Name: Musicians Wrestle Everywhere - Elliot Carter (1908-1912) by Jo -Michael Scheibe
Duration: 3 min 4 s
Description: Musicians Wrestle Everywhere (1945) Carter called this a madrigal

Recorded by the USC Thornton Chamber Singers, Jo-Michael Scheibe, conductor; Aram Arakelyan, accompanist

I Hear The Stars Still Singing

𝐒𝐈𝐍 𝐏𝐀𝐙 𝐍𝐈 𝐃𝐈𝐆𝐍𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐃 (Without Peace or Dignity)*
(from Nuestra Patria, the original Spanish text of 𝐁𝐀𝐘𝐀𝐍 𝐊𝐎)
Letra: 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐨, Musica: 𝐍𝐢𝐥𝐨 𝐀𝐥𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐚 

Commissioned by Raoul 'Miggi' Angangco for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Conductor’s Chorus

Composer’s Notes

The song 𝐁𝐚𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐊𝐨 (My Homeland) ranks second only to the Philippine National Anthem as the nation’s most well known and beloved patriotic air. It gained renown especially at the time of the EDSA“People Power” — a bloodless revolution that deposed the Marcos Regime in 1986.

Yet not many know that the original text was in Spanish attributed to Gen. 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐨 and written in light of the 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐞-𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐫 from February 4, 1899, to 1902. (Prior to this occupation, the Philippines was a colony of Spain from 1571 to 1898 — totaling 327 years of Spanish tyrannical rule, and yet with it came literacy in the Spanish language.) Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos died in the Philippine-American war, and the Philippines became a territory and later a Commonwealth of the United States until 1946.

Alejandrino’s text directly points a finger to the 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐨-𝐒𝐚𝐱𝐨𝐧𝐬 while the popular Tagalog translation by 𝐉𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐳𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 a.k.a 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐞 points out the dayuhan — the foreigner. This setting opted to 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 anglosajon with 𝐞𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐨 — “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥” to dissipate hate towards a specific race, and to also show that oppression today comes in many forms and from different types of power and privilege. The setting also omits “Filipinas’ to refer only to Patria or Homeland as any group of people can relate to oppression.

The song Bayan Ko is written in kundiman form — an art song structure usually in moderate triple meter, beginning in a minor key and ending in it’s parallel major. Sin Paz Ni Dignidad (Without Peace or Dignity) 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 the kundiman form and uses these ‘deconstructed fragments’ throughout the piece. It also loosely alludes to music of the ‘collective colonizers’ incorporating fragments of a deconstructed habanera as well as moments of pseudo-polyphony and melismatic runs. - Nilo Alcala

*Commissioned by Miggi Angangco for the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Conductor’s Chorus)

Sin Paz Ni Dignidad (Nilo Alcala) - Live (excerpt)

Lux Aeterna - Edwin Fissinger - Published by Walton Music - 

06 Fissinger_ Lux Aeterna

Musicians Wrestle Everywhere (1945) Carter called this a madrigal 

Musicians Wrestle Everywhere - Elliot Carter (1908-1912)

Three Kalingga Chants (live recording) 
Nilo Alcala/ONE Chamber Choir (Ai Hooi Lim, dir.)

Commissioned by the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the
1st Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival, Manila 2013


“Wiyawi”
(Wiyawi in Kalingga means “lullaby”)

Adi ka pay manibi, Ebananta mapudot Wiyawiyawi ebi.
Don’t cry, baby Because it is hot. Wiyawi, baby.

“Salidumay”
(A phrase used in songs for festive occasions and celebrations.)

Dang dang ay si dong ilay Insinali-salidumay

“Mambayu”
(Mambayu is a song sung by Kalingga women while pounding rice, hence the gibberish words “hiya hng”, imitating the sound the women make as they do the task.)

Hiya hiya hiya duwa Agsa gib-dang pungdu Hiya hng hiya hng



Three Kalingga Chants (live recording) Nilo Alcala/ONE Chamber Choir

See score at: https://sydneyguillaume.com/product/anmwe/

Anmwe - University of Miami Frost Chorale

A new choral setting of 'Locus iste' by Daniel Brinsmead.  Performed here by Dr Jo-Michael Scheibe and the USC (University Southern California) Thornton Chamber Singers.  'Locus iste' is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing and available from J.W Pepper, Lorenz and Sheet Music Plus.

Locus iste a Deo factus est,
inaestimabile sacramentum;
irreprehensibilis est.

This place was made by God,
a priceless Holy place;
beyond reproach.

www.danbrinsmead.com

Locus iste

Follow along with the score here: bit.ly/wholesea

The Whole Sea in Motion was written for and premiered by the University of Southern California Chamber Singers (Jo-Michael Scheibe, conductor; Guk Hui Han, piano) on April 8, 2011. This piece sets a prose text from Agnes Grey, a 1907 novel by British author Anne Bronte. 

Text: 
No language can describe the effect of the deep, clear azure of the sky and ocean, the bright morning sunshine on the semicircular barrier of craggy cliffs surmounted by green swelling hills, and on the smooth, wide sands, and the low rocks out at sea - looking, with their clothing of weeds and moss, like little grass-grown islands - and above all, on the brilliant, sparkling waves.  And then, the unspeakable purity - and freshness of the air! …just enough wind to keep the whole sea in motion, to make the waves come bounding to the shore, foaming and sparkling, as if wild with glee.  Nothing else was stirring – no living creature was visible besides myself.  My footsteps were the first to press the firm, unbroken sands; - nothing before had trampled them since last night’s flowing tide had obliterated the deepest marks of yesterday, and left them fair and even, except where the subsiding water had left behind it the traces of dimpled pools and little running streams.

—Anne Bronte (1820-1849)

The Whole Sea in Motion

With A Whisper

Clausen:  Three Whitman Settings - The Last Invocation

Twa Tanbou  
Kap fè yon diskisyon 
Yon gwo dimanch maten
Lè yo sot nan Ginen

Yon Ti Kata 
Yon Tanbouren
Yon Gwo Boula 

Boula rete li di 
Li di li ka frape pi fò 
Boula rete li di 
Se li ki ka frape pi fò  


Tanbouren di li gen pi bèl son
Li di “lè map site, se rete tande”


Kata ki tap koute, li rete li move
Li pa te ka konprann kouman de kamarad,
Ki abiye ak menm rad
Ki pitit menm manman
Chita ap fè deblozay

Yon bon jou Madigra, Kata tonbe zouke
Dènye moun ki te la yo tout tonbe danse...


Tanbouren ak Boula kite la ap tande
Pou fè fèt la pi bèl: yo tou fon ribanbèl


Jou sa-a 
Yo chante yon chante ke’m pap janm bliye:

Tout tanbou ki dispèse
An nou kole zepòl
Poun fè la vi pi bèl 

-Louis Marie Celestin

-----------------------
-----------------------
Three drums
Are having an argument
A great Sunday morning 
On their way back  from Guinea

A little Kata…
A little Tanbouren…
A big Boula…

Boula declared
That he can hit the loudest
Boula declared
“I can hit the loudest!”

Tanbouren said “I have the most beautiful sound”
He said “when I perform, keep quiet and listen!”

Kata who was hearing all this became angry
He could not comprehend how two soldiers
Who are dressed with the same outfit
And are children of the same mother
Are sitting around making a scandal


One fine Mardi-Gras day, Kata started to “zouk”
Every single person there began to dance…

Tanbouren and Boula who were there listening
To make the party more exciting, they started a great throng

That day,
They all sang a song that I’ll never forget:


All drums that are dispersed 
Let’s put our shoulders together 
To make life more beautiful

www.sydneyguillaume.com


Twa Tanbou (World Premiere) - University of Miami Chorale

Kalinda - University of Miami Chorale

Jo-Michael Scheibe was the Chair of the Thornton School of Music at USC. He conducted the USC Chamber Singers and taught choral conducting and choral methods.  Scheibe supervised the graduate and undergrad choral programs. He was named a USC and University of Miami Professor Emeritus of Music He was also names a 2023-2024 US Fulbright Scholar to Ireland.  He continues to conduct choirs and teach all over the world.  He has collaborated with many other artists as well. Please visit http://jmscheibe.com/, http://jomichaelscheibe.net/, and http://jomichaelscheibe.org/ to learn more about Jo-Michael Scheibe!

Musicians Wrestle Everywhere - Elliot Carter (1908-1912)

Jo -Michael Scheibe

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