2016/17 SEASON
CLASSICAL SERIES
WAR and REMEMBRANCE
with BRITTEN
Friday and Saturday, May 5-6, 2017 at 8 p.m.
Sunday, May 7, 2017 at 2 p.m.
Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
MICHAEL STERN, conductor
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY CHORUS
CHARLES BRUFFY, chorus director
CHRISTINE BREWER, soprano
ANTHONY DEAN GRIFFEY, tenor
STEPHEN POWELL, baritone
ALLEGRO CHOIRS OF KANSAS CITY
BRITTEN
War Requiem, op. 66
I. Requiem aeternam
II. Dies irae
III. Offertorium
IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei
VI. Libera me
This concert will be performed without intermission.
The 2016/17 season is generously sponsored by
Concert weekend sponsored by
SHIRLEY and BARNETT C. HELZBERG, JR.
THE SYMPHONY GUILD
The Classical Series is sponsored by
Friday’s concert sponsored by
TOM SMEED and CATHY FISHER
Additional support provided by
Podcast available at kcsymphony.org
K ANSAS CIT Y SYMPHONY
21
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
BENJAMIN BRITTEN (1913-1976)
War Requiem, op. 66 (1961)
78 minutes
Soprano, tenor and baritone; mixed chorus, children’s
chorus; a large orchestra comprising piccolo, 3 flutes,
2 oboes, English horn, 3 clarinets, E-flat clarinet,
bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 6 horns,
4 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, 2 side drums,
tenor drum, bass drum, tambourine, triangle, cymbals,
castanets, whip, Chinese blocks, gong bells (C and
F-sharp), chimes, triangle, vibraphone, glockenspiel,
antique cymbals (C and F-sharp), piano, organ (or
harmonium) and strings; and a small orchestra
comprising piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet,
bassoon, horn, timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbals,
gong, harp, 2 violins, viola, cello and double bass.
English composer
Benjamin Britten
wrote his War
Requiem for the
reconsecration
of St. Michael’s
Cathedral,
Coventry,
destroyed by
a World War
II German
bombing raid.
In 1960, Benjamin Britten received a
commission to compose a new work for the
reconsecration of St. Michael’s Cathedral,
Coventry. The original Cathedral had
been destroyed during World War II. The
commission specified that the new work
“could be a full length or a substantial
30/40 minutes one: its libretto could be sacred or secular.”
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Britten, a lifelong pacifist and conscientious objector
during World War II, chose to portray his disdain for
the conflict that led to the Cathedral’s destruction. In a
February 16, 1961, letter to German baritone Dietrich FischerDieskau (1925-2012), Britten described his vision:
Please forgive me for writing to such a busy man as
yourself.... Coventry Cathedral, like so many wonderful
buildings in Europe, was destroyed in the last war. It
has now been rebuilt in a very remarkable fashion, and
for the reconsecration of the new building they are
holding a big Festival at the end of May and beginning
of June next year. I have been asked to write a new
work for what is to us all a most significant occasion.
I am writing what I think will be one of my most
important works. It is a full-scale Requiem Mass
for chorus and orchestra (in memory of those
of all nations who died in the last war), and I am
interspersing the Latin text with many poems of a
great English poet, Wilfred Owen, who was killed in
the First World War. These magnificent poems, full
of the hate of destruction, are a kind of commentary
on the Mass; they are, of course, in English. These
poems will be set for tenor and baritone, with an
accompaniment of chamber orchestra, placed in the
middle of the other forces. They will need singing
with the utmost beauty, intensity, and sincerity.
Peter Pears* has agreed to sing the tenor
part, and with great temerity I am asking you
whether you would sing the baritone.
Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) served as a British Army officer in
France during World War I. Owen died in battle on November 4,
1918, a week before the Armistice. During his military service, Owen
wrote a series of remarkable poems. Stripped of any romanticism
K ANSAS CIT Y SYMPHONY
23
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
or patriotic fervor, the poems graphically depict the horrors of war.
Indeed, Owen repeatedly depicts enemy soldiers as kindred spirits,
innocent pawns in the hands of those who send them off to battle.
Britten’s plan for two vocal soloists in the War Requiem
changed in the summer of 1961. As part of the Aldeburgh
Festival, Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya (1926-2012)
gave a recital at Jubilee Hall, accompanied at the piano by
her husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007).
Britten approached Vishnevskaya after the recital, and
“said he was particularly glad he heard me right at that moment
because he had begun to write his War Requiem and now wanted
to write in a part for me.” Vishnevskaya recalled: “…his composition
which was a call for peace, would bring together representatives
of the three nations that had suffered most during the war: an
Englishman, Peter Pears; a German, Fischer-Dieskau; and a Russian,
myself.” When Britten learned that Vishnevskaya had never sung
in English, they agreed he would write her part in Latin.
Britten completed his War Requiem on December 20,
1961. The work bears the following dedication:
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
Roger Burney, Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Piers Dunkerley, Captain, Royal Marines
David Gill, Ordinary Seaman, Royal Navy
Michael Halliday, Lieutenant, Royal New
Zealand Naval Volunteer Reserve
The dedicatees were all friends of Britten. Three died during
World War II. Piers Dunkerley committed suicide in 1959.
The War Requiem premiere took place at St. Michael’s Cathedral,
Coventry, on May 30, 1962 (the performance has been issued on the
Testament label: SBT 1490). On that occasion, Vishnevskaya was not
the soprano soloist. The Soviet government, displeased with symbolic
reconciliation with Germany and England, prohibited her from
traveling. English soprano Heather Harper (b. 1930) agreed to take
Cyro Clinic
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Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
the role. Harper studied with Britten, learning the music in just 10
days, while in the midst of her busy opera and concert schedule.
Like Britten, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) composed both great
operas and a Requiem Mass. Prior to its 1874 premiere, German
conductor and pianist Hans von Bülow dismissed the Verdi Requiem
as an “opera in ecclesiastical garb.” Johannes Brahms responded that
with such comments, “Bülow has made a fool of himself for all time.”
Some observers leveled similar accusations toward the
Britten War Requiem. In a 1969 interview, Britten responded:
I think I would be a fool if I didn’t take notice of
how Mozart, Verdi, Dvořák — whoever you like to
name — had written their Masses. I mean, many
people have pointed out to me the similarities between
the Verdi Requiem and bits of my own War Requiem,
and they may be there. If I have not absorbed that,
that’s too bad. But that’s because I’m not a good
enough composer, it’s not because I’m wrong.
Soprano Vishnevskaya did join Pears and Fischer-Dieskau in
January 1963 for the first commercial recording of the War Requiem,
conducted by the composer. During rehearsals, Decca/London
producer John Culshaw recorded (without Britten’s knowledge)
the composer’s directions to the performers. These rehearsal
recordings, included in later issues of the Decca/London War
Requiem, are an invaluable historical document. Britten was a firstrate conductor, and it is fascinating to hear his persuasive synthesis
of perfectionism, spirit of collaboration, warmth and humor.
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY FUN FACT
119
26 2016/17 Season
PERFORMANCES of 45
DIFFERENT PROGRAMS
IN THE 2015/16 SEASON
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Britten’s recording rehearsal comments also provide a unique
insight into the composer’s view of his War Requiem. It is clear
from Britten’s instructions to the choruses that he envisioned the
traditional Latin Mass for the Dead and Wilfred Owen’s despondent
WWI poetry in the same light. Both are uttered not as a source of
comfort, but as an expression of world-weariness and despair.
Britten told his sister that he hoped his War Requiem would “make
people think a bit.” It is a work that never fails to make a profound
impact upon both the audience and the performers. Fischer-Dieskau,
a prisoner of war during WWII, recalled in his autobiography:
“The first performance created an atmosphere of such intensity
that by the end I was completely undone; I did not know where to
hide my face. Dead friends and past suffering arose in my mind.”
Pears had to assist the grief-stricken Fischer-Dieskau to his feet.
* Peter Pears (1910-1986) was Britten’s partner, and the
inspiration for most of the composer’s music for lead tenor.
RECOMMENDED RECORDING
BRITTEN: War Requiem
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Benjamin Britten, conductor
Label: Decca Catalog # 000638902
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Kansas City Symphony
About CHRISTINE BREWER, soprano
GRAMMY® AWARD-WINNING AMERICAN SOPRANO CHRISTINE BREWER’S
appearances in opera, concert and recital are marked by her own unique timbre, at
once warm and brilliant, combined with a vibrant personality and emotional honesty
reminiscent of the great sopranos of the past. Named one of the top 20 sopranos
of all time (BBC Music), her range, golden tone, boundless power and control make
her a favorite of the stage and a highly sought-after recording artist, one who is
“in her prime and sounding glorious” (Anthony Tommasini, New York Times).
On the opera stage, Brewer is highly regarded for her striking portrayal of the title
role in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, which she has performed with the Metropolitan
Opera, Théatre du Chatelet, Santa Fe Opera, English National Opera and Opera Theatre of
St. Louis. Attracting glowing reviews with each role, she has performed Wagner’s Tristan
und Isolde at San Francisco Opera, Gluck’s
Alceste at the Santa Fe Opera, the Dyer’s
Wife in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at
Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Paris Opera,
and Lady Billows in Britten’s Albert Herring
at the Santa Fe Opera and the Los Angeles
Opera. She created the role of Sister Aloysius
in the world premiere of Doug Cuomo’s opera
Doubt with the Minnesota Opera in 2013.
Brewer has worked with many of
today’s most notable conductors, including
David Robertson, Christoph von Dohnányi,
Zubin Mehta, Antonio Pappano and Sir
Simon Rattle. Brewer’s discography
includes more than 25 recordings. Her latest
recording, Divine Redeemer (Naxos), contains
selections with organist Paul Jacobs.
For the 2016-17 season, she performs Britten’s War Requiem with the Kansas
City Symphony and Michael Stern, appears in recital at McKendree University and
Concord Trinity UMC, and performs in concert with the Masterworks Chorale and
Children’s Chorus in Belleville, Ill., and the Holiday Brass Ensemble in St. Louis.
Brewer continues her work with Marissa, Ill., 6th graders in a
program called Opera-tunities, now in its 13th year. She also works
annually with the voice students at Webster University.
Read program notes or listen to podcasts at kcsymphony.org.
28 2016/17 Season
Kansas City Symphony
About ANTHONY DEAN GRIFFEY, tenor
AMERICAN TENOR ANTHONY DEAN GRIFFEY HAS CAPTURED CRITICAL
and popular acclaim on opera, concert and recital stages around the world. He is
particularly noted for his portrayal of Peter Grimes, a role he has performed all over
the world including in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera, broadcast live
in the company’s “Met: Live in HD” series.
Engagements during the 2016-17 season
include the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s
It’s a Wonderful Life with the Houston Grand
Opera, Britten’s War Requiem with the
Kansas City Symphony, Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony with the North Carolina and
Oregon symphonies and Elgar’s The Dream of
Gerontius with the Cincinnati May Festival.
A four-time Grammy® Award-winner,
Griffey’s extensive audio and video
discography includes the Metropolitan Opera’s
Peter Grimes (Warner Classics), the Los
Angeles Opera’s The Rise and Fall of the City
of Mahagonny (Euroarts), Mahler’s Symphony
No. 8 with the San Francisco Symphony
(SFS Media), Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich (RCA) and Orquesta Nacional de España
(Deutsche Grammophon), Britten’s War Requiem with the London Philharmonic
Orchestra (LPO) and Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Challenge Classics) and
Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men with the Houston Grand Opera (Albany Records).
Griffey holds degrees from Wingate University, the Eastman School of
Music and The Juilliard School. He also is an alumnus of the Metropolitan
Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program. In 2011, he was inducted
into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. He currently is a professor
of voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y.
KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY FUN FACT
$158,000
AMOUNT RAISED FOR 16 LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS BY THE
BILL AND PEGGY LYONS SUPPORT SCHOOL MUSIC PROGRAM
Kansas City Symphony
About STEPHEN POWELL, baritone
THE DYNAMIC AMERICAN BARITONE STEPHEN
Powell brings his “rich, lyric baritone, commanding
presence, and thoughtful musicianship” (Wall Street
Journal) to a wide range of music. Powell’s 2016-17 season
engagements include his debut with the Seattle Opera as
Germont in La Traviata, and he returns to the Philadelphia
Orchestra in Carmina burana, the Minnesota Opera as
Oliver Jordan in the world premiere of William Bolcom’s
Dinner at Eight, the San Diego Opera as Germont, the San
Francisco Opera as Prus in The Makropulos Case, and the
North Carolina and Kansas City symphonies for Britten’s
War Requiem. This past summer, Powell also returned to
Tanglewood as soloist in Carmina burana with the Boston
Symphony, and sang Iago in Otello with the Minnesota Orchestra.
In the 2015-16 season, Powell sang in the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s
Symphony No. 3 with the Kansas City Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the National
Symphony Orchestra, Fauré’s Requiem with the Houston Symphony, Messiah
with the Detroit Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New Jersey
Symphony.
Powell has sung under the batons of such distinguished conductors as David
Robertson, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, Andrew Litton, Charles Dutoit, Grant
Llewellyn, Antony Walker, David Zinman and Michael Tilson Thomas. His extensive
career includes performances with the Cleveland Orchestra in Carmina burana,
Tonhaller Orchester Zürich in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (recorded for RCA Red Seal),
the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Fauré’s Requiem, the St. Louis Symphony in
Brahms’ Requiem, the Houston Symphony in Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, the San
Francisco Symphony in Messiah, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Messiah and
Brahms’ Requiem, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony
No. 9 and Britten’s War Requiem at Carnegie Hall. Recent opera highlights include
singing the title role in Rigoletto in a return to the Caramoor Festival, Enrico in
Lucia di Lammmermoor with Los Angeles Opera, the title role in Simon Boccanegra
(1857 version) with Warsaw’s Ludwig van Beethoven Association, Tonio in I Pagliacci
with San Diego Opera, and Miller in Luisa Miller at the Cincinnati May Festival.
Ara’s Oriental Rugs
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K ANSAS CIT Y SYMPHONY
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Kansas City Symphony
About KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY CHORUS
CHARLES BRUFFY, chorus director
PATRICE SOLLENBERGER, assistant chorus director
DAN VELICER, accompanist
BILL FEATHERSTON, president
JAN WIBERG, librarian
THE KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY CHORUS, LED BY GRAMMY ® AWARD-WINNING
Chorus Director Charles Bruffy, is a 160-voice ensemble that continues its long
tradition of excellence serving as “the choral voice of the Kansas City Symphony.”
The Symphony Chorus has been offering quality choral music to the greater Kansas
City metropolitan area since the early 1960s, first as the Mendelssohn Choir and then
as the Civic Chorus. After the creation of the Kansas City Symphony, the Symphony
Chorus assumed its current name and role as the Symphony’s “choral voice” in 1988.
Before the appointment of Chorus Director Charles Bruffy in 2008, the Symphony
Chorus worked under the direction of choral conductors Eph Ehly and Arnold Epley.
The Symphony Chorus has represented Kansas City in five concert tours, including
performances in New York City, Boston, the Berkshires, Germany, Austria, Switzerland
and Mexico where it performed with the Mexico City Symphony. The Symphony Chorus
women recorded Holst’s The Planets with the Kansas City Symphony in January 2015.
The Kansas City Symphony Chorus musicians are all volunteers from the region’s
extensive musical community selected through rigorous auditions. Members have
rich backgrounds in both music education and performance, and are engaged as
soloists and conductors in schools, churches and venues throughout the region.
Kansas City Symphony
About CHARLES BRUFFY, chorus director
ONE OF THE MOST ADMIRED CHORAL CONDUCTORS IN THE UNITED
States, Grammy® Award-winner Charles Bruffy began his career as a tenor
soloist, performing with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in recordings as well
as concerts in France and at Carnegie Hall. Shaw encouraged his development as
a conductor, and in 1996 he was invited by American Public Media’s “Performance
Today” to help celebrate Shaw’s 80th birthday with an on-air tribute. In 1999,
The New York Times named him as the late, great conductor’s potential heir. Bruffy has been chorus director for the Kansas City Symphony Chorus
since 2008, artistic director of the Kansas City Chorale since 1988 and the Phoenix
Chorale since 1999, as well as the director of music at Rolling Hills Church since
1994. He conducts workshops and clinics across the U.S., including teaching at the
Westminster Choir College Summer Conducting Institute since 2006. In the summer
of 2013, Bruffy was involved with The Anúna International Choral Summer School
in Dublin, Ireland, and in 2014 conducted the
Kansas City Chorale in a performance at the
Association of Canadian Choral Communities
convention in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Bruffy is a
member of the advisory boards of the Atlanta
Young Singers of Callenwolde and WomenSing in
the San Francisco Bay area, and he has served on
the board of Chorus America for seven years. Bruffy is renowned for his fresh and
passionate interpretations of standards of
the choral repertoire and for championing
new music. He has commissioned and
premiered works by composers such as
Ola Gjeilo, Matthew Harris, Anne Kilstofte,
Libby Larsen, Zhou Long, Michael McGlynn, Cecilia McDowall, Stephen Paulus,
Stephen Sametz, Philip Stopford, Steven Stucky, Joan Szymko, Eric Whitacre
and Chen Yi. Under his supervision, the Roger Dean Company, a division of
the Lorenz Corporation, publishes a choral series specializing in music for
professional ensembles and sophisticated high school and college choirs. Bruffy’s eclectic discography includes six recordings with Nimbus Records
and seven recordings with Chandos Records. His latest Grammy®-winning album,
Rachmaninoff’s “All-Night Vigil,” was released in January 2015. The National Academy
of Recording Arts and Sciences has recognized five of these recordings with a total of
12 Grammy® nominations and five Grammy® wins, most recently in 2015 for Best Choral
Performance for “All-Night Vigil” featuring the Kansas City and Phoenix Chorales.
K ANSAS CIT Y SYMPHONY
33
Kansas City Symphony
CHORUS ROSTER
CHARLES BRUFFY, chorus director
PATRICE SOLLENBERGER, assistant chorus director
DAN VELICER, accompanist
BILL FEATHERSTON, president
JAN WIBERG, librarian
SOPRANO
Abby Bachkora
Christine Baehr
Emily M. Bennett
Angela Broaddus
Elizabeth Brockhoff
Amy Burback
Holly Chase
Skye Clements
Christie Cody
Kelsey Cook
Brenda Dunham
Hannah Dykstra
Judith Evnen
Kimberly Gear
Catherine Gilbert
Bethany Glendenning
Holly Hacking
Karen Hall
Erica Hazelton
Rita Hrenchir
Rebekah Jackson
Nancy Lacy
Kristy Lambert
Zenia Lee
Kathy Leeper
Marie Lerner-Sexton
34 2016/17 Season
Mari Levi
Lindsey Marts
Sarah Meyer
Kathryn Nicolaus
Naomi Olivera
Keri Olson
Meghan Pesely
Sariah Pinick
Shelbi Polasik
Emily Pollard
Rebecca Preston
Deborah Roach
Gretchen Rohrs
Donna Schnorf
Willems
Kathy Stayton
Shereé Stoppel
Amy Toebben
Rebecca Tuttle
Constance VanEngen
Sharlynn Verner
Annie Walsh
Laura Wittmer
Kimberly Wobken
ALTO
Lori Allen
Beth Allin
Lynne Beebe
Joyce Bibens
Michelle Buechter
Bobbi Caggianelli
Jan Cohick
Sonja Coombes
Karen Eisele
June Farson
Tori Fugate
Athena Gillespie
Gabrielle Giron
Page Gravely
Staci Harvey
Julia Heriford
Bettye Hubbard
Ashley Jones
Christina Kesler
Karen Kesler
Jessica Lenhart
Lori LeVine
Meghan LeVota
Leona Martin
Heidi Meadows
Bailey Mears
Svetlana Mitchell
Karla Morgan-Massia
Virginia Payne
Jan Petrowski
Melissa Rausch
Maggie Sneed
Karen Spalding
Cindy Sullivan
Paulette Thompson
Sara Treffer
Tatyana Voronin
Julie Watson
Marsha Wells
Jan Wiberg
TENOR
Leon Barnes
Tim Braselton
Loren Bridge
Paul Buechter
Wayne Crawford
Evan Dahlgren
Kit Doyle
Phil Dunham
Jacob Enderle
Emerson Hartzler
JP Helder
Cliff Hubbard
Jere Kimmel
Mark Lange
Kyle Leeser
Richard Liantonio
Lyle Linder
Benjamin Lubbers
Aaron Lukken
Holt McCarley
Trent Menssen
Joseph Neal
Tyler Pierce
Jonathan Plummer
Brandon Preece
Jeff Preuss
Austin Reed
Robert Ritter
Ward Russell
Jeff Stegner
David Sutherland
Alan Taliercio
Travis Toebben
Sheldon Vogt
Jeff Williams
Richard Wilson
Craig Zernickow
BASS
Doug Allen
Brett Anderson
Ed Davis
Robert Dothage
James R. Duncan
David Fast
Bill Featherston
Lee Finch
Richard T. Gill
Vaughan Harrison
Kevin Hershberger
David Hess
Daniel Hockman
Eddie Huang
Scott Kincaid
Bill Lacy
Art Lafex
Hale Lentz
Dave Lockett
Donald Milligan
Patrick Orlich
John Pinkston
Joe Potter
Jerry Radek
Roger Randall
David Reid
Ed Roberts
John Ross
Larry Sneegas
Roger Sodsod
Robert Stepanich
James Stephens
Rick Stephenson
John Thiessen
Greg Toplikar
Keith Tucker
Ken VanEngen
Andre Weibel
Ronald Williams
Kansas City Symphony
About ALLEGRO CHOIRS OF KANSAS CITY
ALLEGRO CHOIRS OF KANSAS CITY ENTERTAIN THOUSANDS EACH YEAR
locally, nationally and abroad with varied repertoire, technical excellence and heartfelt
singing. Known for connecting with their audience, the upbeat premier choir program
enriches and transforms the lives of children as they learn and perform beautiful music
of the highest quality. Allegro provides numerous free concerts each season as well as
three major performances for sold-out crowds. The choirs give back to the Kansas City
community by performing regularly at retirement homes, hospitals and other charity
functions.
Drawn from across the Kansas City metro area, the singers range from third
through 12th grade, representing more than 60 public and private schools in seven
counties as well as many home schools. Since its creation in 1999, the choir program
has blossomed from one choir of 38 to more than 250 singers in six ensembles. Allegro
singers have toured extensively in the United States as well as internationally in France,
Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Italy and England. In June 2011, Allegro Con
Brio sang by invitation at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In 2012, Allegro choirs performed
at Meyerson Symphony Hall in Dallas, Carnegie Hall in New York and for a private
holiday reception at the White House for President and First Lady Obama.
For more information about the choirs or to schedule an audition or performance,
visit allegrokc.org.
Becca Adair
Emma Aguayo
Faith Bestgen
Sophie Beuerlein
Lillian Bogard
Miranda Bouphanouvong
Sonia Brekken
Morgan Chandler
Julianna Chase
Josie Devine
Lexi Dixon
Carlee Elsner
Mia Falcon
Mallory Folsom
Briauna Gibson
Alana Hansen
Annabelle Heckert
Elise Heidrick
Sophia Hillman
Josie Johnson
Kaleigh Johnston
Alex Kellogg
Emily Kite
Kaylee Koester
Bree Lautenschlager
Abby Lee
Elizabeth Lipford
Allison Lyons
Mary McConville
Kaelana Mong
Mathys Moore
Hannah Mosser
Ashleigh Murphree
Shaylin Nguyen
Ansley Odum
Jillian Otero
Emma Price
Johanna Quigley
EmilyRose Rausch
Tessa Redding
Ashley Redmon
Maddie Sack
Lauren Sanford
Claire Stephens
Kayleigh Stoddard
Stella Subasic
Emma Thomas
Annie Winter
Sydney Wootton
Sofia Zelinski
K ANSAS CIT Y SYMPHONY
35
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
TEXT and TRANSLATION
War Requiem, op. 66 (1961)
Music by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Words from the Missa pro defunctis and the poems of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
I. REQUIEM AETERNAM
Chorus
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Children’s Chorus
Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,
et tibi redetur votum in Jerusalem;
exaudi orationem meam, ad te omnis caro veniet.
Thou shalt have praise, O God, in Zion
and homage shall be paid to Thee in Jerusalem;
hear my prayer, to Thee all flesh shall come.
Chorus
Requiem aeternum dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
Tenor Solo
What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.
Only the stuttering rifles’ rapid rattle
Can patter out their hasty orisons.
No mockeries for them from prayers or bells,
Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, —
The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells;
And bugles calling for them from sad shires.
What candles may be held to speed them all?
Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes
Shall shine the holy glimmers of good-byes.
The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall;
Their flowers the tenderness of silent minds,
And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds.
Chorus
Kyrie eleison,
Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison.
Lord have mercy upon us,
Christ have mercy upon us,
Lord have mercy upon us.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
II. DIES IRAE
Chorus
Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
This day, this day of wrath
Shall consume the world in ashes
As prophesied by David and the Sibyl.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
What trembling there shall be
When the Judge shall come
To weigh everything strictly!
Tuba mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra regionum
Coget omnes ante thronum.
The trumpet, scattering its awful sound
Across the graves of all lands,
Summons all before the throne.
Mors stupebit et natura,
Cum resurget creatura,
Judicanti responsura.
Death and nature shall stand amazed
When creation arises
To answer to the Judge.
Baritone
Bugles sang, saddening the evening air,
And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.
Voices of boys were by the river-side.
Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad.
The shadow of the morrow weighed on men.
Voices of old despondency resigned,
Bowed by the shadow of the morrow, slept.
Soprano Solo and Chorus
Liber scriptus proferetur,
In quo totum continetur,
Unde mundus judicetur.
A written book shall be brought forth
That contains everything
Whereby the world shall be judged.
Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet, apparebit:
Nil inultum remanebit.
When the Judge takes his seat,
All that is hidden shall appear:
Nothing shall remain unavenged.
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronem rogaturus,
Cum vix justus sit securus?
What shall I, a wretch, say?
To which protector shall I appeal,
When even the righteous is barely safe?
Rex tremendae majestatis,
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis.
King of awful majesty,
Who freely saves the redeemed,
Save me, fount of pity.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Tenor and Baritone Solos
Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death:
Sat down and eaten with him, cool and bland, —
Pardoned his spilling mess-tins in our hand.
We’ve sniffed the green thick odour of his breath, —
Our eyes wept, but our courage didn’t writhe.
He’s spat at us with bullets and he’s coughed
Shrapnel. We chorused when he sang aloft;
We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe.
Oh, Death was never enemy of ours!
We laughed at him, we leagued with him, old chum.
No soldier’s paid to kick against his powers.
We laughed, knowing that better men would come,
And greater wars; when each proud fighter brags
He wars on Death — for Life; not men — for flags.
Chorus
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum causa tuae viae:
Ne me perdas illa die.
Remember, gentle Jesus,
That I am the reason for Thy time on earth:
Do not cast me out on that day.
Quaerens me, sedisti lassus:
Redemisti crucem passus:
Tantus labor non sit cassus.
Seeking me, Thou didst sink down wearily:
Thou didst redeem me by enduring the cross:
Such travail must not be in vain.
Ingemisco tamquam reus:
Culpa rubet vultus meus:
Supplicanti parce Deus.
I groan, like the sinner that I am:
And my face reddens with guilt:
Spare the supplicant, O God.
Qui Mariam absolvisti,
Et latronem exaudisti,
Mihi quoque spem dedisti.
Thou, who pardoned Mary,
And heard the prayer of the thief,
Hast given me hope as well.
Inter oves locum praesta,
Et ab haedis me sequestra,
Statuens in parte dextra.
Give me a place among the sheep,
And separate me from the goats,
Placing me on Thy right hand.
Confutatis maledictis,
Flammis acribus addictis,
Voca me cum benedictis.
When the damned are cast away,
And consigned to the searing flames,
Call me with the blessed.
Ora supplex et acclinis,
Cor contritum quasi cinis:
Gere curam mei finis.
Bowed down in supplication I beg Thee,
My heart as contrite as ashes:
Take Thou my ending into Thy care.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Baritone Solo
Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm,
Great gun towering toward Heaven, about to curse;
Reach at that arrogance which needs thy harm,
And beat it down before its sins grow worse;
But when thy spell be cast complete and whole,
May God curse thee, and cut thee from our soul!
Soprano Solo and Chorus
Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla,
Teste David cum Sibylla.
This day, this day of wrath
Shall consume the world in ashes,
As prophesied by David and the Sibyl.
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus!
What trembling there shall be,
When the Judge shall come,
To weigh everything strictly.
Lacrimosa dies illa,
Qua resurget ex favilla,
Judicandus homo reus,
Huic ergo parce Deus.
Oh this day full of weeping,
When from the ashes arises
The guilty man, to be judged,
Have mercy upon him, O Lord.
Tenor Solo
Move him into the sun —
Gently its touch awoke him once,
At home, whispering of fields unsown.
Always it woke him, even in France,
Until this morning and this snow.
If anything might rouse him now
The kind old sun will know.
Think how it wakes the seeds —
Woke, once, the clays of a cold star.
Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides,
Full-nerved — still warm — too hard to stir?
Was it for this the clay grew tall?
— O what made fatuous sunbeams toil
To break earth’s sleep at all?
Chorus
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem. Amen.
Merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest. Amen.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
III. OFFERTORIUM
Children’s Chorus
Domine Jesu Christe, Rex gloriae,
libera animas omnium fidelium
defunctorum de poenis inferni, et de profundo lacu:
libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne
cadant in obscurum.
Chorus
Sed signifier sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in
lucem sanctam: quam olim Abrahae pomisisti,
et semini ejus.
Lord Jesus Christ, King of glory,
deliver the souls of the faithful departed
from the pains of hell and the deep pit:
deliver them from the mouth of the lion,
that hell may not engulf them and they
be plunged into darkness.
But may the holy standard-bearer Michael
lead them into the holy light, as Thou didst
promise of old to Abraham and his seed.
Tenor and Baritone Solos
So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went,
And took the fire with him, and a knife.
And as they sojourned both of them together,
Isaac the first-born spake and said, My Father,
Behold the preparations, fire and iron,
But where the lamb for this burnt-offering?
Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps,
And builded parapets and trenches there,
And stretchèd forth the knife to slay his son.
When lo! an angel called him out of heaven,
Saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad,
Neither do anything to him. Behold,
A ram, caught in a thicket by its horns;
Offer the Ram of Pride instead of him.
But the old man would not so, but slew his son, —
And half the seed of Europe, one by one.
Children’s Chorus
Hostias et preces tibi Domine
laudis offerimus:
tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie
memoriam facimus:
fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
In praise we offer to Thee, O Lord,
sacrifices and prayers,
do Thou receive them: on behalf of souls of
those whom we remember this day:
allow them, O Lord, to pass from death to life.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
IV. SANCTUS
Soprano Solo and Chorus
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua,
hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.
Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.
Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory,
glory to God in the highest.
Blessed is he who cometh in the name of
the Lord. Glory to God in the highest.
Baritone Solo
After the blast of lightning from the East,
The flourish of loud clouds, the Chariot Throne;
After the drums of Time have rolled and ceased,
And by the bronze west long retreat is blown,
Shall life renew these bodies? Of a truth
All death will He annul, all tears assuage? —
Fill the void veins of Life again with youth,
And wash, with an immortal water, Age?
When I do ask white Age he saith not so:
“My head hangs weighed with snow.”
And when I hearken to the Earth, she saith:
“My fiery heart shrinks, aching. It is death.
Mine ancient scars shall not be glorified,
Nor my titanic tears, the sea, be dried.”
V. AGNUS DEI
Tenor Solo
One ever hangs where shelled roads part.
In this war He too lost a limb,
But His disciples hide apart;
And now the Soldiers bear with Him.
Chorus
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata
mundi, dona eis requiem.
Tenor Solo
Near Golgotha strolls many a priest,
And in their faces there is pride
That they were flesh-marked by the Beast
By whom the gentle Christ’s denied.
Lamb of God, that taketh away
the sins of the world, grant them rest.
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Chorus
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem.
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of
the world, grant them eternal rest.
Tenor Solo
The scribes on all the people shove
and bawl allegiance to the state,
But they who love the greater love
Lay down their life; they do not hate.
Chorus
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
dona eis requiem sempiternam
Lamb of God, that taketh away the sins of
the world, grant them eternal rest.
Tenor Solo
Dona nobis pacem.
Grant us peace.
VI. LIBERA ME
Soprano Solo and Chorus
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna,
in die illa tremenda:
Quando coeli movendi sunt et terra:
Dum veneris judicare saeculum
per ignem.
Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo,
dum discussio venerit, atque venture ira,
quando coeli movendi sunt et terra.
Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et
miseriae, dies magna et amara valde.
Libera me, Domine…
Tenor Solo
It seemed that out of battle I escaped
Down some profound dull tunnel, long since scooped
Through granites which titanic wars had groined.
Yet also there encumbered sleepers groaned,
Too fast in thought or death to be bestirred.
Then, as I probed them, one sprang up, and stared
With piteous recognition in fixed eyes,
Lifting distressful hands as if to bless.
And no guns thumped, or down the flues made moan,
“Strange friend,” I said, “here is no cause to mourn.”
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death
in that awful day:
When the heavens and earth shall be moved:
when Thou shalt come to judge the world
by fire.
I am seized with fear and trembling,
until the trial shall be at hand and the wrath
to come, when the heavens and the earth
shall be moved.
This day, this day of wrath, of calamity and
misery, a great day and bitter indeed.
Deliver me, O Lord…
Kansas City Symphony
PROGRAM NOTES by Ken Meltzer
Baritone Solo
“None,” said the other, “save the undone years,
The hopelessness. Whatever hope is yours,
Was my life also; I went hunting wild
After the wildest beauty in the world.
For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping something had been left,
Which must die now. I mean the truth untold,
The pity of war, the pity war distilled.
Now men will go content with what we spoiled.
Or, discontent, boil bloody, and be spilled.
They will be swift with swiftness of the tigress,
None will break ranks, though nations trek from progress.
Miss we the march of this retreating world
Into vain citadels that are not walled.
Then, when much blood had clogged their chariot-wheels
I would go up and wash them from sweet wells,
Even from wells we sunk too deep for war,
Even the sweetest wells that ever were.
I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.”
Tenor and Baritone Solos
“Let us sleep now…”
Soprano Solo, Chorus and Children’s Chorus
In paradisum deducant te Angeli:
in tuo adventu suscipiant te Martyres,
et perducant te in civitatem sanctam
Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat,
et cum Lazaro, quondam paupere aeternam
habeas requiem.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine:
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescant in pace. Amen.
War Requiem, op. 66 by Benjamin Britten and Wilfred Owen
© Copyright 1961 by Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.
Reprinted by permission.
May the angels lead you into paradise:
may the martyrs receive you at
your coming, and lead you into the holy city
of Jerusalem.
May the chorus of angels receive you,
and with Lazarus, once poor may you have
eternal rest.
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord:
and may perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.