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Processing Through Darkness

New Hampshire Master Chorale
Dan Perkins, conductor

When the New Hampshire Master Chorale first approached me about writing a piece celebrating the end of war, I found myself thinking about World War I—the “Great War,” the “War to End All Wars”—the heroic deeds, great hopes, and ultimate tragedy of a conflict which is rapidly fading from living memory, and the parlor songs and marches which formed the musical background of that conflict. Two of the three texts I set deal specifically with WWI and the Armistice—from an English soldier in the trenches, and an American woman receiving news of war’s end far from the battlefields of Europe. The third text, contained in a larger work by Robert Louis Stevenson which predates the Armistice by some forty years, seems apt for a piece about the conclusion and aftermath of war, particularly as seen through the quickly-dimming lens of remembrance.

This work has been performed by the New Hampshire Master Chorale, and by the Proctor Academy Chamber Choir during a tour of Washington, D.C. area sites including Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

I. The Return
I heard the rumbling guns. I saw the smoke,
The unintelligible shock of hosts that still,
Far off, unseeing, strove and strove again;
And Beauty flying naked down the hill

From morn to eve: and the stern night cried Peace!
And shut the strife in darkness: all was still,
Then slowly crept a triumph on the dark--
And I heard Beauty singing up the hill.

—John Freeman

II. November 11, 1918
Suddenly bells and flags!
Suddenly—door to door--
Tidings! Can we believe,
We, who were used to war?

Yet we have dreamed her face,
Knowing her light must be,
Knowing that she must come.
Look—she comes, it is she!

Tattered her raiment floats,
Blood is upon her wings.
Ah, but her eyes are clear!
Ah, but her glad heart sings!

Soon where the shrapnel fell
Petals shall wake and stir.
Look—she is here, she lives!
Beauty has died for her.

—Agnes Lee

III. The Country of the Camisards
WE travelled in the print of olden wars,
Yet all the land was green,
And love we found, and peace,
Where fire and war had been.

They pass and smile, the children of the sword--
No more the sword they wield;
And O, how deep the corn
Along the battlefield!

—Robert Louis Stevenson

The Return (Armistice Poems)

New Hampshire Master Chorale
Dan Perkins, conductor
Linda Galvan, cello

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, Dan Perkins and the New Hampshire Master Chorale were planning a concert of works setting text by Thoreau. They asked me to set text from Walden that would serve as a fitting finale for the entire concert. I chose my favorite text from Walden to set for chorus and cello. The work was very well received at its premiere performances, which included one near the banks of Walden Pond itself.

"If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him … and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. . . . Such is the character of that morrow which mere lapse of time can never make to dawn. . . . There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

—Henry David Thoreau, “Conclusion” from Walden

Walden Recessional

All New England Band Festival Concert Band
composer conducting

There’s nothing more satisfying for me as a teacher than to get to work with a former student as a friend and colleague, and I was lucky enough to get such an opportunity with Elisa Curren Saunders, band director at Pelham (NH) Memorial School. When she invited me to write a piece for her 7th and 8th grade band, I decided to take that opportunity to honor a friend and colleague who was a special mentor of Elisa’s, Gary Corcoran. Gary was Professor of Music and Director of Bands Emeritus at Plymouth State University. One of the many things he taught me as a young music professor was a novel approach to rhythm pedagogy that he had developed, and part of which he’d adopted as his license plate—the rhythmic syllables “1E&A2&.” This piece features that rhythm in a variety of contexts, and also provides an opportunity to talk with young musicians about modes.

1E&A2&

All New England Band Festival Concert Band
composer conducting

As children, my sons had a CD with a humorous version of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan patter song “Modern Major General.” That version features a slow repetition of the verse, and it struck me that the repeated accompaniment chords at that tempo sounded like a train starting up. That’s how this piece for young band came about—I use motives from the original song throughout to capture the effect of a train journey.

G&S Express

New Hampshire Master Chorale
Dan Perkins, conductor

O World, the first piece I wrote for the New Hampshire Master Chorale, was composed as my family was moving back into our home after a three and a half month absence caused by a fire. It came to me more quickly and more completely than any other piece I’ve written; I think it’s a song of gratitude for this place and for the friends we’ve made here.

​O WORLD, I cannot hold thee close enough!
Thy winds, thy wide grey skies!
Thy mists that roll and rise!
Thy woods, this autumn day, that ache and sag
And all but cry with colour! That gaunt crag
To crush! To lift the lean of that black bluff!
World, World, I cannot get thee close enough!

Long have I known a glory in it all,
But never knew I this;
Here such a passion is
As stretcheth me apart. Lord, I do fear
Thou'st made the world too beautiful this year.
My soul is all but out of me,—let fall
No burning leaf; prithee, let no bird call.
​
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)

O World

Manchester (NH) Choral Society
Dan Perkins, conductor

Harp Carol was a finalist in the 2000 VocalEssence/American Composers Forum Welcome Christmas! Carol contest.


A family came to Bethlehem –
a mother great with child,
a father seeking food and rest
from a journey through the wild.
In hay and straw they laid their heads,
all grander beds denied –
and Christ was born of Mary
that holy Christmas tide.

The animals watched over those 
who shared their stable ground.
The lowing of the cattle broke
the silence all around.
No protest did the baby make,
he never even sighed –
so Christ was born of Mary
that holy Christmas tide.

The angels urged the shepherds forth
to witness from afar;
three mystic noble potentates
were summoned by a star.
They came when called – this humble place,
this child was not denied.
Thus Christ was born of Mary
that holy Christmas tide.

And still, the call rings out today
to praise that humble birth –
the child who in that stable lay
is the savior of the earth.
So dance, where once you bent in pain, 
and laugh, where once you cried,
for Christ is born of Mary
this holy Christmas tide.

							-- JS

Music and Text Copyright © 2008, JEHMS, Inc., A Division of Alliance Music Publication, Inc.

Purchase information available at
http://www.alliancemusic.com/product.cfm?iProductID=925

Harp Carol

VocalEssence Chorus
Philip Brunelle, conductor
from a national broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio/Public Radio International, December, 1999

This Holy Christmas Night was a winner of the 1999 VocalEssence/American Composers Forum Welcome Christmas! Carol Contest.

The snow lies quiet on the ground,
    the stars cast down their light,
   A wondrous silence rings us round
    this holy Christmas night.
 
The storm and strife of daily life,
    the circling, ceaseless fight,
    all seem to hide as we abide
    this holy Christmas night.

As long ago, the shepherds stood, 
    bathed in one Star's great light,
    as they stood then, so we stand now
    this holy Christmas night.

No tears alloy this awesome joy!
    We wonder at the sight --
    this mother mild, this tiny child,
    this holy Christmas night.

All humankind one upturned face,
    transfixed by love's great light --
    the precious gift God gives to us
    this holy Christmas night!

Two thousand years of empty fears --
    of hatred, anger, fright --
    they melt away in love's warm ray
    this holy Christmas night.

The snow lies quiet on the ground,
    the stars cast down their light,
    Christ's love enfolds us all around
    this holy Christmas night.

                                                  -- JS

Music and Text Copyright ©2001 by Walton Music Corporation.
A choral anthem based on this carol is available for purchase at:
https://giamusic.com/resource/this-holy-christmas-night-print-ww1282

Processing Through Darkness

Jonathan Santore