Music for Brass and Organ

Music for Brass and Organ
September 11, 2014
First Baptist Church | 600 Governors Drive | www.fbchsv.org | (256) 428-9400
Welcome to "Music for Brass and Organ," the second presentation of FBC's OPUS 48 Artist Series.
We believe that the development and sharing of God-given talents is part of our Christian stewardship of
life and resources. This philosophy is foundational to FBC Music Ministry endeavors. Our new OPUS 48
Artist Series offers a venue for concerts, lectures and master classes and an opportunity for music ministry
participants to share their artistry in the name of Christ.
The moniker for the series, OPUS 48, is based upon a scripture verse found in the Apostle Paul’s letter to
the church at Philippi:
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things.
The scriptural reference is Philippians 4:8, hence the title OPUS 48. Our desire is to present the very best
we have to offer, in keeping with the beauty and excellence expressed in the scripture.
This new series will include plenty of musicians, of course, but also others active in the performing and
creative arts. The series venue will usually be here at First Baptist. Depending upon the content of the
concert, recital, or lecture, the OPUS 48 Artist Series could perhaps be presented in our Chapel, Sanctuary,
Life Center, or even The Gathering Place. We are anticipating two or three presentations each year.
Thank you for being present today! Join us in the prayer that this new series serves “the edification of the
saints.”
Billy Orton
Minister of Music and Worship
600 Governors Drive | Huntsville, AL 35801 | www.fbchsv.org
Music for Brass and Organ
Opus 48 Artist Series at First Baptist Huntsville
September 11, 2014 | 7:00 p.m.
Welcome - Billy Orton
Canzon duodecimi toni ...............................................................................................Giovanni Gabrieli (1554 - 1612)
Trumpets
Mark Bailey
Danny Hallman
Kevin Insley
Dale Proctor
EC Richardson
Werner Smock
Bruce Zeiger
First Baptist Brass
French Horns
Trombones
Robert Price
Ben Bragg
Anne Reasons
Lea Hoppe
Suzy Young
Alan Jones
Johnny Kirk
Billy Orton
Euphoniums
Susan Field
Emily Parker
Tubas
Tyler Belk
Ben Darby
Nelson Parker
Percussion
Ken Smith
Variations on SAGINA .................................................................................................Christopher Tambling (b. 1964)
I. Concertino
II. Aria
III. Tuba Tune
IV. Fugue and Chorale
Sherry Upshaw, organ
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano ....................................................................................... Paul Hindemith (1895-1963)
I. Mit Kraft
II. Mässig Bewegt
III. Trauermusik
Bruce Zeiger, trumpet
Elizabeth Hostetter, piano
The Star Spangled Banner...................................................................................................... arr. Bryan Page (b. 1975)
Sonata from “Die Bänkelsängerlieder”.......................................................................Anonymous / ed. Robert King
Brass Quintet
Trumpets - Werner Smock, Dale Proctor; French Horn - Robert Price; Trombone - Ben Bragg; Tuba – Ben Darby
Rhapsody on English Hymntunes ...................................................................................... Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
Michael Moore and Sherry Upshaw, organ duet
Suite for Organ, Brass, and Percussion ................................................................................... Craig Phillips (b. 1961)
I. Prelude
II. Cantilene
III. Toccata
Elizabeth Hostetter, organ
Trumpets - Bruce Zeiger, Werner Smock, Dale Proctor, Mark Bailey; French Horns - Suzy Young, Anne Reasons;
Trombone - Billy Orton; Euphonium - Emily Parker; Tubas - Ben Darby, Nelson Parker; Percussion - Ken Smith
C. David Ragsdale, conductor
Pavane ................................................................................................................................... Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924)
Low Brass Ensemble
Euphoniums - Emily Parker, Billy Orton, Susan Field; Tubas - Ben Darby, Nelson Parker, Tyler Belk
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing ....................................................................................... arr. Tim Zimmerman
Grand Choeur Dialogue .................................................................................................. Eugène Gigout (1844 - 1925)
First Baptist Brass
Sherry Upshaw, organ
PROGRAM NOTES
Canzon duodecimi toni - Giovanni Gabrieli
Giovanni Gabrieli was a prolific composer of High Renaissance music in Venice, where he was organist at St. Mark’s Cathedral
for twenty years. He was taught by his uncle, composer Andrea Gabrieli (c.1510-1586). Well known for his choral works, he
was one of the first orchestrators of instrumental music, and his polychoral compositions are popular among brass
instrumentalists to this day. The canzona form, which first appeared in the 1570s, evolved from Franco-Flemish chansons.
Canzoni were very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries and eventually became the sonata form. Like other Gabrieli works,
the Canzon duodecimi toni is characterized by contrasts – of space, of high and low voices, and of dynamics. (James Huff, Program
Notes for The Claremont Winds, March 25, 2007. Wikipedia)
Variations on SAGINA – Christopher Tambling
The four settings of SAGINA are from a collection of voluntaries suitable for worship or recital use. The hymntune is commonly
sung to the text “And Can It Be” by Charles Wesley. Christopher Tambling is an English composer and arranger who studied
the organ with Malcolm McKelvey at Christ's Hospital, Horsham, Sussex. He went on to gain organ scholarships to Canterbury
Cathedral and St. Peter's College, Oxford, where he studied with Geoffrey Webber and David Sanger and was Organist of Pusey
House. He started his teaching career at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, where he was organist from 1986 to 1989. He then became
Director of Music at Glenalmond College, near Perth in Scotland, also taking on roles of Perth City Organist and Conductor
of the Perth City Orchestra. Since 1997 he has been the Director of Music at Downside School near Bath. He is Organist and
Master of the Schola Cantorum of Downside Abbey, a 90-strong choir of boys and girls drawn from the school, which regularly
sings for services, recordings and concerts. Tambling is much in demand as a composer of accessible church and organ music,
and has undertaken many commissions for schools and churches. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Organists.
Sonata for Trumpet and Piano – Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith composed his Sonata for Trumpet and Piano in 1939 while living in Switzerland. He was not Jewish, but felt
pressure from the Nazi regime to regulate his music and actually saw his music, because of its “atonal noises,” discouraged from
being performed in Europe. He soon felt pressure while living in Switzerland and eventually moved to the United States.
The Sonata is a true collaborative work between the piano and trumpet. The trumpet part, while not difficult technically, is
very demanding on the performer from an endurance standpoint. The piano part is virtuosic in nature and requires a pianist of
great technical and musical ability. Hindemith believed that this work was one of his best works.
The first movement, Mit Kraft (With Strength), opens with a bold statement from the trumpet which returns in the middle and
at the end. One can almost hear the ominous marching of the Nazi army as it begins its occupation across Europe. The second
movement, Mässig Bewegt (Moderate Motion), has an almost childlike innocence to it and seems to welcome the promises made
by the Nazi Party. The third movement, Trauermusik (Mourning Music), is the most emotional of the three movements as if
the Europeans finally realize the evils thrust upon them. The work culminates in the chorale Alle Menschen Müssen Sterben (All
Mankind Must Die). The chorale is actually a shout of victory that no matter what evils befall us, release from the pain of this
life will take place and eternal life awaits.
The Star Spangled Banner - arr. Bryan Page
The Star Spangled Banner, our national anthem, celebrates its 200th anniversary this year. 9/11 is certainly an appropriate time
to feature such a patriotic work. Bryan Page holds degrees from the University of Montevallo and Westminster Choir College.
His compositions have been heard in Paris, Washington D.C., New York, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. He has received
numerous commissions and is published by Triplo Press. Bryan arranged The Star-Spangled Banner for the Huntsville Collegium
Musicum to perform for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra’s 2013 season opening concert. Bryan is Director of Music
Ministries at Covenant Presbyterian Church and part-time lecturer at UAH. www.bryanpagecomposer.com
Sonata from Die Bänkelsängerlieder - Anonymous
“This anonymous seventeenth century German work, scored specifically for trumpet, cornett, and alto, tenor and bass
trombones, was discovered at the end of a collection of vocal pieces published in 1684, under the title of ‘Die Bänkelsängerlieder.’
The term “bänkelsänger” or bench singer referred, at that time, to an itinerant musician who often performed in the local taverns
while standing on benches. The Sonata, in this case, is not to be confused with the classical sonata of Haydn and Mozart…. The
word is derived from the Italian ‘sonare,’ meaning to play or to sound, as opposed to [a sung piece]. This lively work is unusual
in the ebullient quality of its themes and even more so in the antiphonal effects produced by the answering back and forth
between various groupings of two and three instruments, foreshadowing the later concerto.”
(The American Brass Quintet, Folkways Records, FM 3652, lfs.alexanderstreet.com/liner/.../FW03652.pdf)
Rhapsody on English Hymntunes - Charles Callahan
Charles Callahan is one of the leading organists/composers of our time. The American Guild of Organists had a recital and gala
benefit in his honor April 25, 2014, in St. Louis. A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of Curtis Institute.
Composed in 2003, the Rhapsody was commissioned by David Foerster, for his friends, Ray and Elizabeth Chenault (duoorganists) in celebration of the new Buzard organ at All Saints Church, Atlanta. Callahan subtitles it: “Homage to Ralph
Vaughan Williams,” whose tunes KINGSFOLD, DOWN AMPNEY, MONK’S GATE, CAPEL and KINGS WESTON are used
in the work.
Suite for Organ, Brass Ensemble, and Percussion – Craig Phillips
Craig Phillips is an American organist and composer of more than 125 works, both sacred and secular, for organ, choral, and
other instruments. The Suite was commissioned by the American Guild of Organists, Regions II and IX for the 2001 Regional
Conventions in Binghamton, New York, and San Diego, California. In 2012 he was the seventeenth recipient of the American
Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer award. He holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of
Music, where he studied with Russell Saunders. His undergraduate work was at Oklahoma Baptist University. He grew up in
Nashville where his father was a Baptist minister. As a very young child, Craig asked his mother to take him into the organ loft
at their church to see the Schantz organ. Phillips has served as Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills, California,
since 2009.
Pavane, Opus 50 - Gabriel Fauré
Late Romantic French composer, Gabriel Fauré, was an important composer of songs, piano, choral, opera, chamber and
orchestral music. He used old modes, counterpoint and free dissonance. “Composed in 1887, Fauré's graceful Pavane was
originally a piano piece, based on a traditional Spanish court dance. It’s another perfect example of Fauré refining his musical
ideas into miniature form…. The work was written for orchestra, but the composer went on to pen an arrangement that included
a choir, although only the original version remains in regular performance today. The pavane began life as a sixteenth-century
court dance, and is thought most likely to have originated in Italy. Fauré’s take on the genre is a beautiful example, flowing
gracefully and freely in a thoroughly enchanting way. Its success spurred the young composer on towards writing his Requiem,
which he had virtually completed a year later.”
(“Classic fm, The World’s Greatest Music.” http://www.classicfm.com/composers/faure/music/pavane/)
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing – arr. Zimmerman
Director of The King's Brass, Tim Zimmerman received his graduate degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music of the
Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland. He has been a member of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and has
assisted with a number of orchestras in the Midwest and East Coast. For thirteen years, Tim served as Artist-in-Residence and
Chairman of the Music Department at Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana. He has also taught at Taylor University and
Indiana Wesleyan University in central Indiana. Tim and his wife Beckie, have four grown children and live in the beautiful
Pennsylvania mountains of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing was written by Robert Robinson (1735-1790). Robinson was eight years old at the time of his
father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When
Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more
trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling.
On December 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the
ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England,
Robert wrote Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel
Nettleton in 1813.
Grand Choeur Dialogue - Eugène Gigout
Eugène Gigout “was a French organist and a composer, mostly of music for his own instrument.... [One of the few pupils] of
Camille Saint-Saëns, he served as the organist of the French capital's Saint-Augustin Church for 62 years. He became widely
known as a teacher and his output as a composer was considerable. [He was] renowned as an expert improviser.... His nephew
by marriage was Léon Boëllmann, another distinguished French composer and organist.” (Eugène Gigout, wikipedia) As a
student at the L'École Niedermeyer de Musique Religieuse in Paris where he enrolled at age thirteen and studied with SaintSaëns, he became good friends with the somewhat mischievous Gabriel Fauré. Although his music was originally written for
organ, the Grand Choeur Dialogue is particularly well adapted to performance with organ and brass. This piece is taken from a
collection entitled Six Pieces published originally in 1881, and is, perhaps, the best known of Gigout’s many organ works.” (C.O.
Brantigan, notes with the brass/organ score)
SOLOISTS AND CONDUCTORS
Elizabeth Hostetter retired as Associate Minister of Music/Organist at FBC in 2012. Prior to that she was Associate
Professor of Music at Judson College. She received the Doctor of Music Arts in Piano Performance from Arizona State
University, where she studied with Robert Hamilton and the Bachelor and Master of Music in Piano Performance from
University of Louisville where she studied with Lee Luvisi. She has been active as a church musician, performer, piano
and organ teacher, and conference leader. Her recent research and article, “The Hymns of Adoniram, Sarah, and Emily
Judson in Burma,” was published in the Spring 2014 issue of The Hymn: A Journal of Congregational Song.
Billy Orton serves as Minister of Music and Worship at FBC, leading a large, multi-faceted program of music ministries.
He also serves as Artistic Director of the Huntsville Community Chorus Association. He is Bass Trombonist of the Brass
Band of Huntsville and has played with numerous local and regional groups, including the Huntsville Symphony
Orchestra. Prior to moving to Alabama Billy performed with various chamber and orchestral ensembles, including the
Virginia Arts Brass Quartet and the Western Kentucky University Faculty Brass Quintet.
Emily Parker, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, is the director of bands at Buckhorn Middle School. She is also an active
member of the First Baptist Music Ministry, and has been a member of the Orchestra since 2000. As a volunteer Emily
serves as the librarian for the FBC Orchestra and as an associate conductor for the group. Emily also plays in the Mosaic
Ringers handbell ensemble and serves as Children's Choir Coordinator.
Sherry Upshaw currently serves as Associate Minister of Music and Organist at FBC. A native of Atlanta, Georgia,
Sherry received the Bachelor of Music Education from Oklahoma Baptist University. She was awarded the Master of
Church Music in Organ Performance from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where she studied with Dr. Albert
L. Travis. She has played concerts across the United States, in Europe and Brazil.
Bruce Zeiger is Band Director at St. John Paul II Catholic High School and a freelance musician in Huntsville. For 20
years he was a trumpeter in the US Air Force band program. Following his military band career Bruce was an instrumental
music minister for 14 years. His BA is from St. Leo University and his MM is from New Orleans Baptist Seminary.
THE BRASS
The First Baptist Brass is the brass choir of the FBC Orchestra at First Baptist, Huntsville. The group plays throughout
the year for worship services and other special presentations. The group's most recent feature concert was "Come,
Christians, Join to Sing: A Hymn Festival with Al Travis."
Tonight's recital features not only the full First Baptist Brass but also several smaller ensembles from within the larger
brass choir.
SPECIAL GUEST CONDUCTOR
Dr. C. David Ragsdale is the Chair, Director of Bands, and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Alabama
in Huntsville. In addition to his university teaching responsibilities in the areas of music education and conducting, Dr.
Ragsdale conducts the Huntsville Youth Orchestra, the Huntsville Chamber Winds, and is an avid conductor and clinician
throughout the Southeast. Dr. Ragsdale holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Appalachian State University (NC), a
Master of Music degree from Winthrop University (SC), and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of
Miami (FL). He and his wife Jennifer, Middle School Band Director at Randolph School, currently reside in Huntsville,
Alabama, along with their daughters, Ella and Anna.
30th Anniversary
Living Christmas
Tree
December 18-21
www.fbchsv.org/lct
for more information
Coming in 2015...
Mendelssohn’s
ELIJAH
Presented by:
FBC Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra
and the FBC Nashville Choir
Sunday
April 26, 2015
5:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church
600 Governors Drive
Huntsville, AL 35801
www.fbchsv.org/elijah
THE FBC ORCHESTRA’S
30 ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
TH
A Children’s Concert
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19, 4:00 P.M.