Ein deutsches Requiem - Pioneer Valley Cappella

Johannes Brahms
Ein deutsches Requiem
A German Requiem, Op. 45
“London” version with piano and chamber chorus
Geoffrey Hudson, conductor
Alisa Pearson, soprano • John Salvi, baritone
Dana Muller and Gary Steigerwalt, pianists
7:30 PM Friday, May 3
Wesley United Methodist Church, Hadley
4:00 PM Sunday, May 5
St. John's Episcopal Church, Northampton
Pioneer Valley Cappella
Geoffrey Hudson, music director
PIONEER VALLEY CAPPELLA PRESENTS
Ein deutsches Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem (op. 45)
Johannes Brahms
1. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
2. Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
3. Herr, lehre doch mich
4. Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
5. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
6. Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt
7. Selig sind die Toten
This program will be performed without intermission.
Alisa Pearson, soprano
John Salvi, baritone
Dana Muller & Gary Steigerwalt, piano
This concert is dedicated to the memory of Kate and Peter Kurz, who sang with us
for many years. We honor their devotion to great music beautifully performed.
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Soprano
Sarah Buckley
Janet Bush
Elizabeth Chilton
Anna Feldman
Amber French
Pam Hanold
Chris Mortensen
Christine Overstreet
Rebecca Phelps
Emily Samuels
Adelheid von Goeler
PIONEER VALLEY CAPPELLA
Geoffrey Hudson, Conductor
Alto
Abby Chodoff
Carla Cooke
Linda
Greenebaum
Pat McDonagh
Sarah Metcalf
Annie Philips
Nina Wurgaft
Tenor
Booker Bush
Patrick Callinan
John Montanari
Gerry Overstreet
David Pesuit
Kyle Pruett
Lisa Ruch
Tom Schwab
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Bass
Brit Albritton
James Allan
Gordon Freed
John Hanold
Eli McKenna-
Weiss
David Mednicoff
Phil Stoddard
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TEXT & TRANSLATION
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1. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
1. Blessed are they that mourn
Selig sind, die da Leid tragen, denn sie sollen
getröstet werden.
Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be
comforted.
Die mit Tränen säen, werden mit Freuden
ernten.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
Sie gehen hin und weinen und tragen edlen
Samen, und kommen mit Freuden und
bringen ihre Garben.
They that go forth and weep, bearing
precious seed, shall doubtless come again
with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with
them.
2. Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
2. For all flesh is as grass
Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras und alle
Herrlichkeit des Menschen wie des Grases
Blumen. Das Gras ist verdorret und die Blume
abgefallen.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of
man as the flower of grass. The grass withers,
and the flower thereof falleth away.
So seid nun geduldig, lieben Brüder, bis auf
die Zukunft des Herrn. Siehe, ein Ackermann
wartet auf die köstliche Frucht der Erde und
ist geduldig darüber, bis er empfahe den
Morgenregen und Abendregen.
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and
has long patience for it, until he receive the
morning and evening rain.
Aber des Herrn wort bleibet in Ewigkeit.
But the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
Die Erlöseten des Herrn werden wieder
kommen und gen Zion kommen mit
Jauchzen; ewige Freude wird über ihrem
Haupte sein; Freude und Wonne werden sie
ergreifen und Schmerz und Seufzen wird
weg müssen.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away.
3. Herr, lehre doch mich
3. Lord, make me to know mine end
Herr, lehre doch mich, daß ein Ende mit mir
haben muß, und mein Leben ein Ziel hat, und
ich davon muß.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the
measure of my days, what it is: that I may
know how frail I am.
Siehe, meine Tage sind einer Hand breit vor
dir, undmein Leben ist wie nichts vor dir.
Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth;
and mine age is as nothing before thee.
Ach wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen, die
doch so sicher leben. Sie gehen daher wie ein
Schemen, und machen ihnen viel vergebliche
Unruhe; sie sammeln und wissen nicht wer es
kriegen wird. Nun Herr, wess soll ich mich
trösten? Ich hoffe auf dich.
Surely every man walks in a vain show: surely
they are disquieted in vain: he heaps up
riches, and knows not who shall gather them.
And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in
thee.
Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand
und keine Qual rühret sie an.
The souls of the righteous are in the hand of
God and there shall no torment touch them.
4. Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
4. How lovely are thy tabernacles
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr
Zebaoth!
How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of
hosts!
Meine Seele verlanget und sehnet sich nach
den Vorhöfen des Herrn; mein Leib und Seele
freuen sich in dem lebendigen Gott.
My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts
of the Lord: my heart and my flesh cries out
for the living God.
Wohl denen, die in deinem Hause wohnen,
die loben dich immer dar.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they
will always be praising thee.
5. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
5. And ye now therefore have sorrow
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit; aber ich will euch
wieder sehen und euer Herz soll sich freuen
und eure Freude soll niemand von euch
nehmen.
And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will
see you again, and your heart shall rejoice,
and your joy no man taketh from you.
Sehet mich an: Ich habe eine kleine Zeit
Mühe und Arbeit gehabt und habe großen
Trost funden.
Behold with your eyes, how that I have but
little labour, and have gotten unto me much
rest.
Ich will euch trösten, wie Einen seine Mutter
tröstet.
As one whom his mother comforts, so will I
comfort you.
6. Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende
Statt
Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende Statt,
sondern die zukünftige suchen wir.
6. For here have we no continuing city
Siehe, ich sage euch Geheimnis: Wir werden
nicht alle entschlafen, wir werden aber alle
verwandelt werden; und dasselbige plötzlich,
in einem Augenblick, zu der Zeit der letzen
Posaune. Denn es wird die Posaune schallen,
und die Toten werden auf erstehen
unverweslich, und wir werden verwandelt
werden. Dann wird erfüllet werden das Wort,
das geschrieben steht: Der Tod ist
verschlungen in den Sieg. Tod, wo ist dein
Stachel? Hölle, wo ist dein Sieg?
Behold, I show you a mystery: we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed. Then shall be brought to
pass the saying that is written, Death is
swallowed up in victory. O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Herr, du bist würdig zu nehmen Preis und
Ehre und Kraft, denn du hast alle Dinge
geschaffen, und durch deinen Willen haben
sie das Wesen und sind geschaffen.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and
honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and
were created.
7. Selig sind die Toten
7. Blessed are the dead
Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn
sterben, von nun an. Ja, der Geist spricht,
dass sie ruhen von ihrer Arbeit; denn ihre
Werke folgen ihnen nach.
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from henceforth; even so, saith the spirit; for
they rest from their labours; and their works
follow after them.
For here have we no continuing city, but we
seek one to come.
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BIOGRAPHIES
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This season marks GEOFFREY HUDSON’s second
since his return to lead Pioneer Valley Cappella after a
four-year stay in Vienna. He previously directed PVC
from 2002-2007. During those years, he also served
as music director of Quabbin Valley Pro Musica in
New Salem. Since 1991, he has directed the chorus at
Greenwood Music Camp’s junior division.
A composer as well as conductor, Hudson has had his
music performed across the US and Europe. His current work, The Quartet Project, is a
six-volume collection of graduated string quartets modeled on Béla Bartók’s Mikrokosmos.
The Quartet Project aims to create a significant addition to the string quartet literature by
introducing contemporary music into the repertoire of musicians of all ages from the outset
of their chamber music studies. To date, more than 100 quartets worldwide—including the
Borromeo and Chiara quartets—have performed selections from the Quartet Project.
Hudson received his undergraduate degrees at Oberlin College, where he studied American
History and Composition (with Richard Hoffmann) and earned a Master’s in Composition
at New England Conservatory, where his principal teacher was Malcolm Peyton.
Thanks to a Rotary Scholarship, soprano ALISA PEARSON
began her singing career in Vienna, Austria. With a repertory
spanning music from the 17th century to the present, she has
performed diverse leading roles ranging from title roles in
Pleyel’s Die Fee Urgele and Mozart’s Zaide, to appearances in
Peter Maxwell Davies’ Resurrection in Amsterdam, Antwerp,
and Glasgow, Steve Reich’s Tehilim at the Styriarte, Ars
Electronica, and Innsbruck festivals, and the premiere of
Bernhard Lang’s der blutige Ernst at the Vienna Burgtheater.
She was previously on the voice faculty of Westfield State College and most recently had a
private voice studio in Vienna.
An active recitalist and concert performer, she recently gave a Boston Goethe Institut
recital of Schoenberg and Weill cabaret songs, was the soloist in Mozart’s Exsultate,
jubilate and Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Harmoniemesse with the chorus and orchestra
of the Haydn Konzertverein , and performed Poulenc’s Gloria with the Hamspire Choral
Society. In October 2009, she could be heard in Minneapolis, performing Schubert on the
Minnesota Orchestra’s Inside the Classic concerts. Pearson is a graduate of both Oberlin
(double-degree in Voice and Biology) and the Eastman School of Music, where she received
the Performer’s Certificate and won the concerto competition with Barber’s Andromache’s
Farewell. She is also the librettist and co-author of the children’s opera, The Bug Opera,
with composer Geoffrey Hudson.
JOHN SALVI is an active baritone soloist and guest artist
throughout the northeast on both the operatic and concert stage.
Mr. Salvi’s recent performances include Mendelssohn’s Die erste
Walpurgisnacht with the South Hadley Chorale, Haydn’s Missa
in Angustiis at Amherst College, Haydn’s Missa in Tempore Belli
with the Quabbin Valley Pro Musica, Mozart’s Missa Brevis and
Pergolesi’s Magnificat with the Keene Chorale, Michael Tippett’s
The Midsummer Marriage with Boston Modern Orchestra Project,
and A Worcester Schubertiade at Tuckerman Hall. John’s upcoming
engagements include Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Hampshire
Choral Society and Handel’s Messiah with the Keene Chorale. John is a music teacher at Haverhill
High School in Haverhill, Massachusetts and earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees
from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
The husband-wife team DANA MULLER AND GARY
STEIGERWALT have been performing four-hand and duo-piano
repertoire since their engagement to be married in 1984. Creating
programs that encompass the historical and stylistic gamut of
the genre, they have performed extensively in the Northeast and
Southwest United States, as well as in Scotland, Argentina and
Bolivia.
In addition to presenting the complete four-hand works of
Beethoven at the Beethoven Festival, Oyster Bay, Long Island, they
have appeared as four-hand recitalists on summer concert series
including Bethlehem Musikfest (Pennsylvania), Music at Penn
Alps (Maryland), and the Sevenars Festival and Musicorda Festival
(Massachusetts). Orchestral appearances include the Pennsylvania Sinfonia (North American
premiere of Jan Mul’s Concerto for Piano Four-Hands and Chamber Orchestra), Orchestra New
England, Pioneer Valley Symphony (Massachusetts) and Mesquite Symphony (Texas).
Their recording of four-hand works by early twentieth-century European composers (Centaur
CD 2127) was hailed “an outstanding disc” by Fanfare. Also released by Centaur are a disc
of nineteenth-century Romantic compositions by Anton Rubinstein, Josef Rheinberger and
Frederick Shepherd Converse (CRC 2390) and Volumes I (CRC 2272) and II (CRC 2305) in
a series of compact discs devoted to the four-hand works of Franz Schubert. Excerpts from their
two Schubert discs can be heard in the critically acclaimed movie Good Will Hunting.
In addition to performing recital programs, Muller and Steigerwalt appear at schools, universities
and before music teachers’ organizations, offering workshops, master classes and lecture-recitals
on a variety of topics. For ten years they wrote the program notes and presented pre-concert
lectures for the Musicorda Festival, an instruction and performance summer music program held
on the campus of Mount Holyoke College.
A member of the music faculty of Mount Holyoke College since 1981, Dr. Steigerwalt is working
on a biography of the Scottish-American pianist and composer Helen Hopekirk. Dr. Muller
graduated from the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona in May, 2009,
and now is a licensed attorney in the states of Arizona, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
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PATRONS AND BENEFACTORS
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Thank you to the following individuals for your financial contributions:
Booker and Janet Bush
Amber French
Adelheid von Goeler
David Mednicoff
Sarah Metcalf
David Pesuit
Thanks to St. John’s Northampton for providing our concert venue, and to Wesley
United Methodist Church for providing our concert and rehearsal venues.
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2012-3 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Elizabeth Chilton, president
Lisa Ruch, treasurer
Sarah Metcalf, secretary
Pat McDonagh, librarian
Members at large:
Brit Albritton
David Mednicoff
Booker Bush
Christine Overstreet
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ABOUT PVC
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The Pioneer Valley Cappella is an auditioned ensemble that has been performing
unaccompanied choral music for over twenty-five years. Under our conductor,
Geoffrey Hudson, we explore a fascinating range of repertoire, from early
Renaissance to contemporary, the Americas to Eastern Europe. Our singers range
from professional musicians to skilled amateurs, with a shared commitment to
performing at a high level of expressiveness, blend, and beauty. To learn more or join
our mailing list, visit www.pioneervalleycappella.org.