Program for
Benefit CD
Three Impromptus,
Op 78 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
(1875 - 1912)
Numbers 1
and 2
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
was born on August 15, 1875,
in Holborn, England (a suburb
of London). His mother was
English and his father,
Daniel H. Taylor, was from
Sierra Leone. Daniel Taylor
studied medicine at Taunton
College, Somerset and Kings
College. After becoming
a member of the Royal College
of Surgeons he obtained
a license from the Royal
College of Physicians. Due
to many issues, mostly involving
race, Dr. Taylor returned
to Sierra Leone early in
the life of his son, Samuel.
Studying violin
and singing in the choir
at St. George's Church choir
in Croydon served as the
basis of young Samuel's
music training. His talents
were noticed by Colonel
Herbert Walters who became
his benefactor and provided
funding for his formal education
in music at Royal College.
While at Royal College,
Sir George Grove arranged
for Taylor to study composition
with Sir Charles Stanford.
This laid the foundation
for him to receive a fellowship
in composition in 1893.
As a composer,
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's
best known work is Hiawatha's
Wedding Feast of 1898;
the first of three works
based on the poems of Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. Taylor's
organ works can be described
as musical gems. The
Three Impromptus, Op.
78, are works that one would
hear composed for organ
during the latter part of
the 1800's in England. The
three works are late Romantic
miniatures typical of that
period.
Prelude to Our
American Cousin
Eric Sawyer (b. 1962)
Prelude
to Our American Cousin
is a realization for organ
of the orchestral overture
to an opera that concerns
Lincoln's assassination
at the theater. The Prelude
aims to evoke a background
of recently won peace and
hovering violence present
on that evening. It sets
in motion materials central
to the opera's musical development,
including a rippling descending
figure near the opening
that breaks off with a dual
suggestion of forgiving
and forgetting. After building
to a martial outburst, the
Prelude resumes the contemplative
mood with a treatment of
the Civil War melody "When
This Cruel War Is Over"
and a quotation of an aria
in the opera in which one
of the actors recounts a
dream of meeting a friend
on the battlefield. - Eric
Sawyer
Improvisation
Lucius R. Weathersby (1968-2006)
Theme: Seht,
neuer Morgen in unserer
Nacht
Mein schönste Zier
und Kleinod bist
Three Works
William Grant Still
(1895 - 1978)
Revere
Elegy
Bayou Home
William Grant
Still, known as the "Dean
of African-American Composers",
wrote many works for orchestra
and voice, as well as full
operas. His compositional
output was great, but in
the area of organ compositions,
he only composed two works
for organ: Elegy
and Revere. Both
works are meditative and
harmonically interesting.
Bayou Home was
arranged by Hutchins B.
Coleman from a vocal work
bearing the same name. The
original work was composed
in 1941, with lyrics written
by his wife Verna Arvey.
Variations on
Nettleton
Undine S. Moore (1904 -
1989)
Referred to
in reverence as the Dean
of Black Women Composers,
Undine Smith Moore was born
August 25, 1904, in Jarratt,
Virginia. At the age of
seven she began piano lessons
with Lillian Allen Darden.
In the fall of 1924 she
received the first scholarship
from the Julliard Graduate
School to study music at
Fisk University. Graduating
in 1926, she began working
toward her Master of Arts
degree at Columbia University.
She completed her degree
in 1931. Having started
work at Virginia State College
in 1927, she continued to
teach there until her retirement
in 1972.
Variations
on Nettleton was composed
for a student at Virginia
State University during
the 1970's. A student asked
Moore if she would compose
a work for her senior recital.
The composition takes the
tune of the familiar hymn
"Come Thou Fount of Every
Blessing" and works it through
a number of variations.
Iowa Winter
Suite Lucius
R. Weathersby (1968-2006)
I. First
Snow
II. Hard Freeze
II. 1:00
AM 20 Degrees Below Zero
IV. Third Week of March
Iowa Winter
Suite was a graduate
college composition. Originally
from the southern part of
the United States, I moved
north, namely to the state
of Iowa, for my graduate
studies. The winters were
unlike any that I had experienced
in Louisiana. My composition
professor saw how the winters
affected me and suggested
that I compose a work that
gave others the opportunity
to share my dismay at and
discomfort in extremely
harsh weather.
Retrospection
Florence Price (1887 - 1953)
Florence Beatrice
Smith Price was born in
Little Rock, Arkansas on
April 9, 1887. Her mother
was a piano teacher and
father was a dentist. She
learned to play the piano
at an early age. She later
attended the New England
Conservatory of Music and
received a degree in organ
and piano. She taught music
at Shorter College in Little
Rock from 1907-1910 and
from 1910-1912 at Clark
University in Atlanta, Georgia.
After her
1912 marriage to Little
Rock attorney, Thomas J.
Price failed, Florence found
herself and her two children
in a difficult financial
situation. During this time,
she found shelter in the
home of one of her students,
Margaret Bond, in Chicago.
Although her situation was,
at times, bleak, nothing
could thwart her love of
performing and composing
or dissuade her from continuing
to do both.
Price's musical
output is extensive - from
orchestral works, concertos,
vocal and choral works to
organ and piano music, she
can be described as prolific.
Retrospection
or Elf on
a Moonbeam
and A Pleasant Thought
are short organ works that
are rich in jazz harmonies
typical of the time.
Joshua Fit De
Battle Ob Jericho
Fela Sowande (1905 - 1987)
Fela Sowande
is recognized as the father
of modern Nigerian Art Music.
Born in Abeokuta, Lagos,
to a church musician and
Yurubian priest had a defining
influence on young Sowande�s
early musical development.
His father, Emmanuel Sowande,
introduced him to the music
of the Yurubian tradition,
while Dr. TK Ekundayo Phillips,
a composer, organist and
choral director introduced
him to the works of various
composers of European origin.
Sowande attended
music schools in London
earning a Bachelor of Music
degree from the University
of London and became a Fellow
at the Trinity College of
Music. His musical composition
output is large and diverse,
including many works for
the pipe organ. These works
vary from African thematic
inspired works to African-American
spiritual inspired compositions.
An example of the latter
influence is Joshua
Fit De Battle Ob
Jericho. His wealth
of tone color, varied rhythms
and command of orchestral
tone color is ever present
in his organ compositions;
one is never free of variety.
His special talent for utilizing
musical material of a set
culture and allowing it
to dictate compositional
form, harmonic language
and fusing that material
with both classical and
jazz idioms is exemplary.
Improvisation
Lucius R. Weathersby (1968-2006)
Theme: Lobt
Gott Ihr Christen alle gleich
New Orleans
Suite Lucius
R. Weathersby (1968-2006)
New Orleans
Suite is dedicated
to the people of the Gulf
Coast Region - those who
escaped and those who did
not escape the ravages of
Hurricane Katrina. The suite
sets out to musically capture
the traditional New Orleans
Jazz Funeral. In this idiom,
the Suite begins with the
slow, mournful sounds of
the hymn Nearer My God
to Thee and Just
a Closer Walk with Thee
and concludes with an outburst
of joy and hope, expressing
that everyone - rich or
poor - will experience rapture
in the after life.
