Third Concert of the 35th Season
Saturday, April 20th, 1974
Manchester College Auditorium
Sunday, April 21st, 1974
Honeywell Center, Wabash
Jack C. Laumer, Conductor
Dr. Clyde W. Holsinger, Conductor
| An Outdoor Overture | Aaron Copland | |||
| A German Requiem | Johannes Brahms | |||
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I. Chorus |
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| The Choral Society Dr. Clyde W. Holsinger, conductor JoElyn McGowan, soprano Eugene Wiese, baritone |
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Program Notes |
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| An Outdoor Overture |
Aaron Copland (b. 1900) |
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Aaron Copland is a composer who was educated musically in Europe, but whose best-known works are distinctly American. In Paris under Nadia Boulanger, he studied the neo-classicism of Stravinsky. His early works reflect Stravinsky's music and also the jazz rhythms of popular American music. Copland realized that the modern music of his generation of composers was not reaching the listening public. He turned to the use of folklore elements -- cowboy songs, New England hymns, Latin-American rhythms -- and to the media that communicate with a large public -- the play-opera, film scores and functional music. An Outdoor Overture is a product of Copland's shift in theme and media. It is function music written in 1941 for the orchestra of the High School of Music and art in New York City. Written for an orchestra and audience of the big, restless city, the overture still suggests the imaginary of pastoral quietude and the memory of a simpler way of life. For many listeners, Copland is the representative American composer of the mid-twentieth century. |
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| A German Requiem | Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) |
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A German Requiem differs from a Roman Catholic requiem such as those by Palestrina, Mozart and Verdi, in that it does not offer a prayer for the dead. Liturgically it differs from a Mass for the dead, also, in that the Bible and the Aprocrypha supply the text. It is believed that A German Requiem was written in memory of Brahms' mother, who died in 1865. However, some suggest that the work came out of the sorrow the composer felt at the tragic death of his close friend, Robert Schumann, for whom death was a release from insanity. These two greatly contrasting characters, Schumann, the genius and master, and Johanna, the simple old mother, were two of the strongest influences in Brahms' life, and they can probably both be found in this music, as suggested by Florence May in her biography of Brahms. Brahms took the text from the German Bible. The openine movement, "Blessed are they," makes use of Matthew 5:4 and Psalm 126:5-6. The following section, "Behold all flesh," draws upon the Epistles of St. Peter and St. James as well as a verse from Isaiah 35. Two of the movements use material from two books of the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclessiasticus. Brahms conveys in this work not only the gloom of death, but also the consolation of a belief in the mercy of God. A German Requiem was first performed in its complete form in Leipzig in 1869. |
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Manchester Symphony Orchestra Personnel |
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Violin I Vernon Stinebaugh, Co-principal Kay E. Miller, Co-principal + Tim Smith + Linda Stanley + Elizabeth Kemp Violin II Ernest Zala * Harold Davidson Deb Wolf Annette Dawson + Rachel Kurtz + Diane Ramsby + Viola Deanna Brown *+ Sherwood Waggy + Robert Curry + Cello Susan Favorite *+ Norman Waggy + Thomas Kaffan Bass Mark Tomlonson *+ Randy Gratz + Herbert Ingraham Piccolo Paula Coutz + Flute Bev Moore * Muriel Snider + Oboe Stephanie Jones * Eric Burkhardt + |
Clarinet Mark Huntington *+ Jamie Van Buskirk + Bassoon Thomas Owen * Arlene Crist + Lovena Miller + Contrabassoon Thomas Owen Horn Mark Bechtel *+ Jean Norton + Lucy Wilson + Peter White Trumpet Tom Molinaro *+ Carla Griebel + Steve Hammer + Trombone Larry Dockter Kerry Barrett + Steve Wiser + Tuba Joseph Griffith + Percussion Diane Laumer Organ Lillian Miller + * Denotes principal + Denotes MC student |
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Manchester Choral Society Personnel |
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Sopranos Cheryl Baumgardner Jean Butterbaugh Peggy Coppler Rosemary Erwin Nancy Frank Linda Fulevider Carol Haupert Marie Holsinger Rebecca Hoover Margaret Howenstine Susan Jones Kay Kessler Nancy Kolb Louise Leander Diane Leverenz Mary Lutz Teresa Metzger Wanda Miller Lora Muhlnickel Elizabeth Norris Rachel Norris Debra Oberleas Tenley Orendorff Hazel Pell Sister Lillian Roberts Linda Ross Karen Rowe Linda Sandrick Carol Streator Debra Underwood Mary Ann Weyant Tenors Stephen A. Batzka Donald Berkey Roger Bridge Larry J. Brubaker Wayne Chowning Glen R. Daughtry James Dick Carl Doran David Eicher Damon Fields Jeffry Freeman Andrew Gross Kim Heusel Bruce Hlodnicki Timothy Hough Delmas Keeney Roger Kenny Kent Lucas David McLiver George Merkle Carl Pence Eugene Wiese Allan White |
Altos Nancy Avey Jennifer Barwick Connie Bonnell Francis Brainard Susanne Burwell Rebecca Colby Andrea Craft Jean Crull Dixie Dickson Hilda Eubank Barbara Faulkner Margaret Gruener Dorotha Harvey Cynthia Heath Lana Huff Onita Johnson Karen Kennedy Kimberle Kennedy Wanda Kline Jane Mathews Jean Norton Janina Planer Bonnie Rager Linda Saylor Karen Seiss Judy Shultz Rebecca Swantner Wyndham Traxler Rebecca Waas Cynthia Welch Jennifer Weygandt Jane Willmert Terry Wood Basses Mark Albright Douglas Barber Brian Benedict Bradley Bohrer Mark Bontrager Gene Buckley Donal Carbaugh Michael Carson David W. Cattin Roland Fink Robert Floros M. Galloway Paul Helstern Damon Howell Robert Jarboe Terry McRoberts Thomas Moore Kenneth Oren Daniel Petry Carter Quance Gary Rosborough Randall Stallings Guy Studebaker Robert Thompson Orian Toepfer John Tucker Walter Weck David Wiele |
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JoElyn McGowan has made numerous appearances as soloist in opera performances and concerts. She sang in the concert version of Der Rosenkavalier by Strauss with the Berkshire Festival Orchestra in 1968, and she has appeared with the Indianapolis Symphony several times in concert scenes from opera works and other works by Granados, de Falla, and Berio. She sang in the Carmina Burana by Orff, performed by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra in 1971. She has previously appeared twice with the Manchester Civic Symphony, singing operatic arias in concert and Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen by Mahler. JoElyn McGowan has studied voice with Oren Brown. She graduated from Pfeiffer College in North Carolina, received her M.M. degree from Indiana University and has attended summer workshops and seminars at Indiana University, University of Massachusetts, and Aspen Music School. Eugene Wiese is a singer and actor with a great variety of experience, including actor in community theatre groups, appearances in night clubs and reviews, on television and radio, soloist in oratorios, choir director for several churches and director of community theatre presentations. He has performed in the role of Tevye in the Wabash Community Theatre presentation of Fiddler on the Roof and appeared in many operas and musicals at the Skylight Theatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mr. Wiese received his A.B. degree from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He studied voice with George Graham in Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. |
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