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Welcome to St. Columba’s!We are delighted that you are here this evening to celebrate the coming new year. Please join us in the Great Hall for a glass of something sparkling after the concert.

Special thanks to our guest musicians this evening – Ann Colgrove, Judy Dodge, Rosa Lamoreaux and J. Reilly Lewis, all of whom offer their music making as a gift this evening.

And thanks to the many people who make this evening special. We are truly grateful!

John Hurd, director of music and organist Diane Heath, assistant director of music and organist

Music At St. Columba’sWe are a vibrant community filled with enthusiastic music makers and music lovers. Our music ensembles include volunteer choirs from ages 6 through adult, as well as an orchestra, handbell choirs and a recorder ensemble. Find out more @ Columba.org, or contact John Hurd, Director of Music (jhurd@columba.org) if you would like to get involved!

ProgramGrand Dialogue in C Louis Marchand (1669-1732)

Diane Heath, organ

Concerto No. 6 in D Major Antoni Soler i Ramos (1729-1783)

Ann Colgrove, harpsichord and J. Reilly Lewis, organ

The Beatitudes Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)

The New Year’s Eve Chorale, Judy Dodge, conductor

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

J. Reilly Lewis, organ

Selections from The American Songbook Various Composers

Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano and John Hurd, piano

The Glouchestershire Wassail Traditional Carol

Audience sing-along

Original cover art: Roland Hoover

Like music, words and letters on a page evoke a mood and feeling. Roland Hoover designed and typeset the program for tonight’s concert. Notice the typefaces he selected for the program: the 18th-century Frye’s Ornamental (in the headline “CONCERT”); Albertus, developed in 1932 (in the musicians’ names); and Bulmer, also from the 18th century.

A special edition of 25 commemorative posters for the concert were run on Roland’s hand-cranked Vandercook Press built in 1965. Captivated by letters and words created by the edged pen he used to write safeguard reports for nuclear engineers, Roland found himself drawn to the art and craft of representing words on the page. Former director of publications at the Brookings Institution and University printer at Yale, Roland Hoover is founder and proprietor of his own letterpress shop, Pembroke Press in Bethesda, MD.

This special edition of commemorative concert posters, designed and printed by Roland Hoover, will be sold at this eventing’s concert to benefit the St. Columba’s Music department. Many thanks to Roland for his contribution to our event.

The Flentrop OrganFlentrop Orgelbouw, Zaandam, The Netherlands

St. Columba’s Flentrop organ has mechanical tracker action, two manuals and a pedal board. It was built in 1981 and expanded and revoiced in 2003.

Hoofdwerk Borstwerk PedalBourdon 16’ Holpyp 8’ Subbas 16’ Prestant 8’ Roerfluit 4’ Bourdon 16’ Bourdon 8’ Nasard 3’ Prestant 8’ Octaaf 4’ Gemshoorn 2’ Openfluit 8’ Fluit 4’ Terts 1 3/5’ Octaaf 4’ Quint 3’ Flageolet 1’ Bariton 16’ Octaaf 2’ Kromhoorn 8’ Trompet 8’ Sesquialter II disc. Tremulant Mixtuur IV Trompet 8’

CouplersHoofdwerk—Borstwerk Manual C–g’’’Pedal—Hoofdwerk Pedal C–f ’Pedal—Borstwerk B

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CH

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Program Notes

Louis Marchand (1669-1732) Grand Dialogue in C (organ)

The Grand Dialogue in C opens with a long, low pedal tone. Tune the ear to this note, and then to the harmonies that follow. These sonorities are beautiful: uncluttered, majestic, at times even spine tingling, befitting the announcement of a new year. A feature of the Dialogue is alternation between two different registrations of the organ. In this piece, the Dialogue de récits is the duet between the kromhoorn (the duck-like sound) and the cornet.

A good representative of the early French organ school. This piece, The Sonorities shows the instrument (the organ) beautifully. Taken as a whole, the effect of the piece is to awaken the senses of the listener and evoke a direct and unmediated experience of the present moment. Attending to this this music makes one fully alive to the present and to what is to come.

Born in Lyons, the composer Louis Marchand was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. At 14, he became organist at Nevers Cathedral. He went to other positions in French churches throughout his life and spent four years on a concert tour in Germany, allegedly dodging personal and financial problems. Marchand served for a time as a court organist for Louis XIV, whose patronage furthered the development of French organ music and the instruments on which they were played.

Antoni Soler i Ramos (1729-1783) Concerto No. 6 in D Major (organ & harpsichord)

Harpsichord and organ complement each other beautifully in this stately and playful musical conversation. Written for two keyboards, choice of this unusual pairing of organ and harpsichord sets up a lively dialogue between two distinctive voices–that of the organ with its softer, larger tones and that of the harpsichord, deliberate yet vivacious. The interplay between the two is both intimate and festive; the music is fun, light, and ebullient, reflecting the mood of two good friends who enjoy sharing one another’s company.

Its composer, Padre Antonio Soler, was born in Olot, in the Catalan region of Spain. After studying music at Escolonía in the monastery at Montserrat, he became a Hieronymite monk at the Escorial and later was ordained a priest. He spent the rest of his life as maestro de capilla at both the Escorial and the royal palace in Madrid. In addition to composing more than 400 works, Soler wrote a treatise on music theory (Llaves de la modulation), invented the afinador, a keyboard instrument that divided each pitch into nine micro-pitches and published on mathematics and the Spanish currency. He also directed the construction of organs in Malága and Seville. (Padre Soler reputedly slept only between the hours of 1-5 am)

The Concerto No. 6 in D Major is one of the six concerti Soler composed for his longtime pupil Don Gabri-el de Borbon, son of Carlos III, king of Spain. Teacher and student may have played this work on the vis-à-vis organ, an experimental instrument with two keyboards at opposite sides of a cabinet that contained the pipes and bellows; it also was likely performed on two organs in Spanish cathedrals. This New Year’s Eve Concert offers an uncommon opportunity to hear such a piece performed. Few compositions are written for or suited to organ and harpsichord, and few settings have instruments such as those at St. Columba to perform it. Tonight the Flentrop organ and the double-manual Dowd harpsichord (built in 1977) are here to let us in on the conversation.

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935) The Beatitudes

This piece offers a contrast to the rest of the program. It represents the first time that choral music has been includ-ed in this concert and provides a pause during this transition between the prior year and the one to come, a time not long after the winter solstice that balances darkness and light. The Beatitudes is one of the few pieces that Arvo Pärt composed in English, and the words, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, provide an touchpoint for moving into the new year. Louder than words and notes are the silences the composer also builds into his music. Listen to them. They provide spaces for contemplation, a place to enter into and pause. These silences offer a place to rest and sug-gest time touching eternity.

Arvo Pärt is an Estonian composer whose life’s work has had its own silences, out of which emerged works of great beauty, quiet passion and deep spirituality. In 1968 after composing in the manner of Schönberg, Pärt came under suspicion of the Soviets, who ruled Estonia at the time. Pärt stopped composing and began a long period of study, when he returned to the Renaissance roots of Western music. After he broke his silence eight years later he began to compose in a very different style—one influenced by plainsong, polyphony, and Gregorian chant. The Beatitudes reflects this turn, and the interplay between word notes and silences suggests the value of lying fallow.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543 (organ)

Johann Sebastian Bach, born in Thuringia in central Germany, never traveled widely in his lifetime, yet his reach extends well beyond boundaries of time and place. As was common practice, Bach borrowed freely from former and current masters: French, Italian, and German composers such as Lully, Corelli and Buxtehude, to name only a few. What was uncommon was how he assimilated and perfected elements of others’ work and wrote music that expressed a disciplined yet unbounded and universal creative energy that pushed the limits of composition and performance.

The Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, one of Bach’s most famous and celebrated works, came out of a borrowing from one of his own compositions, the Fugue in A Minor for harpsichord (BWV 944). He added the prelude (Bach typi-cally composed the fugue first) and developed greater rhythmic complexity. The new work opens with a descending chromatic bass line and simple arpeggiated chords above it. Notice throughout the piece his audacious use of the pedals and mastery of counterpoint.

In appreciating Bach’s technical brilliance, it is possible to overlook what is most important: feeling the music, notic-ing how it affects you. Beethoven said of Bach, “Bach is not a brook, he is an ocean.” (Bach is German for brook.) This performance provides an opportunity to not just stand at the shore, but to experience the power and force of that ocean by letting the tide wash over you.

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Selections from The Great American Songbook

In the Great American Songbook, lyrics and music form a partnership like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, dancing together seemingly without effort. The Songbook is an unofficial one, and performers create their own by choosing favorites from among the hundreds of classic American songs composed by the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin. Both personal and universal, much of the music was composed for musical theater and once served as part of a story line. The music has similarities to that of Schubert, but America’s classical music stands apart for its vividness of personal expression, jazz influences and casual intensity. Clever rhymes and imagi-native use of language create a sense of immediacy and express a wide range of human emotions and experience–humor, joy, sadness, passion, surprise. This is music that appears light, but is substantive in both what and how it conveys. The piano, also a featured performer, is a 1954 Steinway Model C, 7’ 6”, built in Hamburg in 1954. This piano spent 50 years at the Vienna Conservatory, underwent a rebuilding in Leipzig and then emigrated to the US, landing ultimately at St. Columba’s.

Sing-along The Glouchester Wassail

The Glouchester Wassail is a carol that dates from medieval times that was sung as part of the tradition of wassailing, when farmers in England would drink to the health of their apple trees in the coming year. Wassailing was a communal ceremony and celebration, intended to bring about a bountiful harvest in the new year. Wassail, a mead made of fermented applies, was carried in a bowl out into the fields. Bread soaked in wassail was then hung in an apple tree by the Queen of the Wassail, as a gift to the spirits of the new harvest. This ceremony occurred at a time of transition, on Christmas Eve or the Twelfth Night, joining past and future times. Singing accompanied drinking the wassail, first in the fields and then house to house. The tradition first arose in the cider-producing areas of South West England and spread to the North American colonies.

Program Notes

Cathy Kreyche wrote the program notes and wishes to thank the performers, who agreed to be interviewed and provide insights into the works performed tonight. Cathy is a writer and editor who lives in Hopewell, NJ and travels frequently to Washington, DC.

The Glouchestershire Wassail(Audience sing-along)

Verse 1 sung by allWassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;With the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink to thee.

Verse 2 sung by allHere’s to our horse, and to his right ear, God send our master a happy new year:A happy new year as e’er he did see,With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Verse 3 sung by high voices So here is to Cherry and to his right cheek Pray God send our master a good piece of beefAnd a good piece of beef that may we all seeWith my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Verse 4 sung by allHere’s to our mare, and to her right eye, God send our mistress a good Christmas pie;A good Christmas pie as e’er I did see,With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.

Verse 5 sung by low voices Here’s to Broad Mary and to her broad horn May God send our master a good crop of cornAnd a good crop of corn that may we all seeWith the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink to thee.

Verse 6 sung by allHere’s to Fillpail and to her left ear Pray God send our master a happy New YearAnd a happy New Year as e’er he did seeWith the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink to thee.

Verse 7 sung by allCome butler, come fill us a bowl of the best Then we hope that your soul in heav’n restBut if you do draw us a bowl of the smallThen down shall go butler, bowl and all.

Verse 8 sung by allWassail! wassail! all over the town, Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;With the wassailing bowl, we’ll drink to thee.

PerformersAnn Colgrove, harpsichord, is the current director of music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Nantucket, MA; and a longtime resident of Washington, DC and resident harpsichordist at St. Columba’s where she has sung with the St. Columba Singers since 1989. Her study of music began with piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music as a child and continued with organ and harpsichord studies at Sweet Briar College and the University of Virginia.

Judy Dodge, conductor, is director of music emerita at St. Columba’s. Her tenure included 30 years of transfor-mative music ministry where she built a music program consisting of eight choral groups, five handbell choirs, a recorder ensemble and string orchestra.

Diane Heath, organ, is assistant director of music and assistant organist at St. Columba’s, as well as the organizer of this evening’s concert. In addition to her work as church musician, she has an active studio of organ and piano students.

John Hurd, organ and piano, director of music at St. Columba’s, leads an extensive program consisting of many choirs and musical groups. He also teaches privately and is known for his work as a jazz and rock keyboard player. Before coming to St. Columba’s, John worked as assistant at Epiphany Church, developed and directed the music program at St. Patrick’s, served as music director at St. Mary Magdalene and was part of the music department at Landon School.

Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano, sings with the Vocal Arts Quartet, Hesperus and the Folger Consort. She has performed at the Rheingau Music Festival in Germany, at concerts in Italy for La Fenice Chamber Music Festival, at the Scan-dinavian Music Festival in Denmark, in a recital at the Louvre in Paris, France and in recitals in Brazil and Panama. She appears frequently at the Kennedy Center, the Smithsonian, the National Gallery of Art, Corcoran Gallery and Washington National Cathedral. Her recordings include The Mass in B Minor; Messe Solemnele of Berlioz, Four Cen-turies of Song with the National Gallery Vocal Art, “Gentle Annie” songs of Stephen Foster and Charles Ives, “I Love Lucette” theatre songs of the French Renaissance with Hesperus (all on the Koch label); Spain in the New World with Hesperus, Christmas with The Choral Arts Society, Masters in this Hall (all on the Gothic label); and Best of the Fest from the Carmel Bach Festival.

J. Reilly Lewis, organ, began his musical career at the age of eight as a member of the Junior Boy’s Choir at Wash-ington National Cathedral. In 1985 he was selected as music director of the Cathedral Choral Society, the resident symphonic chorus of Washington National Cathedral. He has conducted the Cathedral Choral Society in appearances at the Kennedy Center, most recently in performances of Orff ’s Carmina Burana with The Washington Ballet and Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra. He has presided over many premiere performances with the Choral Society at Washington National Cathedral, including several world premieres. An internationally known Bach specialist, Reilly is founding music director of the Washington Bach Consort and acclaimed organist.

St. Columba’s is a welcoming Christian community that seeks to be open in spirit, deep in faith, rich in worship, active in service.

4201 Albemarle Street NW n Washington, DC 20016 n 202-363-4119 n Columba.org