Music Notes – Sunday, March 9th:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
Prelude: From You I Receive – Segal and Segal
Most UUs are familiar with this short and simple round, which is #402 in Singing the Living Tradition and is used by many UU congregations as their weekly offertory response. What many UUs do not know is that the song was written and performed by two brothers, Joseph and Nathan Segal, who describe themselves as “12th generation singing rabbis”. The Segal brothers had a successful career as both spiritual leaders and entertainers, blending music, humor, and life lessons in their appearances.
Song: Let It Be a Dance – Masten
“Let It Be a Dance” (#311 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal) was originally written and performed by Ric Masten (1929-2008), a California-based Unitarian Universalist folk singer, songwriter, poet, storyteller, and author. Masten’s song has a natural motion and momentum, and I encourage all of you to let your body move and bend and (of course) dance while you sing along with this song on Sunday morning.
Centering Music: Andante Cantabile (II) from String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11 – Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a composer of the Romantic period and remains the most universally celebrated and recognized Russian composer of all time. Tchaikovsky famously composed ballet scores, symphonies, operas, and many other musical forms. Composed during 1871, the String Quartet No. 1 (Op. 11) was the first of three string quartets written by Tchaikovsky. The second movement (Andante cantabile) is the best-known of the four movements within this quartet, and its primary melody was based on a folk song Tchaikovsky had heard a plasterer singing and whistling while working on his sister’s house in the town of Kamienka (now part of Ukraine).
Offertory Music: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana – Mascagni
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945) was an Italian composer famously known for his operas, and most especially for Cavalleria Rusticana, widely considered to be one of the all-time masterpieces of operatic repertoire. Cavalleria Rusticana premiered in Rome in May of 1890, and although Mascagni was a relative unknown at the time, his opera won over both critics and audiences to become a great success. By the end of 1891, Cavalleria Rusticana was being performed in numerous opera houses across Italy, and was also playing to standing room-only audiences in Berlin, London, New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Buenos Aires.
Song: Come, Sing a Song with Me – McDade
#346 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Come, Sing a Song with Me” is a well-known and beloved hymn to many Unitarian Universalists. The words and music were written by Carolyn McDade (b. 1935), a self-described songwriter, spiritual feminist, and social activist. McDade is also the composer of two other UU favorites: “Spirit of Life” and “We’ll Build a Land”.
Postlude: Dreaming – Beach
A native of New England, Amy Beach (1867-1944) was one of the first female musicians to gain international fame and prominence for her work as a composer. During her career, Beach wrote many piano and chamber pieces, but also ventured into large-scale forms such as opera, symphony and concerto, along with several choral works. “Dreaming” is from Beach’s Four Sketches (op. 15), first published in 1892.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director