Music Notes – Sunday, April 28^th: 

This Sunday’s musicians are Dana Bjorklund, Lucy Carney, and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney

 

About Sunday’s guest musicians:

Dana Bjorklund discovered a love for the French horn in 2017, finding resonance in its mellow and dark tones. Currently serving as the Second Horn for the Euclid Symphony Orchestra, she plays a range of music from classical to contemporary. Alongside her obsession with the French horn, Dana enjoys spending time with Linda Coulter, her spouse of 31 years and their dog Raj. Her friendship with Lucy Carney began with their careers first as directors of religious education, then librarians, and now musicians. They are excited to be sharing their music with the UU Congregation of Cleveland.

 

Lucy Carney began making music at a young age, playing the piano for school choirs and singing with her family in Grafton, Ohio. She met our music director Mike Carney when they were both studying at the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music, and she has served as piano accompanist for many of Mike’s groups (including the UUCC Chancel Choir) as well as playing and singing for others, including her longtime friend Dana Bjorklund.  

 

Prelude: I Attempt from Love’s Sickness to Fly – Purcell

“I Attempt from Love’s Sickness to Fly” originated as a vocal aria by English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695), composed for the third act of The Indian Queen (Z. 630), Purcell’s musical adaptation of a 1664 stage play of the same name. The semi-opera was one of the last works of the composer’s life, and it was left incomplete when Purcell died unexpectedly at the age of 36. Performances of the opera are rare today, but this aria has become a staple of vocal repertoire, and has been adapted for instrumental performance as well. On Sunday, you’ll hear an arrangement for horn and piano of this renowned aria.  

 

Opening Hymn: #218 Who Can Say (Janowski/Partain)

#218 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnal, “Who Can Say” is a hymn that celebrates the Jewish roots of Unitarian Universalism. The music for was written by Max Janowski (1912-1991), a German-American composer, conductor, music educator, and temple musician. Janowski composed in a variety of forms, but he is best-remembered today for his sacred Jewish choral music, which includes “Avinu Malkeinu” (“Our Father, Our King”) and “Sim Shalom” (“Song of Peace”). In Singing the Living Tradition, the words for “Who Can Say” are adapted from one of the prayers in Gates of Repentance: The New Union Prayerbook for the Days of Awe, published in 1984 and edited by Chaim Stern.

 

Centering Music: Gymnopédie No. 1 – Satie

Erik Satie (1866-1925) was a French composer and member of the Parisian avant-garde movement of the early 20^th Century. Satie disliked being labeled or categorized as an artist or as a person, and was known to refer to himself as a “gymnopedist” to defy those who attempted to pigeonhole him. His Trois Gymnopedies, originally written for solo piano, were published starting in 1888 and were a clear departure from the Romantic Period music that was popular at the time, with their minimalist structure and deliberate use of unresolved dissonant chords. Satie’s friend and colleague Claude Debussy would later write orchestral arrangements of two of the three pieces, and Satie’s Gymnopedies have also been arranged and recorded by many others, including versions for harp, jazz guitar, electronic instruments, and of course, French horn.

 

Offertory Music: Romance for Horn and Piano – Saint-Saëns

French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) composed his Romance for Horn (Op. 36) in 1874, the first of two such works he would compose during his career. This piece premiered in Paris in 1874 as Romance for Horn and Piano, and was later reworked by the composer a few years later as Romance for Horn and Orchestra. It has grown to become a staple of horn repertoire, and has also been arranged for numerous other instruments, including trumpet, viola, and cello.

 

Closing Hymn: # 151 I Wish I Knew How – Taylor and Dallas

#151 in our Singing the Living Tradition hymnbook, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” is a jazz-gospel song written in 1963 by Billy Taylor and Dick Dallas. The song became one of the anthems of the American Civil Rights Movement and has been covered by dozens of artists, most famously by Nina Simone in 1967.

 

Postlude: German Dance – Beethoven  

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was among the true giants of classical music, and more than any other composer was responsible for the shift from Classical to Romantic style during the early 19th century. This Sunday’s postlude is a horn and piano adaptation of No. 6 from Beethoven’s Twelve German Dances for Orchestra (WoO 8), composed in 1795. The arrangement was written by legendary American horn player and educator Mason Jones (1919-2009), who served for many years as principal horn with the Philadelphia Orchestra and teaching at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music.

                                                                -Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director