AN AMERICAN HYMN
by Tom Vignieri 

"An American Hymn" was commissioned by Yoichi Udagawa and the Melrose Symphony Orchestra and premiered in March 2001. This recording was made in October of that year with a freelance orchestra in Symphony Hall, Boston.

By then the dramatic events of September 11th had unfolded and for some the piece took on additional meaning. Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy played a recording from the premiere at agency meetings in Washington, and it was later featured on a 10th anniversary memorial concert given by JoAnn Falletta and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

But it was written as a look back on 20th century America and in homage to my parents, Charles and Lorraine, who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. It’s meant to evoke the quiet strength and nobility of that generation which came from hardship and went on to rebuild the country and their lives. While introducing the piece at a Buffalo Philharmonic concert, Maestro Falletta remarked that “It's really about what is best of the spirit of our country; the courage, the strength, and the hope that we all have. Even in difficult times.” 

It’s been taken up by various conductors over the years including Keitaro Harada of the Savannah Philharmonic (and featured on his debut program with the Tokyo Philharmonic), and Steven Reineke, music director of the New York Pops. In addition, a wind symphony arrangement made by James Ripley was performed by Captain Richard Winkels and the U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own” on the West Steps of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

Like a hymn, the music is prayer-like and strophic with each subsequent “verse” commenting and expanding on the central musical idea. It opens with solemn brass and culminates in a final chorale featuring the entire orchestra.

It was most recently performed by Francisco Noya and the New Philharmonia Orchestra of Newton, MA on March 25 and 26, 2017.

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RECORDING
Julian Wacher, conductor
Boston Sinfonietta
James Donahue, recording engineer
Mixing by Thomas Stephenson
Recorded October 29, 2001, Symphony Hall, Boston

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COMPOSER'S WEBSITE
http://www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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The image above is of Franconia Notch in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

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An American Hymn

"My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer" is a musical setting of the poem by Mark Strand. It's performed here by baritone Aaron Engebreth, oboist Jane Harrison, and pianist Jun Toguchi (Jim Donahue, recording engineer). 

Past performances include its New York premiere at Janice Mayer & Associates Tenth Anniversary celebration to benefit Classical Action, held at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club overlooking Central Park. It was performed by tenor Carl Halvorson, pianist Anthony Fogg of the Boston Symphony, and oboist Stephen Taylor of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

A new transcription for voice, oboe, harp & string quartet was premiered May 21 and 22, 2016 in Cambridge and Concord, Massachusetts by the Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble. A recording of that performance appears on the composer's SoundCloud page under the heading "transcribed for voice, oboe, harp & string quartet."

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RECORDING
Aaron Engebreth, baritone
Jane Harrison, oboe
Jun Toguchi, piano
James T. Donahue, recording engineer
Bernadette Horgan, page turner
Recorded at Sonic Temple, Roslindale, MA
November 24, 2002

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COMPOSER'S WEBSITE
http://www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm
VIDEO OF THIS WORK
www.youtube.com/watch?v=atVLROjFx1U

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MY MOTHER ON AN EVENING IN LATE SUMMER
by Mark Strand (1980)
music by Tom Vignieri (1986)
Text used with kind permission from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

1
When the moon appears
and a few wind-stricken barns stand out
in the low-domed hills
and shine with a light
that is veiled and dust-filled
and that floats upon the fields,
my mother, with her hair in a bun,
her face in shadow, and the smoke
from her cigarette coiling close
to the faint yellow sheen of her dress,
stands near the house
and watches the seepage of late light
down through the sedges,
the last gray islands of cloud
taken from view, and the wind
ruffling the moon's ash-colored coat
on the black bay.

2
Soon the house, with its shades drawn closed, will send
small carpets of lampglow
into the haze and the bay
will begin its loud heaving
and the pines, frayed finials
climbing the hill, will seem to graze
the dim cinders of heaven.
And my mother will stare into the starlanes,
the endless tunnels of nothing,
and as she gazes,
under the hour's spell,
she will think how we yield each night
to the soundless storms of decay
that tear at the folding flesh,
and she will not know
why she is here
or what she is prisoner of
if not the conditions of love that brought her to this.

3
My mother will go indoors
and the fields, the bare stones
will drift in peace, small creatures --
the mouse and the swift -- will sleep
at opposite ends of the house.
Only the cricket will be up, 
repeating its one shrill note
to the rotten boards of the porch,
to the rusted screens, to the air, to the rimless dark,
to the sea that keeps to itself.
Why should my mother awake?
The earth is not yet a garden
about to be turned. The stars
are not yet bells that ring
at night for the lost.
It is much too late.

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My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer (original setting for voice, oboe & piano)

This setting of "My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer" was commissioned by the Sarasa Chamber Music Ensemble and premiered May 21, 2016 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's a new arrangement of the original work for voice, oboe & piano from 1986. Mark Strand’s evocative poem provides the framework for the piece which mirrors the tripartite structure of the text. 
 
I’m drawn to poetry that combines natural beauty with powerful meaning. (Other examples include "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Sara Teasdale, a poem which speaks of nature reclaiming a world devastated by war; and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Tides," a rich evocation of an iconic coastal scene that serves as a metaphor for constancy and renewal.)

Here Strand places his mother in a scene that is both vivid and poignant. It's almost mystical given the languid, metaphorical nature of her surroundings and the existential questions she faces. We find her soberly contemplating her life “on an evening in late summer” as it were. For her the day is late and she wonders how she’s come to this moment “if not for the conditions of love that brought her to this.” Like her, we all make choices we hope will bring some measure of happiness. Though we cannot fully know the consequences of those choices until we've lived them. It’s a dramatic and moving reflection by the poet son. 

Mark Strand was named U.S. Poet Laureate in 1990 though he was born on Prince Edward Island in Canada’s maritime provinces. Given the poem’s imagery, his birthplace strikes me as having informed the setting and is reminiscent to me of where I grew up in rural Wisconsin near Lake Michigan. It’s Strand's ability to convey the poignancy of the human condition however which I most sought to reflect in the music.

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MY MOTHER ON AN EVENING IN LATE SUMMER
by Mark Strand (1980)
music by Tom Vignieri (1986 and 2016)
Text used with kind permission from Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

Aaron Engebreth, baritone
Peggy Pearson, oboe
Franziska Huhn, harp
Christina Day Martinson & Haldan Martinson, violins
Jenny Stirling, viola
Jennifer Morsches, cello
audio recording by Aaron Leclerc
mixing and mastering by James Donahue
Friends Meeting House, Cambridge, MA
First Parish Church, Concord, MA

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COMPOSER WEBSITE
http://www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm
VIDEO OF THIS WORK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atVLROjFx1U

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1
When the moon appears
and a few wind-stricken barns stand out
in the low-domed hills
and shine with a light
that is veiled and dust-filled
and that floats upon the fields,
my mother, with her hair in a bun,
her face in shadow, and the smoke
from her cigarette coiling close
to the faint yellow sheen of her dress,
stands near the house
and watches the seepage of late light
down through the sedges,
the last gray islands of cloud
taken from view, and the wind
ruffling the moon's ash-colored coat
on the black bay.

2
Soon the house, with its shades drawn closed, will send
small carpets of lampglow
into the haze and the bay
will begin its loud heaving
and the pines, frayed finials
climbing the hill, will seem to graze
the dim cinders of heaven.
And my mother will stare into the starlanes,
the endless tunnels of nothing,
and as she gazes,
under the hour's spell,
she will think how we yield each night
to the soundless storms of decay
that tear at the folding flesh,
and she will not know
why she is here
or what she is prisoner of
if not the conditions of love that brought her to this.

3
My mother will go indoors
and the fields, the bare stones
will drift in peace, small creatures --
the mouse and the swift -- will sleep
at opposite ends of the house.
Only the cricket will be up, 
repeating its one shrill note
to the rotten boards of the porch,
to the rusted screens, to the air, to the rimless dark,
to the sea that keeps to itself.
Why should my mother awake?
The earth is not yet a garden
about to be turned. The stars
are not yet bells that ring
at night for the lost.
It is much too late.

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My Mother on an Evening in Late Summer (transcribed for voice, oboe, harp & string quartet)

"CumuloNimbus" is a string quartet & string orchestra transcription of the final movement of the composer’s Sonata for 2 Pianos.  

It was commissioned by Deborah Barrett Price and the Chamber Music Connection (CMC) of Columbus, Ohio with support from the Johnstone Fund for New Music. The premiere was given by the Calidore String Quartet and an all-star ensemble of CMC musicians at the Southern Theatre on January 16, 2016, presented by Chamber Music Columbus.

The title of the work is derived from the towering cloud formation which is charged with electricity and produces heavy rainfall. Its powerful upward air currents and thunderous downpours serving as a physical representation of the music. The word “CumuloNimbus” also happens to contain within it the letters to the name of the host city, “Columbus,” which is responsible for its creation. 

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Recording and image courtesy of Stephen Webster

COMPOSER WEBSITE
www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

MUSIC VIDEO OF THIS WORK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFkdrAVc064

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CumuloNimbus

“Note4Note” was specially commissioned by the NPR program “From the Top” as the focus of a fundraising campaign to benefit the best young classical musicians in America. The idea was to create a piece by writing a note for every dollar (or note) given. Many thousands of dollars were donated so many thousands of notes were written!
 
The resulting music is premiered here by two terrific alums of the "From the Top" radio and television programs: rising violinist Chad Hoopes and 11-year-old keyboard whiz Theo Luu.

Love and thanks to Tim Banker, Jodi Beznoska, Austin Boyer, Shirley Barkai, Erin Nolan, Tessa Lark, Michael Thurber, Theresa Luu, Lilit Karapetian-Shougarian, Noah Craigwell and Yoichi Udagawa for their invaluable assistance in bringing this piece to life.

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COMPOSER WEBSITE
www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

VIDEO OF THIS WORK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANVL6pVllok

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Note4Note

This midi recording was uploaded for the benefit of the musicians of the Melrose Symphony Orchestra which gave the premiere on November 4, 2017 at Memorial Hall in Melrose, Massachusetts. The audio is computer generated and is for reference only.

Notes:

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Melrose Symphony I wanted to write a piece that was luminous and ecstatic in nature, hence the Latin title “Sonus Lux” which translates as “Sound Light.” It’s for large orchestra with a full range of auxiliary instruments including winds, percussion, harps, piano and concert organ. 

The outer sections are meant to represent a brilliant, iridescent light that shimmers and changes, reflecting the excitement of the moment and the modern world in which we live, while the inner, quieter section harkens to the orchestra’s origins.

To achieve the latter I use fragments of a melody by Charles Ives written around the time the orchestra was founded a century ago. He in turn had based his piece on a hymn written in the 1800s. Both composers are from New England which is meant to further strengthen the connection to the orchestra and its history. 

The original hymn, "Dorrance," is by Isaac B. Woodbury, a 19th century composer and publisher of church music from Beverly, Massachusetts. In the 1910s, Ives used Woodbury's hymn as the basis for his piece "The Housatonic at Stockbridge" from "Three Places in New England." Fragments of Ives's music emerge and disappear in a slow reverie that features various members of the orchestra in solo roles. Woodbury’s hymn is later quoted in its entirety by a traditional brass quintet. 

The return of the opening music brings us back into the present. This time brighter and even more joyous...

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Live rehearsal excerpt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSuGHJUQlM

COMPOSER WEBSITE
http://www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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Sonus Lux (midi recording)

Psalm 3 is for unaccompanied SATB choir and was written for the Carthage Choir in 1983. It's dedicated to soprano Doris Jones Lichty who, together with mezzo-soprano Theresa Clickner, movingly sing the words "I lie down and sleep; I wake again for the Lord sustains me."

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COMPOSER WEBSITE
http://www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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Psalm 3

"Sonus Lux" was commissioned by Yoichi Udagawa and the Melrose Symphony Orchestra for its 100th anniversary season. This is the final 2.5 minutes of the premiere, recorded with a hand-held device in Memorial Hall, Melrose, Massachusetts.
 
The piece is scored for large orchestra and organ: 

2 flutes, piccolo, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timp+3, 2 harps, piano, organ and strings

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MUSIC VIDEO OF THIS WORK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSuGHJUQlM

COMPOSER'S WEBSITE
www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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iMac's Album

Sonus Lux (live excerpt)

"Fanfare of Voices" was commissioned by the Handel and Haydn Society for the 250th anniversary year of George Frideric Handel in 2009 and premiered in Symphony Hall, Boston under Grant Llewellyn.  

It features four SATB choirs placed antiphonally around the hall, with trumpets, timpani and organ accompanying the voices from the stage. The notes of the principal motive spell out the great composer’s initials: G-F-H (H denoting B-natural in German).

It's a setting of select verses from John Dryden’s poem "Ode to St. Cecilia’s Day" which Handel set in 1739. St. Cecilia is the patron saint of music and musicians and Dryden speaks of music’s wondrous powers. The “heavenly harmony” of the words and music sung by the choirs “close full in” from the balconies above and spread throughout the hall. A harmonious and celebratory fanfare honoring Handel's enduring legacy.

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from "Ode to St. Cecilia's Day"
by John Dryden (1631-1700)

From Harmony, from Heavenly Harmony
This universal frame began:
From Harmony to Harmony
Through all the compass of the notes it ran,
The diapason closing full in Man.

As from the pow'r of sacred lays
The spheres began to move;
And sung the great Creator's praise
To all the bless'd above;

So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The Trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky.

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Handel and Haydn Society
Grant Llewellyn, conductor
James Donahue, recording engineer
with thanks to Marie-Hélène Bernard,
Alice E. Richmond and David Rosenbloom
Recorded live in Symphony Hall, Boston

SOPRANO
Gail Plummer Abbey
Janice Giampa
Shannon Larkin
Jill Malin

ALTO
Margaret E. Lias
Susan Byers Paxson
Kamala Soparkar
Susan Trout

TENOR
Ethan Bremner
Thomas Gregg
Mark Sprinkle
Stefan Reed

BASS
Jonathan Barnhart
Herman Hildebrand
Kyle Hoepner
Clifford Rust

BAROQUE TRUMPET
Jesse Levine
Paul Perfetti
Vincent Monaco

TIMPANI
John Grimes

ORGAN
Michael Beattie

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Fanfare of Voices (Ode to G.F.H.)

Two poems in homage to music, set for voice & piano.

1. "There is Sweet Music Here" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)
2. "Music, Thou Soul of Heaven" by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Commissioned by Carthage College in honor of Dr. Richard Sjoerdsma
Performed by William Watson, tenor and Teresa King, piano
Premiered September 29, 2018 at Siebert Chapel, Carthage College

With thanks to Dr. Peter Dennee, Eduardo Garcia-Novelli, Eileen Baldwin, Mike Murphy and Jim Donahue

(audio taken from live stream)

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Two Poems in Homage to Music

"Walk With Me" for tenor sax & string quartet

Andy Williamson, tenor saxophone
Sara Trickey and Solenne Paidassi, violins
David Yang, viola
Reinoud Ford, cello

Post-production audio by James Donahue and Dan Pfeiffer of Whiskey Lane Productions

Commissioned for the inaugural Ashburton Chamber Music Festival and premiered July 27, 2019, St. Andrew's Church, Ashburton, Devon, UK

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Asked to write a piece for tenor sax and string quartet by artistic director David Yang, I chose as a vehicle the Gospel song “Walk With Me” which made a profound impression when I heard it sung by Lakesha Rogers as part of a NY Times video documentary called “Into the Deluge” about Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We learn that Ms. Rogers lost her mother and her father, a Baptist preacher, in the flooding which made her singing all the more moving. 

The strings slowly weave an opening out of which the saxophone emerges, taking up Ms. Rogers soulful work in the process. Though no words are sung here, they’re echoed in the music:

Walk with me Lord, Lord walk with me;
Walk with me Lord, Lord walk with me;
While I'm on this tedious journey,
I want Jesus to walk with me.

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Music video of this work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHL6pOeZu24
Composer's website: www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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Walk With Me

Commissioned by Carthage College in honor of Dr. Richard Dale Sjoerdsma,
Professor Emeritus of Music

Jesse Darden, tenor
Dina Vainshtein, piano

Frank Kelley, producer
James Donahue, recording engineer
Dan Pfeiffer, mixing and mastering
of Whiskey Lane Productions
Recorded February 27, 2019
Futura Productions, Roslindale, MA

Video of this work: youtu.be/svkusjLIWD4
Composer website: www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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MUSIC, THOU SOUL OF HEAVEN
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Music, thou soul of heav'n,
Care charming spell,
That strik'st a stillness into hell,
Thou whose soft accents and alluring tones
Gives life and motion unto stones,
Thou that tamest tygers and fierce storms that rise
With thy soul-melting lullabies,
Come down from those thy shining spheres,
And charm our souls as thou enchant'st our ears.

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"Music, Thou Soul of Heaven" is the second of two song settings commissioned by Carthage College in honor of Dr. Richard Dale Sjoerdsma for 50 years of commitment and leadership.

Though London born and Cambridge educated, Robert Herrick, a poet and clergyman, served as vicar of Dean Prior Church in Devon, England which, by chance, is just a few miles from where we live. Like the first poem in the set by Tennyson, "Music, Thou Soul of Heaven" was suggested by the dedicatee, Richard Sjoerdsma, who lives in the American Midwest and who counts it among his favorites. Learning that Herrick lived amidst the same rolling green hills and high, windswept moors as I do now (and indeed that he is buried in Dean Prior churchyard) the piece wrote itself in a matter of days.

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Premiered September 29, 2018 by William Watson, tenor and Teresa Kang, piano at A. F. Siebert Chapel, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI

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Photo above (by composer): Church of St. George the Martyr, Dean Prior, Devon. It lies within Dartmoor National Park and it's the church where Robert Herrick served as vicar for 30 years, from 1629 to 1646 and 1660 to 1674.

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Music, Thou Soul of Heaven

Commissioned by Carthage College in honor of Dr. Richard Dale Sjoerdsma,
Professor Emeritus of Music 

Jesse Darden, tenor
Dina Vainshtein, piano
 
Frank Kelley, producer
James Donahue, recording engineer
Dan Pfeiffer, mixing and mastering
of Whiskey Lane Productions
Recorded February 27, 2019
Futura Productions, Roslindale, MA

Video of this work: https://youtu.be/svkusjLIWD4
Composer website: www.tomvignieri.com/bio.htm

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THERE IS SWEET MUSIC HERE
from "The Lotos-Eaters"
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

There is sweet music here that softer falls
Than petals from blown roses on the grass,
Or night-dews on still waters between walls
Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass;

Music that gentler on the spirit lies,
Than tired eyelids upon tired eyes;
Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.

Here are cool mosses deep, 
And through the moss the ivies creep,
And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep,
And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.

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"There is Sweet Music Here" is the first of two song settings commissioned by Carthage College in honor of Dr. Richard Dale Sjoerdsma for 50 years of commitment and leadership.

The text is the first stanza of mariners' song in Tennyson’s poem “The Lotos-Eaters”. The mariners are from Homer’s Odyssey and the poem tells of their journey home from the Trojan War. Weary of the sea they take refuge on an island where they're met by “mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters”. Eating from the "enchanted stem, Laden with flower and fruit" they fall under the spell of this languid and sensuous land and never want to leave. Like the "Sweet Music" of which they sing, the piece is slow and dream-like, with an extended piano introduction and interlude. 

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Premiered September 29, 2018 by William Watson, tenor and Teresa Kang, piano at A. F. Siebert Chapel, Carthage College, Kenosha, WI

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Image above: The Lotus Eaters by Thomas Moran, 1895, oil on canvas
Portland Museum of Art, Portland Maine

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There is Sweet Music Here

A composer and classical music producer, Tom Vignieri served as director of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, a summer program for young artists held in conjunction with the Boston Symphony's Tanglewood Music Center, and as artistic administrator of the Handel and Haydn Society, a professional chorus and period orchestra, working with conductors Christopher Hogwood and Grant Llewellyn. 

He spent 12 years as music director of "From the Top," a nationally distributed radio program on NPR showcasing America's best young classical musicians, and received a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Children’s Series as a producer of the PBS television series "From the Top at Carnegie Hall." 

As a composer he’s written choral, orchestral and chamber works for ensembles throughout the US and in the UK, with additional performances in Europe and Japan. Tom currently resides in Devon, England.

Click on track title or track image for more information about each piece. Links to YouTube videos included where available. 

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