The composers speak about their works

A novel aspect of our fall concert “A Joyful Noise” is that composers of some of the contemporary pieces are also performers in the concert. The Chorale sings a cappella pieces composed by our conductor, Sanford Dole, and by Menlo Brass player Brian Holmes; T. Paul Rosas, our organist, performs his own solo organ work.

Chorister Mary Holzer thought it would be interesting to know more about the individual pieces, and perhaps something on how they compose — what inspired them, why they chose the particular themes, etc. — so invited them to write a few words about the music.

I was inspired to write this work by watching and listening to a group of college students in a pub in Galway in 2006. They were having so much fun and the music seemed so effortless that we listeners were just delighted to experience their music. We discovered later that only one student was Irish, the rest were from England, Italy, Spain and France.

I first played horn with the Christmas Revels in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1973, in performances celebrating the Winter Solstice and linking Christmas with ancient pagan themes of death and rebirth. The involvement in Revels sparked my interest in medieval carol texts. Medieval carols were broad in subject, since they were not restricted to Christmas. And medieval carols were narrower in structure, since a burden, or a repeated phrase or refrain, recurs between all verses. The words of these four carols (and one song) have been adapted and translated from various medieval texts.

Originally written for women's chorus, Five Medieval Songs and Carols was premiered by the Peninsula Women's Chorus in 1991. This will be the first complete performance of the version for mixed chorus. Two of the carols originated as two of my yearly musical Christmas cards and most of these carols have won prizes. “Good Cheer” and “I Saw a Fair Maiden” won the Amadeus Choir Christmas Carol Writing contest; ”Jolly Jankin” won the Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest. “Nay, Ivy, Nay” won the Green Bay Chamber Choir Composition contest, and is a finalist in this year's Ithaca College contest.

More about the individual songs...

Good Cheer might have been sung by the master of revels welcoming a company on behalf of their host. The burden's beginning "what cheer?" is an obvious invitation to join in the festivities.

Scholars have offered various sacred and secular interpretations of The Moor Maiden. But who she is, and why she waits by a well eating flowers, remains a mystery. Allison Heisch translated The Moor Maiden.

Holly and ivy, which remain green in winter, are closely linked with the Yule season. Modern carols that make holly and ivy familiar conceal what is found in many medieval sources: holly and ivy are rivals, contending for dominance. Since holly personifies men, and ivy personifies women, their antagonism mirrors the rivalry of the sexes. In Nay Ivy, Nay men and women are likely to have acted out their rivalry in song and dance. This is suggested by such lines as:

Holly stands in the fall fair to behold,
Ivy stands without the door, she is sore acold.

Although the men (and holly) gain the upper hand over women (and ivy) in this case, foes of modern and medieval sexism will rejoice to learn that the outcome is more satisfactory in other texts of the era,

Greene refers to I Saw a Fair Maiden as the masterpiece of the lullaby carols texts.

In Jolly Jankin, a girl goes to church on the Yule Day. The Latin phrases of the poem are from the mass. Jankin, the cleric who officiates, sings merrily in a handsome coat bought by the girl, but he ignores her, except to step on her foot. Alas! She is pregnant, and it is not hard to guess who is responsible.