Music Notes – Sunday, August 16th:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley.
Centering Music: Rêverie – Debussy
Postlude: Mazurka – Debussy
French composer Claude Debussy (1862-1918) is considered the father of musical Impressionism, although Debussy himself disliked the idea of being categorized as a composer. Throughout his career, Debussy wrote music for a wide variety of performing forces, and his nontraditional use of harmony played a vital role in ushering in a new era of music at the turn of the 20th century.
Debussy composed the standalone piano piece Rêverie (L. 76) in 1890. It was published the following year and the first known public performance followed in 1899. Although Debussy was dismissive of the piece in correspondence, it has become one of his most enduring compositions. Rêverie is a staple of piano repertoire to this day, and has also been arranged for other performing forces, most notably for piano with solo violin (arranged by Alberto Bachmann in 1912).
Coincidentally, 1890 was also the year Debussy composed his Mazurka in F# minor (L. 67), a short, lively piece for solo piano. The mazurka is a Polish folk dance in triple meter, and Debussy’s lone foray into this form was almost certainly an homage to Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849), who composed 59 mazurkas in his short career. Chopin was born in Poland but lived and worked in Paris for most of his career, and although Chopin died more than a decade before Debussy was born, his reputation as a pianist and piano composer cast a long shadow in Paris, and Chopin’s influence can be heard in this piece as well as several other works from Debussy’s early career.
Song: Your Heart Knows the Way Home – Martin
Our opening song this Sunday is “Your Heart Knows the Way Home”, a circle/partner song with overlapping melodies, written by Te Martin and released on Martins’ 2021 debut album Water & Bones. Theresa “Te” Martin (they/them) is a community organizer, song-keeper, and friend of the earth. Te believes deeply in the power of song to build resilience and to inspire change. Te has sung on stilts with the Carnival de Resistance in Philadelphia, has trained American Conservatory Theater & San Francisco’s Circus Center, and is currently the lead organizer of Thrive Street Choir. Their music is available on SoundCloud. (includes material from patreon.com/temartin)
Joys and Concerns Music: Pavane pour une infante défunte – Ravel
Offertory: Menuet (II) from Sonatine – Ravel
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) was a French composer and pianist who is often associated with the impressionist movement. Throughout his career, Ravel wrote music for a wide variety of performing forces and incorporated musical elements from jazz, baroque and world music, among other styles.
Written in 1899, the Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) is one of Ravel’s best-known melodies. Ravel originally wrote this piece for solo piano but later adapted it for a small orchestra after it grew in popularity. Today, Pavane pour une infante défunte has been performed and recorded countless times and has been heard in numerous pieces of popular culture.
Ravel composed the first movement (Modéré) of his Sonatine for piano during 1903 as an entry to a competition for new musical compositions sponsored by Weekly Critical Review magazine. He composed the gentle Menuet and lively Animé movements in 1905 to complete the work. Although it is not one of Ravel’s most popular works, it was well-loved by the composer, who performed it himself on multiple occasions.
Song: One More Step – Poley
Canadian UU Composer Joyce Poley (b. 1941) wrote “One More Step” in 1986 and its message of commitment and perseverance still rings true today. “One More Step” is #168 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal and is a favorite of many UUs around the world.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director