Music Notes – Sunday, August 2nd:
This Sunday’s musicians are Leon Michaud and Pam Schenk
Centering Music: Le Cygne (The Swan) – Saint-Saëns
“Le Cygne” (The Swan) is the 13th and best-known movement from Le carnaval des animaux (The Carnival of the Animals), a fourteen-movement suite written in 1886 by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921). Saint-Saëns originally scored “Le Cygne” for cello with two pianos, but it has been arranged for a multitude of different performing forces over the years and remains one of the best-known pieces ever written by Saint-Saëns.
Song: We Are… – Barnwell
#1051 in Singing the Journey, “We Are…” was composed by Ysaye Barnwell (b. 1946) for Sweet Honey in the Rock. “We Are…” was originally the last song in a suite that began with the lyric, “Lawd, it’s midnight. A dark and fear filled midnight. Lawd, it’s a midnight without stars.” Dr. Barnwell wanted to create a complete circle of experience, and so she wrote “for each child that’s born, a morning star rises…” This phrase is meant to establish hope, and it defines the uniqueness of each one of us. No matter what our race, culture or ethnicity, each one of us has been called into being and are the sum total of all who came before. In the composer’s words, “Each and every one of us stands atop a lineage that has had at its core, mothers and fathers and teachers and dreamers and shamans and healers and builders and warriors and thinkers and, and, and…so in spite of our uniqueness, we come from and share every experience that human kind has ever had. In this way, we are one. (from uua.org)
Joys and Concerns music: “Méditation” from Thaïs – Massenet
Jules Massenet (1842-1912) was a French composer of the Romantic Period who wrote in a variety of forms, but is best remembered today for his operas, the most famous of which were Manon (1884) and Werther (1892). However, Massenet’s most famous melody by far is the music we’ll be hearing on Sunday morning, an instrumental composition titled “Méditation”, which was first performed as an entr’acte between scenes of Massenet’s 1894 opera Thaïs. Originally scored for solo violin with orchestra, “Méditation” has since been adapted for dozens of different solo instruments and ensembles, including piano, organ, harp, cello, voices, and more.
Offertory: “Arioso” from Cantata BWV 156 (Bach)
Baroque master Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) composed Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe (I stand with one foot in the grave), BWV 156 in the late 1720s while living and working in Leipzig, Germany. The opening sinfonia of this cantata, originally for orchestra and oboe soloist, is commonly referred to as Bach’s Arioso, and has been arranged for a plethora of solo instruments. This is one of the most enduring of Bach’s melodies, which is no small accomplishment.
Song: May Your Life Be as a Song – Russian folk melody, arr. Scott
#1059 in our Singing the Journey hymnal, “May Your Life Be as a Song” is an adaptation of a Russian folk melody, created by UU composer, performer, activist, and friend of UUCC Jim Scott (b. 1946). Jim is also responsible for several other songs found in our hymnbooks, including “Gather the Spirit” and “Nothing but Peace Is Enough”.
Postlude: The Water Is Wide – Scottish Folk Song
“The Water Is Wide” is an adaptation of the Scottish folk song “O Waly Waly”, which dates back at least 400 years. The flowing melody has inspired many hymn arrangements (“When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “The Gift of Love” being the best-known) and hundreds of settings, both by traditional composers (Benjamin Britten and John Rutter) and folk musicians (Pete Seeger and Joan Baez among many others).
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director