen Holland
Jennifer Jakubiak
Lynne Johnson
Elizabeth Kelley
Polly Kimmitt
Angela Knapton
Gretchen Kossack
Christine Leary
Paula Leary
Yael London
Katherine Lux
Nadine Nahabedian
Carol Pelletier
Catherine Perch
Maegan Pollard
Allison Rainville
Anne Schneider
Brigitte Servatius
Janice Seymour
Anitra Smith
Virginia Vaughan
Ruth Westheimer
Paula Wyble
Alto
Barbara Ball
Jane Beckwith
Polly Bluemel
Patsy Cecil
Sarah Davis
Susan d'Entremont
Helen Dexter
Phyllis Estus
Ann Flatt
Lauren Foley
Kathleen Gagne
Betsy Koss
Kim Longe
Pamela Mahoney
Joanne Marsh
Margery Miller
Paula Miner
Patsy Mollica
Mary Morrisard-Larkin
Bernadette Nelson
Jane Neslusan
Susan Phyfe
Sara Regan
Patricia Renner
Kathleen Rooney
Ruth Rowan
Paige Shea
Deborah Simeone
Susan Stafford
Kate Tower-Ludwig
Christine Ulmer
Tenor
Stanley Berlane
Amy Bobkowski
Kirk Bobkowski
Patrick Bobkowski
Eric Brose
John Ernst
John Habib
Nancy Hagberg
Matthew Hunter
P. E. James
Elizabeth Martin
Barry Mosher
Charles Pietrello
Nathan Reich
Richard Rudman
Jacob Sutherland
John Wells
Bass
Stephan Barnicle
Les Blatt
Elliot Browning
Denis Coughlin
James Demetry
Mark d'Entremont
Paul Dexter
Thomas Erwin
Kurt Frisch
Samuel Fountain
Paul German
Eric Jaeger
Pete Kearing
John “Jack” Kenney
Richard Kimball
William Major
Daniel Miller
Tim Olevsky
Alan Peppel
Craig Phyfe
Kenneth Prince
Larry Smith
James Young
THE WORCESTER
CHORUS
Chris Shepard
Artistic Director, Conductor, Organ
Brett Maguire
Assistant Director, Organ
Worcester Chorus Officers
2016-2017
ORCHESTRA
Lisa Rautenberg, concertmaster
Deborah Tyler, Violin II
Arthur Masi, Viola
Eric Dahlin, Violoncello
Susan Powell, Double bass
Greig Shearer, Flute I
Barbara Hopkins, Flute II
About CONCORA
CONCORA’s mission, “to perpetuate and perform with excellence choral music of the highest
quality for the broadest possible audience,” represents long-held commitments to the Connecticut
community, to artistic excellence, to masterful performances, and to educational enrichment.
Since its founding in 1974 by Artistic Director Emeritus Richard Coffey, CONCORA has held a
unique place in the arts community as Connecticut’s first professional choir, and has built an
extraordinary reputation for artistic excellence throughout New England. CONCORA was the
recipient of the 2003 Governor’s Arts Award, given in recognition of remarkable artistic
achievement and contributions to the arts in Connecticut.
The ensemble’s versatility is demonstrated in its wide range of repertoire, from the great choral
masterpieces to newly commissioned compositions, including arrangements of folk music,
spirituals and popular music. The roster of singers yields performing groups appropriate to the
repertoire; these ensembles can vary in size from four to forty or more voices.
President - Angela Knapton
Vice President - Jennifer Jakubiak
Treasurer - Paul Dexter
Secretary - Carol Pelletier
Operations Manager - Phyllis Estus
Marketing Chair - Rick Rudman
Libby van Cleve, Oboe and oboe
d’amore
Stephen Wade, Oboe II
Scott McIntosh, Trumpet I
Laurent Gareau, Trumpet I
Stephen Owens, Trumpet III
Stephen Collins, Timpani
Edward Clark, Organ
CONCORA
Soprano
Nancy Hemstreet Eaton
Louise Fauteux
Sarah Hager Johnston
Jennifer Ferrand-Kelly
Jennifer Lamson
Olivia Miller
Alto
Thomas C. Buckley
Pamela Frigo Johnson
Scott Reeves
Margaret Tyler
Tenor
Mark Child
Jude Olney
Peter Perkins
Jack Anthony Pott
Bass
Steven Fasano
Alexander Patrie
Paul Tine
Edward Tyler
Jermaine Woodard, Jr.
Education and Outreach. CONCORA is deeply invested in developing pr esent and futur e musicians and audiences thr ough educational and par ticipator y
programming, which embraces people of all ages. CONCORA’s educational outreach consists of two highly successful programs. For children, the
CONCORA-to-Go quartet presents an interactive, multicultural program, “Around the World in Music,” performed in elementary schools and public libraries.
The Summer Festival offers adult singers from the community and select high school and college singers an opportunity to join CONCORA in rehearsing and
performing great choral works. Festival repertoire has included masterworks such as the Requiems of Brahms, Fauré, and Duruflé; Schubert’s Mass in G; Orff’s
Carmina Burana; Part II of Handel’s Messiah; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in collaboration with the Hartford Symphony
Orchestra. As a regular part of its concert programming, CONCORA extends special invitations to other choruses, especially children’s, high school, and college
choruses, and sponsors concerts by exceptional visiting choirs to enrich the cultural life of the region. In 2016, CONCORA hosted and performed the tenth edition of
the “Extraordinary Concert” series, which began in 1993 as part of CONCORA’s education and outreach programming.
Appearances. The ensemble has appear ed often with the Har tfor d Symphony Or chestr a and enjoys an ongoing collabor ation, annually per for ming the
works of J.S. Bach. In 2016, CONCORA was the featured choir for the HSO’s performance of film music by Danny Elfman. CONCORA has also performed on
many occasions with Orchestra New England, and with them recorded The Six Motets of J.S. Bach in 2000. CONCORA served as the resident chorus of the
esteemed Bard Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra, Leon Botstein, Director. The chorus has performed with Chanticleer, the Gregg Smith Singers, John
Rutter’s Cambridge Singers, and Bobby McFerrin. CONCORA made its New York debut at Trinity Church, Wall Street in 1998 with A 75th Birthday Tribute to Ned
Rorem, who called CONCORA “the finest chorus in America.” CONCORA’s recording of Rorem’s choral works received national acclaim in The Choral Journal.
CONCORA has performed widely in New England, including featured appearances at national and regional conventions of the Ameri can Guild of Organists. In
addition, there have been appearances at the Wadsworth Atheneum and the New Britain Museum of American Art, First Night Hartford, Hartford’s Winterfest, and
Aetna First Thursdays sponsored by the Greater Hartford Arts Council.
Recordings. CONCORA has pr oduced ten CDs: M ade in USA, A Sacred Sampler, Christmas with CONCORA, Christmas in Our Time, A Retro Christmas with
CONCORA, Sing, My Soul, featuring the choral works of Ned Rorem, The Six Motets of J.S. Bach, The Men of CONCORA, Songs and Stories of Liberation, and In
Delightful Company: Choral Works by Charles Fussell, with selections by Debussy, Ives, Thomson, Brahms and Britten.