2009 Spring Program
Let There Be Music by Williams and Elliott
We open with our traditional theme song.
I Will Sing with the Spirit John Rutter
The title says it all.
All the Things You Are Jerome Kern, words by Oscar Hammerstein
From the operetta Very Warm for May, a promised breath of Springtime.
The Road Not Taken Randall Thompson, Robert Frost
From Frostiana: The first of two Robert Frost poems set to music by the
wonderful choral composer. These two are favorites for the chorus to sing!
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Choose Something Like a Star Randall Thompson, Robert Frost
O Star (the fairest one in sight),
We grant your loftiness the right
To some obscurity of cloud --
It will not do to say of night,
Since dark is what brings out your light.
Some mystery becomes the proud.
But to be wholly taciturn
In your reserve is not allowed.
Say something to us we can learn
By heart and when alone repeat.
Say something! And it says "I burn."
But say with what degree of heat.
Talk Fahrenheit, talk Centigrade.
Use language we can comprehend.
Tell us what elements you blend.
It gives us strangely little aid,
But does tell something in the end.
And steadfast as Keats' Eremite,
Not even stooping from its sphere,
It asks a little of us here.
It asks of us a certain height,
So when at times the mob is swayed
To carry praise or blame too far,
We may choose something like a star
To stay our minds on and be staid.
Show Boat Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein
Return with us again to the Golden Age of operetta, a medley of great songs.
The bass section loves this music! Tote that barge! Lift that bale!
Charlottown Arranged by Charles F. Bryan
“Charlottown is burning down. Goodbye Liza Jane.” Traditional southern (?)
folk song. It may refer to Charlotte, NC, but there was a great fire in
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1884. The references to “Liza Jane”
in the song probably came over in a refrain from other folk songs.
Birth of the Blues Ray Henderson, Buddy DeSylva and Lew Brown
These “blues” were born in 1926. Cab Calloway made a popular recording,
and Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and The Mishawum Choral Society have kept
it alive through the years!
---INTERMISSION—
All Things Bright and Beautiful John Rutter
We begin the second half with another bright and beautiful John Rutter song.
The Sound of Music Rogers & Hammerstein, arranged by Clay Warnick
The hills are alive with raindrops and roses as we climb every mountain.
The Music Man Meredith Willson, arr. by Clay Warnick
There’s no trouble in River City when we sing these selections from the musical.
Beauty and the Beast Medley Ashman and Menken, arr. by Roger Emerson
A dramatic rendition of music from the Disney musical, singing teapots and all.
Stars and Stripes Forever John Philip Sousa
The singers take a rest as Christmas concert pianist Renelle Hebert joins Sarah
Lafontaine to entertain us with brilliant four-hand play of this Sousa march.
America Arranged by Robert Hunter
A stirring arrangement of this patriotic anthem closes the formal program.
Solo by Peter Hobson.
… and we never refuse a call for an encore, if you ask for it ???
Go with a Song in Your Heart Jay Althouse
Our traditional closing.
