Music Notes – Sunday, May 24th:
This Sunday’s musicians are The Chancel Choir and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Centering Music: Breaths – Barnwell/Diop
“Breaths” (#1001 in Singing the Journey) is adapted from the poem of the same title by Senegalese poet Birago Diop (1906-1989). The music was written by Ysaye Barnwell (b. 1946), a UU songwriter, activist and former member of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. In Barnwell’s own words: “Hearing this poem…affirmed my world view which includes and reveres my ancestors. When I heard the poem a second time years later, it began to sing itself to me, and I am glad that I have been able to share what I heard with you. (from uua.org)
Song: All My Memories of Love – Plainsong melody/Belletini
#336 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnbook, “All My Memories of Love” is a setting of “Adoro te devote” (Humbly I Adore Thee), a 13th Century plainsong melody that is often (but probably incorrectly) attributed to St. Thomas of Aquinas. The lyrics in our hymnal were written by Rev. Mark Belletini, who served for many years as senior minister at the First Unitarian Church of Columbus, Ohio.
Special Music: Be Still and Breathe (Notareschi)
Colorado native Loretta K. Notareschi (b. 1977) is a composer, professor of music at Regis University, and faculty member of The Walden School Creative Musicians Retreat. With her music, she seeks to foster compassion, connection, and meaning. She is a member of First Universalist Church of Denver, where she sings in the choir. Her work spans diverse ensembles and has been performed internationally, from small churches to Carnegie Hall. “Be Still and Breathe” is a meditative song intended to help the listener hear and honor their own feelings, whether they’re difficult or joyous. With its lyrics “Be still and breathe” and “Be still and be,” it encourages being peaceful and present with one’s current experience, without resistance or judgment. (includes material from singoutlove.org)
Offertory: Good Night, Dear Heart – Forrest
Dan Forrest (b. 1978) is one of the leading American choral composers of our time. His music has sold millions of copies, has received numerous awards (including, most recently, the 2027 ACDA Raymond Brock Commission), and has become well established in the repertoire of choirs around the world via commissions, festivals, recordings, radio/TV broadcasts, and premieres in prominent international venues. Dan’s work ranges from small choral works to instrumental solo works, wind ensemble works, and extended multi-movement works for chorus and orchestra. His Requiem for the Living (2013) and Jubilate Deo (2016) have become standard choral/orchestral repertoire for ensembles around the world, with LUX (2018), the breath of life (2020), and CREATION (2023) also receiving critical acclaim. One of Dan’s most beloved choral pieces, “Good Night, Dear Heart” was written as a response to the death of an infant girl in Ethiopia who was about to be adopted by the composer’s brother and sister-in-law. (from www.danforrest.com.) The poetry set in this piece is from “Warm Summer Sun” by American author Mark Twain (1835-1910), adapted from the longer poem “Annette” by Australian poet/author/journalist Robert Richardson (1850-1901).
Song: My Life Flows on in Endless Song – Lowry
“How Can I Keep from Singing” was written in 1868 by Baptist minister and hymn composer Robert Wadsworth Lowry (1826-1899). Its simple, beautiful melody and message of hope and courage in the face of even the greatest adversity have led to it become one of the most universally loved of all American hymns. It appears in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal as #108 My Life Flows on in Endless Song.
Postlude: Wanting Memories – Barnwell
“Wanting Memories” is a 1980 composition by Ysaye Barnwell (b. 1946), a UU songwriter, activist and former member of the a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock. Written in 1980 and dedicated to Barnwell’s father, “Wanting Memories” is part of a larger suite of songs written for a dance theater piece called Crossings. In the words of the composer herself: “I did dedicate (“Wanting Memories”) to my father when we recorded it, but it was written while both my parents were still alive. What was special, though, was that I am an only child and when my father died and then my mother, and I prepared to sell the house I grew up in, I found bags of photos, letters and other memorabilia—the kind of things especially an only child hopes for… So in a sense, the song was an unconscious wish or prayer that actually came true.”
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director