Music Notes – Sunday, October 12th:
This Sunday’s musician is UUCC Pianist Karin Tooley
Centering Music: In a Landscape – Cage
John Cage (1912-1992) was an American composer, music theorist, and music educator. Considered by historians to be one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Cage was at the forefront of the musical avant-garde, being among the first composers to experiment with electronic sounds and with non-traditional uses for instruments, such as prepared piano. Cage also composed numerous works of aleatoric music (where an element of chance determines some or all of the notes and/or rhythms that will be performed), and his 4 Minutes, 33 Seconds challenged the central notion of what constitutes music in the first place. During the middle and late 1940s, Cage embraced the notion that the purpose of music was to “to sober and quiet the mind, thus rendering it susceptible to divine influences”. This spirit is at the heart of “In a Landscape”, a 1948 composition for solo piano or harp that was written to accompany a choreographed dance. “In a Landscape” was influenced both by the work of French pianist and composer Erik Satie (1866-1925), as well as the music from various cultures within eastern and southern Asia, which Cage immersed himself into during the 1930s and 40s. In the score for “In a Landscape”, Cage instructs the pianist or harpist to “Play without sounding, release pedals (thus obtaining harmonics”), thus blurring the harmonic and melodic lines of the piece.
Song: Winds Be Still – Wesley/Kimball
#83 in Singing the Living Tradition, “Winds Be Still” is a hymn that blends a 19th-century Methodist melody with a 20th-century UU text. The tune was written by English organist and composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), who was the grandson of Charles Wesley (1707-1788), a prolific hymnist and leader of the Methodist movement. The younger Wesley named his tune “Lead Me, Lord”, which is still a much-beloved hymn in Methodist and other Protestant Christian churches to this day. In our hymnal, Wesley’s tune is set with words from Richard S. (Rick) Kimball (1934-2007), a UU educator and author who wrote and co-wrote many curricular materials for youth and adult RE programs, including Our Whole Lives: Sexuality Education for Adults.
Offertory 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.
Song: There’s a River Flowin’ in my Soul – Sanders
“There’s a River Flowin’ in My Soul” is #1007 in our Singing the Journey hymnal. It was composed by Rose Sanders (b. 1945), who is a civil rights attorney, activist and creative artist living in Selma, Alabama. Ms. Sanders was Alabama’s first African American female judge, and she has co-founded and works to support many organizations which protect children.
Postlude: First Circle – Metheny & Mays
“First Circle” is the title track of a 1984 album by American jazz guitarist and composer Pat Metheny (b. 1954), co-written with his longtime collaborator, pianist and composer Lyle Mays (1953-2020). Metheny’s music incorporates many different styles, including contemporary jazz, Latin jazz, and fusion. Still active as a composer and performer, Metheny has released 11 studio albums as a solo artist and 14 others as the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and Pat Metheny Trio. Among many other accolades, Metheny has received 20 Grammy Awards to date, and is the only artist who can claim to have won a Grammy in ten different categories.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director