Music Notes – Sunday, August 9th:
This Sunday’s musicians are Becky Burns, Molly Watkins, Sophie Watkins, and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Centering Music: Untitled – Watkins
The Centering Music is an original composition by UUCC’s own Sophie Watkins, who is a rising sophomore at University of Cincinnati. Sophie is a vocalist and keyboardist, and former member of the YoUUth Choir.
Song: O Brother Sun – Scottish folk melody, adapted text from St. Francis of Assisi
#1066 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook,” O Brother Sun” is based on the “Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon” by St. Francis of Assisi. Sharon Anway (b. 1951) adapted the poem into the lyrics found in our hymnbook and set them to the Scottish tune “Ye Banks and Braes”. This musical setting was first performed in October of 2002 at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Cedar Falls, IA, where Sharon is director of Music Ministry and Composer-in-Residence, and hosts an annual St. Francis Day service that includes blessing of the animals. (includes material from uua.org)
Offertory Music: The Mouse Madrigal – English folk song, arr. Porter
“The Mouse Madrigal” is a 2002 adaptation of the traditional English nursery rhyme song “Three Blind Mice” by composer/arranger Steven Porter. Porter’s tongue-in-cheek arrangement for treble voices combines the original folk song tune with original counter-melodies, creating a modern madrigal of interwoven melodic lines.
Song: For the Earth Forever Turning – Oler
#163 in Singing the Living Tradition, “For the Earth Forever Turning” (also known as “The Blue Green Hills of Earth”) is a song by American composer Kim Oler, who is primarily known for his work in television and on Broadway musicals. The arrangement you are hearing today is an adaptation by James Walker that was used in Missa Gaia (Earth Mass), a larger work released in 1982 by The Paul Walker Consort.
Postlude: Duet for Two Cats
The “Duetto buffo di due gatti” is a comic piece in operatic style written for two accompanied voices. Although commonly attributed to the Italian Romantic composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), its true authorship is unknown. Many musicologists believe it was written (or arranged) in 1825 by little-known English composer Robert Lucas Pearsall (1795-1856), who “borrowed” much of the melodic material from Rossini’s 1816 opera Otello (with a few important lyric changes thrown in as well).
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director